Misery deepens in Gaza’s Rafah as Israeli troops press operation
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Aid workers struggled Monday to distribute dwindling food and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by what Israel says is a limited military operation in Rafah, as the two main crossings near the southern Gaza city remained closed. The United Nations’ agency for...
Vast coin collection of Danish magnate is going on sale a century after his death
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The vast coin collection of a Danish butter magnate is set to finally go on sale a century after his death, and could fetch up to $72 million. Lars Emil Bruun, also known as L.E. Bruun, stipulated in his will that his 20,000-piece collection be safeguarded for...
U.S. airlines are suing the Biden administration over a new rule to make certain fees easier to spot
WASHINGTON — U.S. airlines are suing to block the Biden administration from requiring greater transparency over fees that the carriers charge their passengers, saying that a new rule would confuse consumers by giving them too much information during the ticket-buying process. The U.S. Transportation Department said Monday it will vigorously...
‘He is my guy’: Fetterman stands by Biden despite rift over Israel
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has recently emerged as one of President Joe Biden’s loudest critics following the president’s plans to stop shipping certain weapons to Israel if it invades Rafah in southern Gaza. But at an event Monday in Wilkinsburg, the Braddock Democrat said his disagreements with Biden over Israel...
U.S. museum curator detained in Turkey on claims of spider smuggling; he says he has permits
ISTANBUL — A curator at the American Museum of Natural History was detained in Istanbul on Monday while allegedly attempting to smuggle spider and scorpion samples, Turkish media reported. The curator said he had permits from the government to conduct his research. Lorenzo Prendini, an expert on arachnids at the...
Haitians demand the resignation and arrest of the country’s police chief after a new gang attack
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti’s police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday. Armed men raided the coastal community of...
3 dead, 18 hurt after shooting at Alabama May Day party
STOCKTON, Ala. — Authorities in south Alabama urged witnesses to come forward with videos that might show who was responsible for a shooting at an outdoor party that left three dead and 18 wounded over the weekend. Officials have released few details about the shooting Saturday night at a May...
Book review: Anonymous public servants are the heart of George Stephanopoulos’ ‘Situation Room’
The biggest challenge for an author tackling the history of the Situation Room, the basement room of the White House where some of the biggest intelligence crises have been handled in recent decades, is the room itself. As a setting, it’s pretty underwhelming. In “The Situation Room: The Inside Story...
Canadian wildfire smoke chokes upper Midwest for 2nd straight year
MADISON, Wis. — Smoke from Canadian wildfires has prompted health warnings across the upper Midwest for the second straight year. Fires raging in British Columbia and Alberta sent the haze over parts of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin on Sunday, lingering into Monday morning. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency...
Corruption trial for Sen. Bob Menendez underway with jury selection
NEW YORK — Sen Bob Menendez, a Democrat, went on trial in Manhattan federal court Monday, accused of accepting bribes of gold and cash to use his influence to deliver favors that would help three New Jersey businessmen. Menendez, 70, sat with his lawyers and listened as Judge Sidney H....
Violence is traumatizing Haitian kids. Now the country’s breaking a taboo on mental health services
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Students often throw up or wet themselves when gunfire erupts outside their school in northern Port-au-Prince. When they do, school director Roseline Ceragui Louis finds there’s only one way to try to calm the children and keep them safe: getting them to lie on the classroom floor...
Star witness Michael Cohen directly implicates Trump in testimony at hush money trialVideo
NEW YORK — Donald Trump was intimately involved with all aspects of a scheme to stifle stories about sex that threatened to torpedo his 2016 campaign, his former lawyer said Monday in matter-of-fact testimony that went to the heart of the former president’s hush money trial. “Everything required Mr. Trump’s...
Democratic ad campaign tries to chip away at Trump support among rural swing voters in 3 key states
NEW YORK — A Democratic group is rolling out a new $140 million ad campaign that aims to chip away at Donald Trump’s support among one of his most loyal voting blocs: rural voters. The ads, from American Bridge 21st Century, will begin airing Monday in the northern battleground states...
From fossil fuels to Israel, university divestment debates can be lengthy struggles
Protesters yelling “divest” outside the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning had a bullhorn, a well-honed message and a chest-high yellow banner that read: “We’re Still Here.” But their focus wasn’t the Israel-Hamas war. On that day in January 2020, they were demanding that Pitt rid its multibillion-dollar endowment of...
Rescuers free 2 horses stuck in the mud in Connecticut
LEBANON, Conn. — Two horses stuck deep in mud for hours in Connecticut were pulled out by more than a dozen rescuers Saturday, emerging messy and tired, but safe. A trio of horses were walking from a pasture to a barn though swampy woods in Lebanon, Connecticut, about 25 miles...
For a second time, Sen. Bob Menendez faces a corruption trial. This time, it involves gold bars
NEW YORK — For the second time in a decade, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez faces a corruption trial Monday with his political career and freedom on the line in a criminal case that already has forced him out of one of the most powerful posts in Congress. The 70-year-old New...
Trump vows ‘day one’ executive order targeting offshore wind
Donald Trump vowed to issue an executive order targeting offshore wind development if he wins a second term as president, making his most explicit threat yet toward the growing industry. The presumptive Republican nominee derided offshore wind projects as lethal for birds and whales during his oceanfront rally Saturday in...
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trialVideo
NEW YORK — He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors’ biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president’s hush money trial. But if Trump’s fixer-turned-foe is poised to offer jurors this week an insider’s view of the dealings at the...
Pro-Palestinian protests dwindle to tiny numbers and subtle defiant acts at U.S. college graduationsVideo
A tiny contingent of Duke University graduates opposed pro-Israel comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking at their commencement Sunday in North Carolina, with about 30 of the 7,000 students leaving their seats and chanting “free Palestine” amid a mix of boos and cheers. Some waved the red, green, black and white Palestinian...
Putin in cabinet shakeup moves to replace defense minister as he starts his 5th term in officeVideo
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in a cabinet shakeup that comes as he begins his fifth term in office. In line with Russian law, the entire Russian Cabinet resigned Tuesday following Putin’s glittering inauguration in the Kremlin, and most members have been widely...
Suspect is being sought in shooting death of an Ohio police officer, officials say
EUCLID, Ohio — An Ohio police officer was shot and killed after being “ambushed” while answering a disturbance call over the weekend, and a suspect was being sought, authorities said Sunday. Police in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid said officers were dispatched just before 10 p.m. Saturday to a home...
Federal agency says a second, if weaker, solar storm surge is likely SundayVideo
A U.S. government agency said a weaker repeat of Saturday’s powerful solar storm was likely on Sunday. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that “coronal mass ejections” — clouds of ejected solar plasma that can cause power grid irregularities and issues with high-frequency communications and global positioning systems...
Election deniers: West Virginia voters must pick from GOP candidates who still dispute 2020 outcome
CHARLESTON — When West Virginia Republicans vote in a primary on Tuesday, they will have a hard time finding a major candidate on the ballot in any statewide race who openly acknowledges that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Embracing or skirting the line on election denialism has become...
Israel pushes deeper into Rafah and battles a regrouping Hamas in northern Gaza
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago but where militants have regrouped. Warnings continued against the growing offensive in Rafah, considered the last...
Penn Township to vote on expanding volunteer service tax program to include Manor firefighters
Penn Township commissioners will vote this next week on a proposal to expand its volunteer service credit program to include residents who serve in neighboring Manor Borough Volunteer Fire Department. Enacted by the township commissioners in 2018, the program gives real estate and earned income tax credits to Penn Township...
