U.S./World category, Page 950
Outrage as a result of video footage of Charlotte police tacticsVideo
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The police department in North Carolina’s largest city is coming under criticism after a video posted to social media appeared to show officers using chemical agents on demonstrators who were boxed in while protesting the death of George Floyd. The video was recorded on Tuesday night by...
Ex-defense chief Jim Mattis rips Trump for dividing AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary rebuke, former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed use of military force to quell protests near the White House and said his former boss was setting up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society. “I have watched this...
Pope Francis condemns ‘tragic’ death of George Floyd, violent response
Pope Francis on Wednesday called all types of racism intolerable while condemning the “tragic” death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer as well as the violent reactions that have followed. “Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing...
Nevada betting on health safety as Las Vegas casinos reopen
LAS VEGAS — After 78 days of historic quiet, cards will be cut, dice will roll and jackpots can jingle again 12:01 a.m. Thursday at casinos in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada. There will be big splashes — even amid ongoing protests over the death of a man in police...
‘Nonlethal’ crowd-control methods can cause serious injury, deathVideo
As protests continue in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, reports and social media videos are proliferating of the “nonlethal” methods being used to quell rallies. According to reports, peaceful...
Walmart drops ammunition, firearms on display in some stores
NEW YORK — Walmart says it has removed ammunition and firearms from displays at some of its stores in the wake of the killing of George Floyd that has set off sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality and injustice against African Americans. “As a responsible seller of hunting and sporting...
U.S. job losses in May could raise 3-month total to 30 million
The epic damage to America’s job market from the viral outbreak will come into sharper focus Friday when the government releases the May employment report: Eight million more jobs are estimated to have been lost. Unemployment could near 20%. And potentially fewer than half of all adults may be working....
Prosecutors charge 3 more officers in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors on Wednesday expanded their case against the police who were at the scene of George Floyd’s death, charging three of the officers with aiding and abetting a murder and upgrading the charges against the officer who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck to second-degree murder. The most...
Active-duty troops deployed to D.C. region start to leave
WASHINGTON — Active-duty troops brought in to help if needed with the civil unrest in the nation’s capitol are beginning to return to their home base, after two days of more peaceful demonstrations in Washington, D.C., senior defense officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The officials said that about...
Nation’s streets calmest in days; police credit curfews
MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters marched Wednesday in peaceful pleas to end police brutality, after a calmer night in cities across America void of the violence of recent days, as demonstrators heightened calls for justice in the killing of George Floyd. Curfews and efforts by protesters to contain earlier flare-ups of lawlessness...
Parents, educators, experts talk to kids on race amid unrest
NEW YORK — As an African American parent, Cassandre Dunbar in Charlotte, North Carolina, always knew she and her husband would have “the talk” with their son, the one preparing him for interactions with law enforcement. But she never dreamed it would be necessary at 5 years old. “I thought...
Man charged with assault after thrown pickle hits highway worker
POWNAL, Vt. — A Massachusetts man is facing an assault charge after he allegedly threw a large pickle from a moving vehicle that hit a Vermont highway worker, police said. The incident occurred just before 6 p.m. Monday on U.S. Route 7 in Pownal near the border crossing into Massachusetts....
In protests, police using rubber bullets that can kill, blind or maim for life
In cities across the country, police departments have attempted to quell unrest spurred by the death of George Floyd by firing rubber bullets into crowds, even though five decades of evidence shows such weapons can disable, disfigure and even kill. In addition to rubber bullets — which often have a...
No crowds delight art lovers in Italy at reopened museumsVideo
FLORENCE, Italy — The Uffizi Galleries, the most-visited museum in Italy, is open after three months of covid-19 lockdown, delighting art lovers who don’t have to jostle with throngs of tourists thanks to new social distancing rules. Uffizi director Eike Schmidt told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the government-ordered...
‘Comeback kid’? West Virginia governor gets unlikely boost from coronavirus
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Before the coronavirus upended the world, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice was in trouble. His own party rebelled against him. Federal prosecutors investigated him. Embarrassing lawsuits loomed. But now some believe that the Republican governor has been able to use his daily virus news conferences to stabilize...
Trump administration moves to block Chinese airlines from U.S.Video
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved Wednesday to block Chinese airlines from flying to the United States in an escalation of trade and travel tensions between the two countries. The Transportation Department said it would suspend passenger flights of four Chinese airlines to and from the United States starting June...
Scientists learn how tiny critters make ocean ‘snot palaces’
Master builders of the sea construct the equivalent of a complex five-story house that protects them from predators and funnels and filters food for them — all from snot coming out of their heads. And when these delicate mucus homes get clogged, the tadpole-looking critters — called giant larvaceans —...
Army: Defense Secretary Mark Esper reverses plan to send active-duty troops home
WASHINGTON — In an abrupt reversal, Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday overturned an earlier Pentagon decision to send a couple hundred active-duty soldiers home from the Washington, D.C., region, amid growing tensions with the White House over the military response to the protests. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The...
Scientist defends Sweden’s hotly debated virus strategy
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist on Wednesday defended his country’s controversial coronavirus strategy, which avoided a lockdown but resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world. Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency denied that “the Swedish strategy was wrong and should be changed. That’s not...
Trump: Deploying forces to DC shows how to quell protests
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday took credit for a massive deployment of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers to the nation’s capital, saying it offered a model to states on how to quell protests nationwide. Trump argued that the massive show of force was responsible for...
Trump, chafing at oversight, takes aim at inspectors general
WASHINGTON — Steve Linick irritated powerful Democrats and Republicans alike in his seven years as the independent watchdog investigating waste and mismanagement at the State Department. Still, he was stunned by a Friday night phone call saying President Donald Trump had fired him. Linick’s access to the computer system, and...
Curfews give sweeping powers to cops, but are often flouted
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hundreds of cities have imposed curfews to keep the peace during a week of violent unrest across the U.S., employing a tactic that gives law enforcement sweeping arrest powers but is frequently flouted and criticized as being unconstitutional. From New York City to Fargo, North Dakota, cities...
Widow: Retired police captain died protecting friend’s store
ST. LOUIS — A retired police captain who died during a night of violent protests was trying to protect his friend’s pawn shop, his widow said. David Dorn’s last moments were caught on video and apparently posted on Facebook Live, though the video has since been taken down. He was...
Friends mourn ex-Indiana football player slain during unrest
INDIANAPOLIS — To those who knew former Indiana University football player Chris Beaty, it was no surprise that he would participate in a protest over the death of George Floyd. That a man they saw as a “gentle giant” who brought positivity everywhere he went would turn up dead in...
‘Not stopping’: Defiant NYC protesters march through curfew
NEW YORK — An 8 p.m. curfew didn’t stop thousands of defiant demonstrators from marching through the streets of New York City throughout the night Tuesday, though some of the rampant destruction seen over the past few nights was quelled. The citywide curfew, which is in place through Sunday and...
