Russia urges U.S. to respect right to protest
MOSCOW — The Russian Foreign Ministry urged the U.S. authorities to respect Americans’ right for peaceful protest amid the wave of demonstrations sparked by George Floyd’s death. The ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, says Moscow has taken note of the use of tear gas to disperse rallies and massive arrests of...
Judge: $750K bail for 3 ex-officers accused in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge set bail at $750,000 apiece Thursday for three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the killing of George Floyd, as a memorial service took place just blocks away. Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng made their first appearances in Hennepin...
Federal inmate dies after being pepper sprayed by guards
NEW YORK — A federal jail inmate in New York City died Wednesday after correctional officers sprayed him with pepper spray, the Bureau of Prisons said. Officers sprayed Jamel Floyd, a 35-year-old black man, after he barricaded himself in his cell at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center and broke a cell...
GOP’s Murkowski says she’s struggling with supporting Trump
WASHINGTON — Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski acknowledged Thursday that she’s “struggling” over whether she can support President Donald Trump given his handling of the virus and race crises shaking the United States. Murkowski, long a critic of the president’s, told reporters in Washington that she was thankful for the...
After protests, Va. Gov. Northam orders removal of iconic Lee statueVideo
RICHMOND, Va. — A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed as soon as possible from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday, pledging the state will no longer “preach a false version of history.” The bronze equestrian statue, which sits on an enormous...
Doctors say covid-19 at UPMC is declining in virulence, infection levels
Covid-19 is declining in both virulence and infection levels among patients at the state’s largest health care system, UPMC officials said Thursday. Dr. Donald Yealy, who heads emergency medicine at the system that has hospitals across the state, said both the ratio of patients testing positive for the virus and...
`Get your knee off our necks!’: Floyd mourned in MinneapolisVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Hollywood celebrities, musicians and political leaders gathered in front of the golden casket of George Floyd at a fiery memorial Thursday for the man whose death at the hands of police sparked global protests, with a civil rights leader declaring it is time for black people to demand,...
Vote counting drags into 3rd day after Pennsylvania primary
HARRISBURG — Counting an avalanche of 1.4 million mail-in votes dragged into a third day in Pennsylvania on Thursday as some races from Tuesday’s primary remained too close to call. The Associated Press has not yet called a number of races where the contest was close or had a large...
Pennsylvania reports 75 new coronavirus deaths, 537 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 75 new covid-19 deaths and 537 new cases in the state Thursday. That brings the state’s total case count to 73,942, with 5,817 deaths. The state considers 618 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday renewed the...
Testimony: Shooter used racist slur as Ahmaud Arbery lay dying
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A state investigator alleged Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting the black man with a pump-action shotgun. The inflammatory revelation came amid a week of angry nationwide protests over law enforcement...
Police think Madeleine McCann is dead; parents still hope
PRAIA DA LUZ, Portugal — German police said Thursday they presume a British girl who went missing in southern Portugal 13 years ago is dead, but Madeleine McCann’s parents still nurture hope their daughter will be found alive. McCann was 3-years-old at the time of her disappearance from an apartment...
Detained U.S. Navy veteran freed by Iran, making his way home
WASHINGTON — A Navy veteran detained in Iran for nearly two years has been released and started making his way home, with the first leg on a Swiss government aircraft, U.S. officials said Thursday. “The nightmare is over,” his mother said. The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, flew...
Pentagon-Trump clash breaks open over military and protests
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is not only drawing criticism from his usual political foes but also facing backtalk from his defense secretary, his former Pentagon chief and a growing number of fellow Republicans. A day after Defense Secretary Mark Esper shot down Trump’s idea of using active-duty troops to...
8:46: A number becomes a potent symbol of police brutality
MINNEAPOLIS — All protest movements have slogans. George Floyd’s has a number: 8:46 Eight minutes, 46 seconds is the length of time prosecutors say Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was pinned to the ground under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee before he died last week. In the days since,...
Slick SpaceX suits were made by Hollywood costume designer
If you are heading up to the International Space Station, you’re gonna wanna look your best. And who better to design your new space suit than a Hollywood costume designer. Elon Musk’s recent SpaceX-led mission — which launched a pair of NASA astronauts into space on May 30 — featured...
Florida officer on leave after pressing knee into man’s neck
SARASOTA, Fla. — A bystander video showing a Sarasota police officer pressing his knee into the neck of a handcuffed black man a week before the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has prompted an investigation and promises of transparency. Two Sarasota officers are seen on video holding down Patrick...
Protests eclipse pandemic, but White House fears resurgence
WASHINGTON — For weeks, President Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from center stage — mass protests over the death of George Floyd — may...
China easing airline access amid conflict with WashingtonVideo
BEIJING — Chinese regulators said Thursday more foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls ease, but it was unclear whether the change will defuse a fresh conflict with the Trump administration over air travel. The announcement came after Washington said Wednesday it would bar four...
Protests turn subdued after new charges in Floyd caseVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Demonstrations in cities across the United States to condemn racism and police abuses remained large but turned notably more subdued on the eve of a Thursday memorial service for George Floyd that kicks off a series of events to mourn the man whose death empowered a national movement....
Hong Kong outlaws insulting China’s national anthemVideo
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s legislature approved a contentious bill Thursday that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. The legislation was approved after pro-democracy opposition lawmakers tried to disrupt the vote. It passed with 41 lawmakers voting for it and just one voting against. Most of the...
Deputies: White Virginia man assaulted 3 people because of their race
LOCUST GROVE, Va. — Deputies in Virginia said a white man who called to report an assault turned out to be the aggressor, and has been charged with attacking three people because of their race. Authorities responding to a call from Edward Halstead in Locust Grove on Tuesday night “interviewed...
George Floyd autopsy report released; he tested positive for COVID-19 in April
MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office released the full autopsy results performed on George Floyd with his family’s permission. The release comes nine days after Floyd died following his detention on the pavement by police at a Minneapolis intersection and as crucial differences surfaced Monday with private autopsy...
Outrage as a result of video footage of Charlotte police tacticsVideo
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The police department in North Carolina’s largest city is coming under criticism after a video posted to social media appeared to show officers using chemical agents on demonstrators who were boxed in while protesting the death of George Floyd. The video was recorded on Tuesday night by...
Florida coronavirus cases surge past 58,700 as state has biggest daily gain in 6 weeksVideo
MIAMI — Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 1,317 additional cases of covid-19, bringing the state’s total to more than 58,000. The state now has 58,764 confirmed cases of the disease. Wednesday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the highest the state has seen since April 17 when...
Virginia governor to announce removal of Robert E. Lee statue
RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to announce plans Thursday to remove one of the country’s most iconic monuments to the Confederacy, a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The move would be an extraordinary...
