U.S. urging Central America to tackle poverty, corruption
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to entice Central American nations to tackle the corruption and poverty that have helped drive a surge of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and presented an early challenge for the Biden administration. In his first visit to...
Even after Bernie Madoff’s death, work to unwind epic fraud goes on
NEW YORK — Epic Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff is dead. But the effort to untangle his web of deceit lives on. More than 12 years after Madoff confessed to running one of the biggest financial fraud in Wall Street history, a team of lawyers is still at work on...
Beer is latest vaccine incentive for Biden ‘month of action’
WASHINGTON — Free beer is the latest White House-backed incentive for Americans to get vaccinated for covid-19, as President Joe Biden is announcing a “month of action” Wednesday to get more shots into arms before the July 4 holiday. Speaking from the White House, Biden is set to update the...
EU eyes revamp of ID check-free zone to improve travel flow
BRUSSELS — The European Union unveiled plans Wednesday to revamp Europe’s ID check-free travel area after national coronavirus restrictions placed new strains on tourism, travel and business throughout the bloc over the last year. The travel zone, known as the “Schengen area,” is made up of 26 countries: 22 EU...
Russian opposition activists set for court amid crackdown
MOSCOW — A Russian court on Wednesday sent a prominent opposition activist to jail pending a probe, as authorities continue to crack down on dissent ahead of September’s parliamentary election. In the southern city of Krasnodar, a court ordered Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia movement that has...
Hacking outfit linked to Russia is behind JBS cyberattack, sources sayVideo
A notorious Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS SA, according to four people familiar with the assault who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The cyber gang goes by the name REvil or Sodinokibi. While it’s unclear if all of REvil’s hackers operate in...
Democrat Melanie Stansbury wins U.S. House race in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE — Democrat Melanie Stansbury has won election to Congress for New Mexico to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Stanbury prevailed Tuesday in a four-way race after campaigning in support of major initiatives of the Biden administration. Her victory shores up the Democratic majority...
Netanyahu: Israel would risk ‘friction’ with U.S. over Iran
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he’s prepared to risk tension with the United States if that is what it takes to neutralize Iran’s nuclear capabilities. The embattled premier, whose political future is in question just 11 days out from a bruising war, said Israel’s...
Report tells of sexual assault, racism at Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute has tolerated and failed to address institutional racism and sexism and must be held accountable for making changes, according to a state-sanctioned report released Tuesday. The 145-page report, put together by an independent law firm at the request of the State Council of Higher Education for...
Outlets: L.A. County fire station shooting kills 1 firefighter, wounds anotherVideo
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A shooting at a small Los Angeles County Fire Department station Tuesday killed one firefighter and wounded another, a county official and multiple media outlets reported. Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of multiple gunshot victims shortly before 11 a.m. at Fire Station 81, about 45 miles...
FBI agent charged in off-duty shooting of man on Metro train
ROCKVILLE, Md. — An FBI agent has been charged with attempted murder in the off-duty shooting of another man on a Metro subway train last year in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., according to court records unsealed Tuesday. During a hearing, Montgomery County prosecutors outlined their account of how...
Biden to suspend oil leases in Alaska’s Arctic refuge
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is suspending oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it reviews environmental impacts of drilling in the remote region that has been the focus of a political fight for decades, according to two people who have been briefed on the administration’s...
China reports human case of H10N3 bird flu, a possible first
BEIJING — A man in eastern China has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but the risk of large-scale spread is low, the government said Tuesday. The 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai, was hospitalized April 28 and...
Democrat Nikki Fried announces run for Florida governor
TALLAHASSEE — Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced Tuesday she’ll seek the Democratic nomination for governor, calling Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis an authoritarian who’s putting his party and political ambition ahead of Floridians. Fried criticized DeSantis for trying to quash the voice of Floridians by signing bills that make it more...
Florida governor bans transgender women from school sports
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Republican governor signed a bill Tuesday barring transgender females from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls, plunging the state into the national culture war over transgender rights. “In Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going...
Biden invites GOP senator as infrastructure deadline looms
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to meet Wednesday with West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican negotiator on infrastructure as the administration signals time is running out to strike a bipartisan deal on the White House’s big investment proposal and top legislative priority. The president is...
Anxiety runs high as Pa. begins massive overhaul of 60-year-old unemployment computer system
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — “I feel like I am a sinking ship right now.” “Next month will be a year that they have...
Justices reject Johnson & Johnson appeal of $2B talc verdict
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using Johnson & Johnson talc products. The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting Johnson & Johnson’s appeal. The company argued that it was not treated...
Pa. chooses ‘responsibility’ over $1 million lotteries to encourage covid-19 vaccination
Pennsylvania officials considered tactics such as a lottery to motivate people to get vaccinated against covid-19, and they remain a possibility, Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. Some states are touting prizes worth $1 million or more to spur people to get the covid-19 vaccines. But Beam expressed confidence...
Officer who tackled Boston Marathon bomber retires
WATERTOWN, Mass. — A suburban Boston police officer who became a national hero in 2013 when he tackled one of the Boston Marathon bombers retired from the only job he says he ever wanted. Watertown police Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese retired on Monday after more than 41 years on the force....
Moderna seeks full FDA approval for its covid-19 vaccine
Moderna Inc. said it is seeking a full approval for its covid-19 vaccine, a move that could make a shot cleared on an emergency basis during the pandemic into a stable source of revenue for years to come. The company said in a statement Tuesday that it will submit data...
Russian authorities increase pressure on opposition
MOSCOW — Russian authorities have ramped up their pressure on dissent ahead of a parliamentary election, arresting one opposition activist and raiding several others’ homes. Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia movement that dissolved itself last week, was pulled off a Warsaw-bound plane at St. Petersburg’s airport just...
Biden marks Tulsa race massacre in emotional, graphic speechVideo
WASHINGTON — An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had “come to fill the silence” about one of the nation’s darkest — and long suppressed — moments of racial violence. “Some injustices are...
Vatican law criminalizes abuse of adults by priests, laity
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has changed church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority and to say that laypeople who hold church office can be sanctioned for similar sex crimes. The new provisions, released Tuesday after 14 years of study, were...
Covid-19 variants to be labeled as Greek letters
GENEVA — The World Health Organization is announcing a new nomenclature for the covid-19 variants that were previously — and somewhat uncomfortably — known either by their technical letter-number codes or by the countries in which they first appeared. Hoping to strike a fair and more comprehensible balance, WHO said...
