News category, Page 1280

ROME — Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. The papal thumbs-up came midway through the film that delves into issues Francis cares about most, including the environment, poverty,...

In a presidential election year that has thrown the country’s divisions into stark relief, Americans can agree on this: Misinformation about government and politics is a major problem. A new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Opinion Research and USAFacts finds that while voters say it’s pretty easy...

Pennsylvania State Police are looking for the person who shot a pet cat in the head with a crossbow over the last week in Dauphin County. Two South Hanover Township residents, of the 7200 block of Union Deposit Road, told state police their black cat was missing for about a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is returning to Philadelphia on Wednesday for his first in-person 2020 campaign event for Joe Biden. In 2016, the man known as one of the Democratic Party’s strongest orators delivered Hillary Clinton’s closing argument in the same place — at a rally for...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is hopping from one must-win stop on the electoral map to the next in the leadup to a final presidential debate that may be his last, best chance to alter the trajectory of the 2020 campaign. Democrat Joe Biden has been taking the opposite approach,...

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s anti-police protesters stayed on the streets in Lagos on Wednesday, breaking the government curfew following a night of chaotic violence in which demonstrators were fired upon, sparking global outrage. Shots were fired Wednesday as young demonstrators set up barricades by the Lekki toll plaza in Lagos,...

BRUSSELS — The European Union struck a defiant tone Wednesday as the standoff over resuming post-Brexit trade negotiations with the United Kingdom intensified, telling London that “you cannot have your cake and eat it, too.” But the bloc’s chief negotiator offered an olive branch to Britain by saying that both...

BERLIN — A large number of art works and artifacts at some of Berlin’s best-known museums were smeared with a liquid by an unknown perpetrator or perpetrators earlier this month, police said Wednesday. The “numerous” works in several museums at the Museum Island complex, a UNESCO world heritage site in...

SAN FRANCISCO — Fed up with white people calling 911 about people of color selling water bottles, barbecuing or otherwise going about their lives, San Francisco leaders unanimously approved hate crime legislation giving the targets of those calls the ability to sue the caller. The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday...

A scathing report from the Trump administration on Tuesday concluded that top U.S. universities have “massively underreported” funding they accept from China, Russia and other nations described as “foreign adversaries.” The Education Department released the report amid its effort to enforce a 1986 law requiring U.S. universities to disclose gifts...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will let fans back in outdoor stadiums for pro sporting events in counties with low coronavirus infection rates but isn’t ready to allow Disneyland and other major theme parks to reopen, the state’s top health official said Tuesday. San Francisco and neighboring Alameda and Santa Clara...

NEW YORK — He’s tick, tick ticked. President Donald Trump posted video of “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl appearing maskless after interviewing him Tuesday — then threatened to scoop CBS by airing their recent interview ahead of schedule. “Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White...

NEW YORK — A NASA spacecraft on Tuesday conducted the U.S. space agency’s first sample collection from an asteroid as part of seven-year-long voyage. The event, which lasted around 4 1/2 hours, saw Osiris-Rex approaching Bennu at tortoise speed, about 0.19 miles per hour, and then touching down on the...

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo demoted a high-ranking deputy over the weekend after the deputy’s comments in a Star Tribune article prompted an internal backlash. Art Knight, who had served as Arradondo’s chief of staff, was quoted using the term “white boys” in a story that ran in...

OKLAHOMA CITY — One set of human remains, and perhaps a second, have been found in a Tulsa cemetery where investigators are searching for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Oklahoma state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Tuesday. “We do have one confirmed individual and the possibility of a second”...

LOS ANGELES — The lack of oversight by a Southern California boat owner led to a fire that killed 34 people on a 2019 scuba diving excursion, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday. The predawn fire aboard the Conception is one of California’s deadliest maritime disasters, prompting criminal and...

A newly released prison mug shot shows Bill Cosby smiling with a disposable mask hanging off his face. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections recently updated Cosby’s mug shot, something routinely done to document changes to inmates’ appearance as they age. Cosby’s new photo was taken Sept. 4. Cosby, 83, was...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A grand juror who won a court fight to speak publicly about the Breonna Taylor investigation took issue Tuesday with statements by Kentucky’s attorney general and said the jury was not given the option to consider charges connected to Taylor’s shooting death by police. The anonymous grand...

HOUSTON — A Houston police officer was killed and a teenager and another officer were wounded Tuesday morning when a man opened fire on law enforcement responding to a domestic disturbance call, authorities said. Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers arrived at the apartment in southwest Houston around 8 a.m....

MINNEAPOLIS — A high-ranking deputy to the Minneapolis’ police chief said he was demoted after he was quoted in a newspaper story referring to white officers as “white boys,” which led to a backlash within the department. Art Knight, who is Black and who was Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s chief...

President Donald Trump’s sprawling political operation has raised well over $1 billion since he took the White House in 2017 — and set a lot of it on fire. Trump bought a $10 million Super Bowl ad when he didn’t yet have a challenger. He tapped his political organization to...

WASHINGTON — Melania Trump’s return to the campaign trail will have to wait. The first lady has decided against accompanying President Donald Trump to a campaign rally Tuesday in Erie because of a lingering cough after her bout with covid-19, said Stephanie Grisham, her chief of staff. It was to...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft descended Tuesday toward the surface of an asteroid 200 million miles away to collect a handful of rubble for return to Earth. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft dropped out of orbit around asteroid Bennu right on time, beginning a 4 1/2-hour plunge to the rough,...

An altered photo of rappers Ice Cube and 50 Cent in hats that appear to show support for President Donald Trump circulated widely on social media Tuesday, fueled in part by a tweet by Eric Trump. “Two great, courageous Americans,” Trump’s son tweeted. He removed the tweet with a photo...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The City Council in Missouri’s capital city has approved removing a Civil War marker dedicated to a Confederate general amid a dispute about the accuracy of its description. Jefferson City Council members voted 8-2 Monday to remove the marker dedicated to Confederate Gen. Sterling Price. The...