China cites ‘malicious slander’ as Houston consulate closes
BEIJING — China said Thursday that “malicious slander” is behind an order by the U.S. government to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, maintaining that its officials never operated outside ordinary diplomatic rules. Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the move against the consulate, the first one China opened in...
Saudi king, 84, undergoes surgery to remove gallbladder
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman underwent a successful surgery that removed his gallbladder, the kingdom said Thursday, just days after being admitted to the hospital over an inflammation of the organ. Surgeons at Riyadh’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital operated on the king, the state-run Saudi Press...
1.4 million seek jobless aid, first increase since MarchVideo
WASHINGTON — The number of laid-off Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week for the first time since the pandemic struck in March, evidence of the deepening economic pain the outbreak is causing to the economy. The rise in weekly jobless claims to 1.4 million underscores the outsize role the...
German court convicts former concentration camp guard, 93
BERLIN — A German court on Thursday convicted a 93-year-old former SS private of being an accessory to murder at the Stutthof concentration camp, where he served as a guard in the final months of World War II. He was given a two-year suspended sentence. Bruno Dey was convicted of...
South Africa sees ‘huge discrepancy’ in virus, total deaths
JOHANNESBURG — The South African Medical Research Council is reporting a “huge discrepancy” between the country’s confirmed covid-19 deaths and the number of excess deaths from natural causes, while Africa’s top health official says the virus is spreading there “like wildfire.” The new report, which came out late Wednesday, shows...
Biden, Obama pair in socially distanced video to decry TrumpVideo
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden is releasing a video of his first in-person meeting with Barack Obama since the coronavirus outbreak began, enlisting the former president to help slam his successor’s response to the pandemic. Snippets offered by Biden’s campaign showed the pair wearing masks while arriving at an office, then...
Reports: White House complex cafeteria worker tests positive for covid-19
A cafeteria worker in the White House complex that caters to President Trump’s staffers has tested positive for the coronavirus, but the risk of transmission is considered to be low, according to multiple reports. The eatery is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, according to NBC News. A report from...
Florida governor wants schools to reopen, offers flexibilityVideo
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis strongly emphasized the need to reopen schools in a rare address Wednesday, saying that keeping them closed will lead to depression, social isolation and a higher dropout rate, but acknowledged that parents should be able to keep children at home if they fear...
Officials: Fort Hood soldier believed to have drowned
BELTON, Texas — Authorities said Wednesday that a Fort Hood soldier found dead last week near the Texas Army base where he was stationed is believed to have drowned, according to the Bell County Sheriff’s Department. A preliminary autopsy shows the cause of death of Pvt. Mejhor Morta, 26, to...
FBI links killing of California lawyer to suspect in deadly attack on New Jersey judge’s familyVideo
LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators have unspecified evidence linking the killing of a men’s rights lawyer in California to the suspect in the ambush shooting of a federal judge’s family in New Jersey, authorities said Wednesday. The evidence allegedly connects Roy Den Hollander, another men’s rights attorney who was found...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rejects GOP colleague’s apology in verbal spat
WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman offered an apology Wednesday for the “abrupt manner” he used in a verbal confrontation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but denied aiming a sexist slur at her. Ocasio-Cortez rejected her colleague’s words, saying they were “not an apology” and what she heard was a vulgar slur....
House votes to remove Confederate statues from CapitolVideo
WASHINGTON — The House has approved a bill to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol, as well as a bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the author of the 1857 Dred Scott decision that declared African Americans couldn’t be citizens. Besides...
Ex-officer charged in George Floyd’s death faces tax evasion counts
MINNEAPOLIS — The former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd was charged Wednesday with multiple felony counts of tax evasion. Derek Chauvin and his wife, Kellie May Chauvin, were each charged in Washington County with six counts of filing false or fraudulent tax returns...
Democrats press McConnell on coronavirus aid, but some in GOP revoltVideo
WASHINGTON — Despite disarray in the Republican ranks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed Wednesday to unveil a draft covid-19 aid package as the White House resists Democratic demands for more virus testing, state funding and housing eviction protections. Key GOP senators revolted over the emerging effort as the price...
Ohio joins Pennsylvania in statewide mask mandate
Effective Thursday, it will take more than a trip across the Ohio state line for Pennsylvanians seeking to escape orders requiring face masks in public places. Ohio will join Pennsylvania in having a statewide mask mandate. One day after President Trump took to the airwaves endorsing masks and conceding that...
Protesters in Harrisburg rally against mask mandates, Gov. Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions
HARRISBURG — No more masks. No more restrictions. And, they said, no more tyranny. That was the rally cry of several hundred people who gathered Wednesday on the Capitol steps, calling for Gov. Tom Wolf to lift all coronavirus-related restrictions. Organizers called the “Pennsylvania Assemble for Freedom” event a gathering...
Florida sheriff: 2 brothers, girlfriend arrested in triple homicide
FROSTPROOF, Fla. — Two brothers and a woman have been arrested in connection with the “massacre” of three best friends who set out on a fishing trip at a central Florida lake last week, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday. One of the suspects, Tony “TJ” Wiggins, 26, had...
Trump deploys more federal agents under ‘law-and-order’ pushVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will send federal agents to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to help combat rising crime, expanding the administration’s intervention into local enforcement as he runs for reelection under a “law-and-order” mantle. Using the same alarmist language he has employed to describe...
Reports: Woody Johnson accused of corruption, racism, sexism as U.S. ambassador to U.K.
NEW YORK — Jets owner Woody Johnson has been absent from the team since late 2017, serving as President Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. From the sound of several reports published Tuesday and Wednesday, he’s exported the Jets’ signature leadership abroad. A New York Times story is mostly focused...
Report: Veterans home failed to protect residents from coronavirus
HARRISBURG — A state-run veterans nursing home in Pennsylvania where 42 residents have died of covid-19 failed to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, state Health Department inspectors concluded. Health inspectors said in a report that Southeastern Veterans’ Center, a 292-bed facility outside Philadelphia, ignored state and...
Winner of $10M lottery prize in 2017 charged with murder
SHALLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina man who won a $10 million lottery prize in 2017 has been arrested on a murder charge in the death of a woman whose body was found at a hotel. The Shallotte Police Department charged Michael Todd Hill, 52, of Leland, with murder after...
AP-NORC poll: Very few Americans back full school reopeningVideo
BOSTON — Virtual instruction. Mandated masks. Physical distancing. The start of school will look very different this year because of the coronavirus — and that’s OK with the vast majority of Americans. Only about 1 in 10 Americans think daycare centers, preschools or K-12 schools should open this fall without...
World virus cases top 15M; U.S. labs buckle amid testing surge
WASHINGTON — Laboratories across the country are buckling under a surge of coronavirus tests, creating long processing delays that experts say are actually undercutting the pandemic response. With the U.S. tally of infections at 3.9 million Wednesday and new cases surging, the bottlenecks are creating problems for workers kept off...
Lebanon County sues Gov. Wolf, seeking $13M in virus funding he withheld
A Pennsylvania county sued Wednesday to compel Gov. Tom Wolf to release $12.8 million in federal coronavirus relief funding that he withheld after county leaders defied his shutdown orders and sought to reopen on their own. Wolf yanked the funding from Lebanon County, where local Republican leaders voted in mid-May...
Lebanon County sues Gov. Wolf for withholding $13M in virus funding
A Pennsylvania county sued Wednesday to compel Gov. Tom Wolf to release $12.8 million in federal coronavirus relief funding that he withheld after county leaders defied his shutdown orders and sought to reopen on their own. Wolf yanked the funding from Lebanon County, where local Republican leaders voted in mid-May...
