U.S./World category, Page 999
Meet Perseverance: Mars rover gets name ahead of July launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s next Mars rover finally has a name. Perseverance, a six-wheeled robotic explorer, will blast off this summer to collect Martian samples for eventual return to Earth. The name was suggested by Alex Mather, a Virginia seventh-grader, as part of a naming contest for U.S. schoolchildren....
$1.25B West Virginia opioid settlement trial date set
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia communities seeking a $1.25 billion settlement with the opioid industry are set to go on trial against the companies in late August, a federal judge said Thursday. The trial date, scheduled for Aug. 31, will serve as a deadline for the proposed settlement, which would...
Worker: Olive Garden customer demanded and got white server in Indiana
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Olive Garden has fired the manager of one of its restaurants in southwestern Indiana who was accused of complying with a white customer’s demand to replace her table’s black server with one who wasn’t black. An Olive Garden spokeswoman, Meagan Bernstein, said Wednesday that the company does...
Michigan lawmaker Pete Lucido disciplined after sexual harassment probe
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan lawmaker was stripped of a committee chairmanship and ordered to undergo training Thursday after the state Senate concluded allegations of sexual harassment lodged by several women, including a legislator, were credible. Republican Sen. Peter Lucido of Macomb County’s Shelby Township lost his position leading the...
Prosecution doctor: Florida killer was insane when he bit victim’s faceVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A prosecution psychiatrist says a Florida college student was legally insane when he fatally attacked a couple outside their home, chewing off part of the man’s face, court documents filed this week show. Dr. Gregory C. Landrum’s finding bolsters the case of Austin Harrouff’s attorneys, who...
Wine flows from water taps in small Italian town
Imagine turning on your kitchen faucet only to have wine flow out instead of water. At first, it sounds like heaven. But then, you might consider what effect that would have when you go to take a shower. Or wash clothes. The residents of Castelvetro, a small village about 10...
Russia, Turkey reach cease-fire deal in northwestern SyriaVideo
MOSCOW — The presidents of Russia and Turkey said they reached agreement on a cease-fire to begin at midnight Thursday in northwestern Syria, where escalating fighting had threatened to put forces from the two countries into direct conflict. The deal struck by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep...
Missouri man dressed as Joker charged in terrorist threats
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — A suburban St. Louis man accused of livestreaming threats to bomb and kill people in a bustling entertainment district while dressed as the Batman villain the Joker has been charged with terrorism. Forty-eight-year-old Jeremy Garnier, of University City, was charged Tuesday with a felony count of...
MLK’s son asks Alabama to stop inmate’s upcoming execution
MOBILE, Ala. — The son of Martin Luther King, Jr. has called on Alabama’s governor to stop Thursday’s plan to execute an inmate for the 2004 killings of three police officers in which authorities say a co-defendant did the shooting. Nathaniel Woods, 43, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection...
Arizona police plan community meeting on incident where father killed son with guitar
CLARKDALE, Ariz. — Clarkdale police have scheduled a community meeting Thursday evening to discuss a deadly incident in which a man used a guitar to fatally strike his 4-year-old son on the head and also injure his mother before being fatally shot by a police officer. A police announcement said...
Texas man gets jail for video of himself licking ice cream tub
PORT ARTHUR, Texas — A 24-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail for posting on social media a video last August of himself removing an ice cream container from a Texas market freezer, licking the contents and returning the container to the freezer. D’Adrien Anderson, 24, also...
Venezuela President Maduro urges all women to have 6 children
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Nicolás Maduro wants Venezuelan women to have many children as a way to boost the country, which has seen millions of people flee in recent years to escape its economic crisis. Maduro made the exhortation during a televised event Tuesday evening for a government program promoting...
Florida lawmakers rally behind 6-year-old arrested at schoolVideo
TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers rallied behind a 6-year-old girl who was zip-tied at school and arrested last fall, when state House on Wednesday unanimously passed a measure requiring law enforcement authorities to put procedures in place for arresting children under 10 years old. The child’s family last month made footage...
U.S. strikes Taliban forces, in 1st hit since peace deal
KABUL — The United States conducted its first airstrike against Taliban forces Wednesday in Afghanistan since signing an ambitious peace deal with the militant group. U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a tweet that the “defensive” strike was the first U.S. attack against the militants in 11 days....
Twitter preps ephemeral tweets, starts testing in Brazil
Twitter is starting to test tweets that disappear after 24 hours, although initially only in Brazil. The company says the ephemeral tweets, which it calls “fleets” because of their fleeting nature, are designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent...
Feds investigate nursing home as U.S. death toll hits 11
SEATTLE — The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 11 on Wednesday with a patient succumbing in California — the first reported fatality outside Washington state — as federal authorities announced an investigation of the Seattle-area nursing home where most of the victims were stricken. Officials in California’s...
Food stamp change fuels anxiety as states try to curb impact
CHICAGO — Having food stamps offers Richard Butler a stability he’s rarely known in his 25 years. He was in state custody at age 2, spent his teen years at a Chicago boys’ home and jail for burglary, and has since struggled to find a permanent home. The $194 deposited...
First lady helps honor women from 12 countries for courage
WASHINGTON — Melania Trump drew parallels Wednesday between her youth welfare initiative and a group of women from around the world whom the State Department has recognized for acts of courage in their countries. Although the “Be Best” initiative was designed for children, the first lady said the program “ties...
Twitter tests disappearing tweets, starts in Brazil
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is starting to test tweets that disappear after 24 hours, although initially only in Brazil. The company says the ephemeral tweets, which it calls “fleets” because of their fleeting nature, are designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the...
Supreme Court divided in 1st big abortion case of Trump era
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared divided in its first major abortion case of the Trump era, leaving Chief Justice John Roberts as the likely deciding vote. Roberts did not say enough to tip his hand in an hour of spirited arguments at the high court Wednesday. The court’s election-year...
Spanish minister defends bold slogan for bill on sex crimes
MADRID — Spain’s minister of equality defended herself Wednesday from attacks by right-wing opposition parties who have criticized her use of a bold slogan to support the government’s draft bill on sex crimes. The ministry included the slogan “Drunk and alone, I want to make it home” on a message...
Ukraine prime minister ousted, president seeks ‘new brains’
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to accept the resignation of the prime minister, whose performance over his six-month tenure came under severe criticism from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The president’s Servant of the People party, which dominates the parliament, took the lead in relieving Oleksiy Honcharuk of his...
Toyota adds 1.1M vehicles to fuel pump recall
DETROIT — Toyota is adding 1.1 million U.S. vehicles to a major recall to fix possible fuel pump failures that can cause engines to stall. The company said Wednesday that the added vehicles bring the total to 1.8 million. In January, Toyota recalled nearly 700,000 vehicles in the United States...
Bloomberg drops out of presidential race, endorses BidenVideo
NEW YORK — Billionaire Mike Bloomberg ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. It was a stunning collapse for the former New York City mayor, who had his 2020 hopes on the Super Tuesday states and pumped more than $500...
Trump says he spoke to a Taliban leader, had ‘good talk’Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first U.S. president believed to have ever spoken directly with the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan....
