India bans TikTok, other Chinese apps amid border standoff
NEW DELHI — Indian TikTok users awoke Tuesday to a notice from the popular short-video app saying their data would be transferred to an Irish subsidiary, a response to India’s ban on dozens of Chinese apps amid a military standoff between the two countries. The quick workaround showed the ban...
Changes in military recruiting may endure after pandemicVideo
WASHINGTON — With his Army recruiting office shuttered because of the coronavirus, Staff Sgt. Anthony Holt has had to be creative to meet his enlistment goals. Using social media is one way. Signing up the grocery delivery guy is another. Holt asked the man how he ended up with the...
AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019
Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence. The assessment was...
Houston mayor reveals ‘wall of shame’ for businesses ignoring shutdown specificationsVideo
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is not afraid to put a spotlight on the businesses that refuse to adhere to the governor’s guidelines implemented to slow the spread of covid-19. On Monday, the mayor added three bars to his “wall of shame” that highlights overcrowded establishments. Houston mayor announces business "wall...
China forces birth control on Uighurs to suppress populationVideo
The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children. While individual women have spoken out before about forced...
GOP lawmakers urge action after Russia-Afghanistan briefingVideo
WASHINGTON — Eight Republican lawmakers attended a White House briefing Monday about explosive allegations that Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan — intelligence the president himself was said to have not been fully read in on. Members of Congress in both parties called...
Arizona shuts bars, theaters, gyms, parks amid coronavirus resurgenceVideo
PHOENIX — In an effort to stop a massive surge in new coronavirus cases, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ordered bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters and water parks around the state to be closed for at least 30 days starting Monday night. The Republican governor also ordered public schools to delay...
John Wayne’s name on California airport faces new scrutiny
In the latest move to change U.S. place names tied to racist groups and ideas, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film legend John Wayne’s name from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments. The party’s executive committee in Orange County adopted a...
‘Enough’: 1 killed, another injured in shooting in Seattle’s protest zoneVideo
SEATTLE — A 16-year-old boy was killed and and a younger teenager was wounded early Monday in Seattle’s “occupied” protest zone — the second deadly shooting in the area that local officials have vowed to change after business complaints and criticism from President Donald Trump. The violence that occurred just...
Cape Cod officials warn of white sharks ahead of July Fourth weekend
WELLFLEET, Mass. — Cape Cod’s beaches and towns may be quieter because of the coronavirus pandemic, but officials are reminding visitors ahead of the July Fourth holiday that the famous Massachusetts destination remains a popular getaway for other summertime travelers: great white sharks. Cape Cod National Seashore Chief Ranger Leslie...
Florida site of GOP convention orders wearing of masksVideo
The city of Jacksonville, Fla., where mask-averse President Donald Trump plans to accept the Republican nomination in August, ordered the wearing of face coverings Monday, joining the list of state and local governments reversing course to try to beat back a resurgence of the coronavirus. Less than a week after...
Trump campaign sues over mail-in drop-off sites for ballots in Pa.
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, the national Republican Party and four Western Pennsylvania members of Congress sued Monday to force changes to how the state collects and counts mail-in ballots under revamped rules. The federal lawsuit filed in Pittsburgh claims that as voters jumped to make use of...
Billions of dollars in aid for small businesses go unclaimed
NEW YORK — Billions of dollars offered by Congress as a lifeline to small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic are about to be left on the table when a key government program stops accepting applications for loans. Business owners and advocacy groups complain that the money in the Paycheck...
‘White power’ flare-up in retirement haven The Villages reveals tensions
THE VILLAGES, Fla. — There has always been a low-boil tension in The Villages retirement community between the Republican majority and the much smaller cohort of Democrats, but a veneer of good manners in “Florida’s Friendliest Hometown” mostly prevailed on golf courses and at bridge tables. Those tensions, though, flared...
Prosecutor: Golden State Killer said inner voice drove him
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The man dubbed the Golden State Killer made incriminating statements after his arrest and indicated he was driven by an internal force he couldn’t control, a prosecutor said Monday. Sacramento County prosecutor Thien Ho said that Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was alone in a police interrogation room...
Court: Ex-Ross Township postal worker who killed lover when she wouldn’t leave her husband needs to stay in prison
Robert Metz killed his lover when she refused to leave her husband. Her body was still there, lying on the floor of Metz’s Ross Township apartment, when police burst in three days later. And Metz, a 69-year-old retired postal worker, was sitting in a bathtub filled with bloody water, holding...
NYC mayor seeks $1 billion police cut amid City Hall protestVideo
NEW YORK — A week after a “defund the police” protest became a full-blown occupation outside City Hall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday he has a plan for the New York City police department budget to be slashed by $1 billion. The mayor, a Democrat, declined to discuss the...
Boris Johnson says covid-19 has been a disaster for BritainVideo
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged Monday that the coronavirus pandemic has been a “disaster” for Britain, as he announced a spending splurge designed to get the country — and his faltering Conservative government — back on track. As the U.K. emerges from a three-month lockdown, Johnson has lined...
Dems push election-season health care bill toward House OK
WASHINGTON — Democrats pushed a strengthening of “Obamacare” patient protections toward House passage Monday, an effort they hoped would help them sharpen the coronavirus pandemic and President Donald Trump’s efforts to scuttle the increasingly popular law into a lethal election-year weapon. The campaign-season bill seemed certain to move through the...
Westmoreland County reports 20 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County on Monday reported 20 new covid-19 cases and no additional deaths, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The countywide case total is now 640, with 38 deaths. There have been no reported coronavirus deaths in the county since May 18. Of the total number of covid-19 cases...
Pennsylvania reports 492 new coronavirus cases, 8 new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported 492 new coronavirus cases and eight new deaths. That brings the statewide total to 85,988 cases and 6,614 deaths. The state considers 2,414 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are...
Public input sought on state’s 2.2 million acres of forest land
State officials are asking Pennsylvanians to weigh in via a survey on plans for the roughly 2.2 million acres of land that make up its state forests. “As the department moves forward in developing a new strategic plan, those who appreciate, work in or recreate in Pennsylvania’s forests have a...
Gilead’s $2,340 price for coronavirus drug draws criticismVideo
The maker of a drug shown to shorten recovery time for severely ill covid-19 patients says it will charge $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries. Gilead Sciences announced the price Monday for remdesivir, and said...
Long-controversial Robert E. Lee marker in Ohio vandalized
FRANKLIN, Ohio — A vandal or vandals over the weekend spray-painted a marker honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the southwest Ohio city of Franklin. WHIO-TV reports they also wrote “no racist monuments” on the road in front of the marker, which was moved from alongside a public highway...
Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion clinic law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues in...
