German police crack down on Berlin organized crime families
BERLIN — Hundreds of German police and other investigators raided more than 20 buildings in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg early Thursday in a crackdown on two feuding organized crime families, authorities said. Two people, a 44-year-old and a 22-year-old, were arrested, police said. No names were given...
NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient lifeVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet Thursday, accomplishing the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
Even without listening, U.S. lives in Rush Limbaugh’s media world
NEW YORK — You didn’t have to like or even listen to Rush Limbaugh to be affected by what he did. Conservative talk radio wasn’t a genre before him. Without Limbaugh, it’s hard to imagine a Fox News Channel, or a President Donald Trump, or a media landscape defined by...
U.S. life expectancy drops a year in pandemic, most since WWII
Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting. Minorities suffered the biggest impact, with Black Americans losing nearly three years and Hispanics, nearly two years, according to...
Some power restored in Texas but water woes persist
AUSTIN, Texas — Power was restored to more homes and businesses in Texas on Thursday after a deadly blast of winter this week overwhelmed the electrical grid and left millions shivering in the cold. But the crisis was far from over, with many people still in need of safe drinking...
China defends use of Twitter, Facebook in virus campaign
BEIJING — The Chinese government defended its use of Twitter and Facebook on Thursday, following a report that it had used its growing social media presence to spread disinformation about the origins of the covid-19 pandemic. When asked about the report, the Foreign Ministry’s top spokesperson, Hua Chunying, didn’t directly...
2 Belarusian journalists sent to prison for covering protest
KYIV, Ukraine — A court in Belarus on Thursday sent two female journalists to prison on charges of violating public order after they covered a protest against the nation’s authoritarian president. The court in the Belarusian capital of Minsk handed two-year sentences to Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, who goes by the...
Spain: Dozens arrested in fresh riots over rapper’s jailing
MADRID — More than 50 people were arrested and dozens injured during a second night of protests that turned violent in several Spanish cities. The protests were sparked by the imprisonment of a rapper who had insulted the monarchy and praised terrorism. The protests began peacefully late Wednesday in dozens...
Indianapolis art museum chief quits amid ‘white audience’ job posting flap
INDIANAPOLIS — The president of the The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields resigned on Wednesday, days after the institution apologized for posting a job listing seeking a new director who would maintain the museum’s “traditional, core, white art audience.” The museum’s board of trustees and board of governors said...
Feds arrest UCLA student accused of sitting in Mike Pence’s chair
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles college student and self-described fascist was arrested after he sat in former Vice President Mike Pence’s chair in the Senate chambers during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, authorities said. Officials say Christian Secor — a 22-year-old student at the University of California, Los...
State university program would offer free education in exchange for staying in Pennsylvania
When Edinboro University senior Sam Bohen graduates in May, he’ll bring a wealth of knowledge, lifelong friendships and $40,000 in student debt. “Many students are working our way through college by spending our days in class and our nights on the job so that we can afford rent and books,”...
More deadly storms coming so prepare better, experts sayVideo
WASHINGTON — Deadly weather will be hitting the U.S. more often, and America had better get better at dealing with it, experts said Wednesday as Texas and other states battled winter storms that blew past the worst-case planning of utilities, governments and millions of shivering citizens. The storms this week...
Authorities: Florida men posed as U.S. marshals to avoid wearing masks
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — Two men are accused of pretending to be federal marshals and flashing phony credentials to get out of wearing facial coverings at a South Florida resort hotel. When the staff at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort asked Walter Wayne Brown Jr., 53, and Gary Brummett, 81,...
Ex-Texas mayor says residents should ‘fend for themselves’
DALLAS — The now former mayor of a West Texas town says he had already turned in his resignation when he wrote a Facebook post saying it was not the local government’s responsibility to help those suffering in the cold without power. In his typo-ridden post made Tuesday morning, Tim...
Florida governor threatens to pull coronavirus vaccine from communities that criticize distributionVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Wednesday that he would divert covid-19 vaccines from communities that criticize his distribution methods, sparking complaints that he is playing politics with lifesaving medicine. DeSantis is facing questions in Manatee County over a decision to give seniors living in two of...
Arizona woman charged in Capitol melee says Proud Boys recruited her
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — An Arizona woman charged in the Jan. 6 onslaught of the U.S. Capitol bragged in a Snapchat video that she was recently recruited by a Kansas City chapter of the Proud Boys, a neofascist organization that describes itself as “Western chauvinists” and has long forbidden female...
Thousands of service members saying no to covid-19 vaccine
By the thousands, U.S. service members are refusing or putting off the covid-19 vaccine as frustrated commanders scramble to knock down internet rumors and find the right pitch that will persuade troops to get the shot. Some Army units are seeing as few as one-third agree to the vaccine. Military...
Police: 7 shot near transit station in north Philadelphia
At least seven people have been wounded by gunfire near a transit station in north Philadelphia, police said. Police said two people were shot in the back shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday near the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority station in the Olney neighborhood. Three other people were hit in an...
Son of conservative activist Brent Bozell charged in Capitol riot
HARRISBURG — The son of a prominent conservative activist is accused of being inside the U.S. Capitol during the deadly riot on Jan. 6. Leo Brent Bozell IV, of Palmyra, Lebanon County, was charged with obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct in a newly unsealed...
Thousands of cold-stunned sea turtles being rescued in Texas
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — Residents, some of whom lack heat or basic amenities in their own homes due to the unusually chilly weather, have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles and taking them to a convention center in a South Texas resort town. “Every 15 minutes or less there’s another...
Sicilian village cleans up ash, stones from Mt. Etna eruption
PEDARA, Sicily — Residents and municipal teams worked Wednesday to clean up a Sicilian village near Mount Etna after Europe’s most active volcano spewed lava, ashes and volcanic stones. The eruption, which featured spectacular displays of gushing lava, forced the temporary closure of Sicily’s Catania Airport, a frequent occurrence when...
Government seizes more than 10M phony N95 masks in covid-19 probe
WASHINGTON — Federal agents have seized more than 10 million fake 3M brand N95 masks in recent weeks, the result of an ongoing investigation into counterfeits sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies. The most recent seizures occurred Wednesday when Homeland Security agents intercepted...
South Carolina House passes bill restricting abortions
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina House on Wednesday passed a bill banning nearly all abortions, following the lead of other states with similar measures that would go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. The proposal passed the Senate on Jan. 28. It...
Fact check: Joe Biden and his shifting goalposts on reopening schools
WASHINGTON — How do you define success when it comes to reopening schools in the pandemic? President Joe Biden and his aides are having difficulty settling on an answer to that question. At his town-hall forum Tuesday night, Biden denied that his administration ever thought one day of classroom instruction...
Russia rejects European rights court’s order to free Navalny
MOSCOW — Europe’s top human rights court has ordered Russia to release jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a ruling quickly rejected Wednesday by Russian authorities who are bent on isolating the Kremlin’s most prominent foe. The decision by the European Court of Human Rights had demanded that Russia free Navalny...
