Apple’s new iPhones get faster chips, better cameras and new charging portsVideo
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of iPhones — a lineup that will boast better cameras, faster processors, a new charging system and a price hike for the fanciest model. The showcase at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, comes as the company tries to reverse a...
Rhino at Austrian zoo kills zookeeper, seriously injures her husband
BERLIN — A rhino at a zoo in Austria attacked a married couple working as zookeepers Tuesday, killing the woman and seriously injuring the man, authorities said. The fatal attack happened at the Hellbrunn zoo in the western Austrian city of Salzburg. Zoo Director Sabine Grebner told reporters Tuesday that...
North Korea’s Kim in Russia to meet Putin — both locked in standoffs with West
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un rolled into Russia on an armored train Tuesday to see President Vladimir Putin, a rare meeting between isolated leaders driven together by their need for support in escalating standoffs with the West. Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military...
Farm laborers to receive greater protections under Biden administration proposal
WASHINGTON — Immigrant farm workers would receive a raft of new protections under a Biden administration proposal to be announced Tuesday, which would boost safety requirements on farms and raise transparency around how such workers are brought to the U.S., to combat human trafficking. The proposal would reform the H-2A...
Massachusetts city gets more than 9 inches of rain, flooding homes and jeopardizing a damVideo
LEOMINSTER, Mass. — Heavy rainfall flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with two communities declaring a state of emergency as water poured into homes, creating moats around their foundations and leading to boat rescues of residents. Concern about a dam listed in poor condition led to more evacuations. Weather...
Outrage intensifies over New Mexico governor’s temporary gun ban as sheriff vows not to enforce it
ALBUQUERQUE — Federal lawsuits, cries for impeachment and outside protests. Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would welcome a fight after announcing an emergency order to suspend the right to carry firearms in most public places around Albuquerque. That’s exactly what she’s getting. Since she issued the...
American researcher has been rescued from deep Turkish cave more than a week after he fell illVideo
TASELI PLATEAU, Turkey — Rescuers pulled an American researcher out of a Turkish cave on Monday, more than a week after he became seriously ill more than 3,000 feet below its entrance, said the Speleological Federation of Turkey. Teams from across Europe had rushed to Morca cave in southern Turkey’s...
Escaped Pennsylvania inmate still believed to be within specific perimeter, police sayVideo
POTTSTOWN — Escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante is still believed to be within a search perimeter in a rural stretch of southeastern Pennsylvania hours after he stole a rifle from a garage and fled a homeowner’s gunfire, authorities said Tuesday. Heavily armed police descended on the South Coventry Township area...
Grand Canyon hiker dies after trying to walk from rim to rim in a single day
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — A 55-year-old Virginia man died in the Grand Canyon while trying to hike from the South Rim to the North Rim in a single day, a distance of 21 miles, authorities said Monday. Grand Canyon National Park officials identified the hiker who died Saturday...
Trump lawyers seek recusal of judge presiding over federal election subversion case
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday asked the federal judge presiding over his election subversion case in Washington to recuse herself, saying her past public statements about the former president and his connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol call into question whether she...
Overdose-reversing drug administered to puppy after possible fentanyl exposure in CaliforniaVideo
IRVINE, Calif. — A pit bull puppy that California police believe got into its owners’ fentanyl stash was administered an overdose-reversing drug and is recovering, officials said. The dog’s owners, a man and a woman, were arrested and could face charges including drug possession and animal cruelty, according to the...
Pennsylvania removes email database of public employees
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania officials have removed a searchable, online database of state employee emails, narrowing the ways the public can reach the people who...
U.S. approves updated covid vaccines to rev up protection this fall
WASHINGTON — The U.S. approved updated covid-19 vaccines Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and blunt any surge this fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration decision opens the newest shots from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to most Americans even if...
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano alert level is downgraded after latest eruption
HONOLULU — The alert level on Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, was downgraded Monday with no infrastructure threatened and no threat of significant ash emission into the atmosphere outside a limited area within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The downgrade came one day after the volcano...
Explosion and fire injures 9 workers at Illinois soybean processing plant
DECATUR, Ill. — An explosion and fire at a soybean processing facility in Illinois injured eight employees over the weekend and sent a tower of smoke into the air, officials said Monday. The explosion occurred at the east plant in the Archer Daniels Midland processing complex shortly after 7 p.m....
‘Stop Cop City’ petition campaign in limbo as Atlanta officials refuse to process signatures
ATLANTA — Atlanta officials refused to verify tens of thousands of signatures submitted on Monday by activists trying to stop the construction of a police and firefighter training center, the latest setback for organizers who have accused the city of trying to illegitimately push the project forward. The activists had...
Trial begins over Texas voter laws that sparked 38-day walkout by Democrats in 2021
SAN ANTONIO — A trial began Monday over a sweeping Texas voting law that sparked a 38-day walkout by Democrats in 2021, part of Republican efforts across the U.S. to pass new voting restrictions following President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election. The lawsuit was brought by a...
Ian Wilmut, a British scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, dies at age 79
LONDON — Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose work was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep in 1996, has died, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland said Monday. He was 79. Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team...
Flooding in eastern Libya after weekend storm leaves 2,000 people feared dead
CAIRO — Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead, one of the country’s leaders said Monday. The destruction appeared greatest in...
JetBlue is stepping up a campaign to save its plan to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion
NEW YORK — JetBlue Airways said Monday it has reached an agreement to turn over Spirit Airlines’ operations at airports in Boston and Newark, New Jersey, as JetBlue ramps up its effort to win regulatory or court approval to buy Spirit. JetBlue CEO Robin Hays said the announcement “is aimed...
Pa. Republicans have the candidate they want for U.S. Senate. They just need him to run
HARRISBURG — Republicans trying to recapture the U.S. Senate majority have the candidate they want in Pennsylvania. Now they just need David McCormick to run. Almost since the moment he lost last year’s Senate GOP primary, McCormick has floated the possibility that he would again seek the party’s nomination for...
Bells toll as the U.S. marks 22 years since 9/11, from ground zero to Alaska
NEW YORK — With tolling bells, personal tributes and tears, Americans looked back Monday on 9/11 at anniversary observances that stretched from ground zero to small towns. People gathered at memorials, firehouses, city halls, campuses and elsewhere to observe the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil....
Hurricane Lee unleashes heavy swell on northern Caribbean as it charges through open watersVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Lee barreled Sunday through open waters just northeast of the Caribbean, unleashing heavy swell on several islands. The Category 2 storm is not forecast to make landfall and is expected to stay over open waters through Friday. On Sunday morning, it was centered about...
Escaped murderer still at large slips out of search area, changes appearance, tries to contact ex-co-workers
PHOENIXVILLE — Authorities searched Monday for an escaped murderer who has eluded capture since breaking out of a southeastern Pennsylvania prison a week and a half ago after they said over the weekend he slipped out of the search area, changed his appearance, stole a dairy delivery van and tried...
Aftershock rattles Morocco as rescuers seek survivors from the earthquake that killed over 2,100
AMIZMIZ, Morocco —An aftershock rattled Moroccans on Sunday as they mourned victims of the nation’s strongest earthquake in more than a century and sought to rescue survivors while soldiers and aid workers raced to reach ruined mountain villages. The disaster killed more than 2,100 people — a number that is...