U.S./World category, Page 956
Minister quits U.K. government over aide’s lockdown breachVideo
LONDON — A junior British government minister quit on Tuesday over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s failure to fire his top aide for allegedly breaching coronavirus lockdown rules. Johnson has stood by Dominic Cummings over his decision to drive 250 miles to his parents’ house at the end of March, despite...
Worker shortage concerns loom in immigrant-heavy meatpackingVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — When Martha Kebede’s adult sons immigrated from Ethiopia and reunited with her in South Dakota this year, they had few work opportunities. Lacking English skills, the brothers took jobs at Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls pork plant, grueling and increasingly risky work as the coronavirus sickened thousands...
NASA astronauts go back to the future with capsule launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — It’s back to the future as NASA astronauts launch again from the U.S. — aboard a retro-style “Right Stuff” capsule. Make no mistake: This is not your father’s — or grandfather’s — capsule. SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule outshines NASA’s old Apollo spacecraft in virtually every way....
Venezuela celebrates docking of Iranian tanker carrying gasoline
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan authorities celebrated Monday as the first of five Iranian tankers loaded with gasoline docked in the South American country, delivering badly needed fuel to the crisis-stricken nation that sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves. The gasoline shipments are arriving in defiance of stiff sanctions by...
Efforts underway to get food from U.S. farms to needy
OMAHA, Neb. — As food banks have struggled to meet soaring demand from people suddenly out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been especially troubling to see farmers have to bury produce, dump milk and euthanize hogs. Now some states are providing more money to help pay...
Ravenous rats await restaurant-goers after 2 months of food deprivation, CDC warns
NEW YORK — Beware rogue ravenous rats. That’s the latest coronavirus-tinged health warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the rodents that have been starved of restaurant leftovers these past two months make themselves known. In a species evolutionarily adapted to resort to cannibalism during hard times,...
Rally: Effigy of Kentucky governor displayed near CapitolVideo
FRANKFORT — An effigy of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was hung in a tree near the State Capitol on Sunday during what was billed as a protest rally in defense of constitutional rights, drawing sharp political rebukes, according to local news reports. Video recordings and photographs show the effigy suspended...
California woman arrested for posting racist notes at homesVideo
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — A woman in the San Francisco Bay Area has been arrested on suspicion of posting handwritten messages at several homes, targeting Asian Americans and suggesting that those not native to the United States should leave the country immediately. Police in San Leandro, a suburb of 89,000...
Flynn judge Emmet Sullivan hires D.C. litigator to respond in dismissal fight
The judge overseeing Michael Flynn’s prosecution hired a law firm to represent him after he was ordered by an appeals court to respond to the former national security adviser’s emergency petition to have the case thrown out, said a person familiar with the matter. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan hired...
Former U.S. Rep. Allen West recovering after Texas crash
WACO, Texas — Former U.S. Rep. Allen West of Florida was recovering Sunday as a result of suffering a concussion, several fractured bones and cuts in a motorcycle crash in Texas, according to a post on his Facebook page. The post said West was driving back from a rally in...
Ohio governor: Wearing masks shouldn’t be political issue
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says wearing masks while in public during the coronavirus pandemic should not be a political issue but is about people acting to protect others. DeWine was reacting on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s call for residents to...
Huge crowds gather for Memorial Day weekend as coronavirus deaths near 100,000Video
Social distancing, crowd limitations and wearing face masks are all techniques of lessening the risk of coronavirus exposure. But during the Memorial Day weekend, many in the United States are doing away with such practices. As the national death toll of covid-19 neared 100,000, states across the country relaxed restrictions...
Pandemic a boon for the bicycle as thousands snap them up
SAN FRANCISCO — Joel Johnson hadn’t owned a bicycle since he was 15, but the pandemic changed all that. Johnson first bought a multipurpose bike to avoid the germs on crowded buses and trains but then discovered a passion for pedaling around San Francisco, where some streets are now closed...
Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters
HONG KONG — Hong Kong police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters in a popular shopping district Sunday, as thousands took to the streets to march against China’s move to impose national security legislation on the city. Pro-democracy supporters have sharply criticized a proposal, set to be...
Peter Salk, whose father conquered polio, says coronavirus fight is far from over
SAN DIEGO — He lives in La Jolla Village, near a cove that will be crowded this weekend by sunbathers who are no longer willing to shelter in place from the coronavirus. Peter Salk’s favorite stores and restaurants are nearby. Many are beginning to reopen now that the pandemic is...
Large hail, tornadoes damage North Texas region
DALLAS — Storms carrying large hail and damaging winds, including tornadoes, caused severe damage to parts of North Texas, officials said Saturday. The town of Bowie, about 65 miles northwest of Fort Worth, was hit hard by one tornado about 9 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed Saturday. A...
Holiday amid pandemic: Americans divided as nations grapple with 2nd waves of virus
NEW YORK — President Trump visited one of his golf courses Saturday at the start of Memorial Day weekend as he urges states to reopen after coronavirus-related lockdowns. Yet many Americans remained cautious as the number of confirmed cases nationwide passed 1.6 million. In California, where many businesses and recreational...
Police: Miami mom faked son’s abduction, faces murder charge
MIAMI — A Miami woman faked her son’s abduction after trying to drown him twice, with witnesses rescuing the boy from a canal the first time, and the second attempt ending in the boy’s death, officials said Saturday. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Patricia Ripley, 45, is facing...
Massive fire strikes San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, spares WWII ship
Firefighters were able to save an historic warship after a massive fire ripped through a warehouse at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco on Saturday morning. The fire broke out about 4:15 a.m. in a large warehouse at the end of Pier 45, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, public information officer for...
‘Strong’ after shooting, El Paso vulnerable to virus
EL PASO, Texas — Inked on skin and hashtagged on social media, the words “El Paso Strong” united city residents after a mass shooting at a Walmart last year. As covid-19 took hold in El Paso, government officials have tried to repurpose the slogan, much like “Don’t mess with Texas,”...
Restrictions eased while virus deaths decline in New York
NEW YORK — New Yorkers experiencing cabin fever after two months of coronavirus quarantine received an unexpected reprieve when Gov. Andrew Cuomo eased the state’s ban on gatherings in time for the Memorial Day weekend. But beachgoers faced inclement weather Saturday that dampened crowds. A look at those and other...
Trump to attend Wednesday’s NASA astronaut launch in Florida
STERLING, Va. — President Donald Trump plans to be on the Florida coast Wednesday to watch American astronauts blast into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center for the first time in nearly a decade. It will be the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 that U.S....
‘Strong’ after shooting, El Paso now vulnerable to virus
EL PASO, Texas — Inked on skin and hashtagged on social media, the words “El Paso Strong” united city residents after a mass shooting at a Walmart last year. As COVID-19 took hold in El Paso, government officials have tried to repurpose the slogan, much like “Don’t mess with Texas,”...
Spain’s far-right holds car protest against virus lockdown
Several thousand followers of Spain’s far-right Vox party gathered Saturday in their cars and on motorbikes in the center of Madrid and other Spanish cities to protest the Spanish government’s handling of the nation’s coronavirus crisis. The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of lying about...
‘Last responders’ seek to expand postmortem COVID-19 testing in unexplained deaths
Examining dead bodies and probing for a cause of death is rarely seen as a heroic or glamorous job. Rather, as the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, all eyes have been on the medical workers and public health disease detectives fighting on the front lines — and sometimes giving their lives...
