Red Cross: Yemen prison airstrike killed, injured over 100
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A Saudi-led airstrike targeting a prison run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed and wounded over 100 detainees on Friday, rescuers said, part of a pounding aerial offensive that hours earlier saw another airstrike take the Arab world’s poorest country off the internet. A strike in...
U.S., Russia try to lower temperature in Ukraine crisis
GENEVA — The United States and Russia sought to lower the temperature Friday in a heated standoff over Ukraine, even as they said no breakthrough was imminent amid fears of a possible Russian invasion. Armed with seemingly intractable and diametrically opposed demands, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian...
Russia hits all-time high of new infections, blames omicron
Daily new coronavirus infections in Russia reached an all-time high Friday and authorities blamed the highly contagious omicron variant, which they expect to soon dominate the country’s outbreak. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova on Friday noted “intensive spread of the omicron variant” and said the authorities “expect it to become...
Search on for humpback whale entangled in debris off Hawaii
A marine mammal rescue team is looking for an adult humpback whale entangled in debris off the coast of Hawaii. First responders removed about 2,000 feet of heavy-gauge line from the animal over the weekend when it was off the island of Kauai, The Garden Island newspaper reported. Authorities detached...
Kyle Rittenhouse seeks return of gun used during Kenosha protest
KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois man acquitted of fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during street protests in Kenosha in 2020, is seeking the return of the gun and other property that police seized after his arrest. Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards filed paperwork with the Kenosha...
Florida man charged after 4 found dead at Canada-U.S. border
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A Florida man was charged Thursday with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teen, were found in Canada near the U.S. border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard. The United States Attorney’s Office...
Ivanka Trump is asked to interview in Capitol riot inquiryVideo
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the Capitol riot is asking Ivanka Trump to voluntarily appear for an interview in February. Ivanka, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, served as an adviser in the White House and spoke to her father during crucial moments on Jan. 6, 2021, according...
Supreme Court won’t speed challenge to Texas abortion limits
WASHINGTON — In the latest setback for abortion rights in Texas, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to speed up the ongoing court case over the state’s ban on most abortions. Over dissents from the three liberal justices, the court declined to order a federal appeals court to return the...
Wisconsin prosecutor weighs in on fake GOP electors
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin assistant district attorney has said state or federal prosecutors should look into a complaint filed a year ago alleging that Republicans committed fraud when they submitted false paperwork saying former President Donald Trump had won the battleground state. Wisconsin is one of seven states where...
Former Pa. House Speaker Mike Turzai declares he is not running for governor
For weeks, there was talk that former Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai was toying with the idea of jumping into the crowded field of Republicans competing to be the party’s gubernatorial nominee. This week, he declared he is not a candidate. In a statement, Turzai said, “While I did not...
AP-NORC poll: Biden approval hits new low at 1-year mark
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden ends his first year in the White House with a clear majority of Americans for the first time disapproving of his handling of the presidency in the face of an unrelenting pandemic and roaring inflation, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center...
Austrian parliament approves universal vaccine mandate
VIENNA — Austria’s parliament has voted to introduce a covid-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe. Lawmakers voted 137 to 33 Thursday evening to approve the mandate, which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over. Exempted from the...
Georgia DA asks for special grand jury in 2020 election probe
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor looking into possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 general election by former President Donald Trump and others has asked for a special grand jury to aid the investigation. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court...
Mark Cuban’s online pharmacy touting low-cost prescription drugs now open
Mark Cuban’s online pharmacy promising affordable prices on prescription medications is up and running. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company cuts out middlemen and negotiates directly with drug manufacturers and pharmacies for rebates and discounts on behalf of employers, health insurers and government health programs. It says it’s offering...
At 113, NAACP evolves for relevance on racial justice agenda
As the NAACP turns 113, look for its voice to grow louder on issues like climate change, the student debt crisis and the ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic — while keeping voting rights and criminal justice reform at the forefront of its priorities. The nation’s oldest civil rights organization’s...
19-year-old woman sets record for solo global flight
BRUSSELS — Home! And no longer alone. The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world, touching her small airplane down in western Belgium on Thursday — 155 days after she departed. She made it count for herself, her...
Stampede at religious ceremony in Liberia kills 29 people
MONROVIA, Liberia — At least 29 people in Liberia, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, have died in a stampede of worshippers at a Christian ceremony in a densely populated area of the capital, Monrovia, officials said Thursday. The stampede erupted when a gang of thugs armed with knives...
Aiming to make CDC nimble, agency director has rankled many
From the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, the top U.S. public health agency has been criticized as too slow to collect and act on new information. Now, increasingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also being criticized for moving too fast. One year into Dr. Rochelle Walensky’s tenure...
Budd Dwyer’s suicide at press conference still shocks after 35 years
An unhinged politician. A room full of reporters and photographers. And a .357 magnum tucked in a manila envelope. These three volatile elements combusted on Jan. 22, 1987, into one of the most enduring and shocking episodes in Pennsylvania history. It began as a press conference in which everyone expected...
How the body’s immune system tries to fight off covid
Vaccines have shown themselves to be the best defense against a serious case of covid-19: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unvaccinated adults were about 13 times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease than vaccinated adults as of late November. But vaccines and the antibodies...
Nearly 28,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s streams are impaired by pollution, report finds
PHILADELPHIA — One-third of all Pennsylvania waterways are now considered polluted enough to harm wildlife, recreation or drinking water, according to a report released this week by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP listed 27,886 miles of streams it found impaired in one or more ways, which is...
Russia accuses West of plotting ‘provocations’ in Ukraine
MOSCOW — Russia accused the West on Thursday of plotting “provocations” in Ukraine and disguising its alleged intentions by fomenting concerns about Moscow planning aggressive military action in the neighboring country. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that Ukrainian and Western claims of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine...
Report on sexual abuse in German diocese faults retired pope
BERLIN — A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany’s Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said that Benedict strongly denies any wrongdoing. The findings, though,...
U.K. lawmaker says Johnson critics face government ‘blackmail’
LONDON — A lawmaker from Britain’s governing Conservatives accused the government on Thursday of blackmailing opponents of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as the party’s internal rifts deepened. William Wragg, a Tory member of Parliament, said legislators calling for a challenge to Johnson’s leadership have faced “intimidation,” and urged them to...
TV Talk: Future WTAE reporter hit by a car live on the airVideo
Local TV news reporter Tori Yorgey will begin her new job at Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV in February, but her last week on the job at WSAZ-TV in Huntington, W.Va., has been eventful: She was struck by a car during a live broadcast and continued reporting, becoming a viral sensation on Twitter...
