U.N., G-7 decry Russian attack on Ukraine as possible war crimeVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the U.N. human rights office described as “particularly shocking” and amounting to potential war crimes. Air raid warnings sounded throughout Ukraine for a second straight...
Tourists flock to Japan after covid restrictions lifted
TOKYO — Eager to admire colorful foliage, eat sushi and go shopping, droves of tourists from abroad began arriving in Japan on Tuesday, with the end of pandemic-fighting border restrictions that had been in place for more than two years. “We got the news that we can finally come. We...
Carbon monoxide leak at Pa. day care center injures dozens of children, staff
ALLENTOWN — A carbon monoxide leak at a Pennsylvania day care center sent more than two dozen children and several adults to hospitals early Tuesday, some of them unconscious, but none of the injuries were considered serious, authorities said. Emergency responders went to the Happy Smiles Learning Center in Allentown,...
Families bid farewell as Thai massacre victims are cremated
UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Hundreds of mourners and victims’ families gathered Tuesday evening to watch flames burn from rows of makeshift furnaces at cremation ceremonies for the young children and others who died in last week’s mass killings at a day care center in Thailand’s rural northeast. The families bid...
3 fishermen rescued fighting off sharks in Gulf
NEW ORLEANS — Three men whose fishing boat sank in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast were rescued after surviving for more than a day despite being attacked by sharks that inflicted deep cuts on their hands and shredded one of their life jackets, according to their rescuers....
Prosecutors drop charges against Adnan Syed in ‘Serial’ case
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast “Serial.” Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore, said her office...
Pennsylvania school district cancels Halloween parades due to inclusivity, safety concerns
A Pennsylvania school district in Montgomery County has decided to cancel Halloween parades at elementary schools and it’s due to safety and inclusivity concerns, according to reports. The Lower Merion School District has hosted Halloween parades for more than 50 years, but that might have at least temporarily come to...
Trump lawyer Christina Bobb points finger at colleague for claim all documents at Mar-a-Lago had been returned
Christina Bobb, a lawyer who signed the letter certifying that former President Donald Trump had returned all sensitive documents, is reportedly pointing the finger at a fellow lawyer for drafting the false claim. The former TV anchor told federal investigators that Evan Corcoran, a more senior member of Trump’s legal...
Watchdog group sues Gov. Ron DeSantis, claims public records law was violated over migrant flights
TALLAHASSEE — A nonprofit government watchdog group has filed a lawsuit alleging Gov. Ron DeSantis and his staff violated the state public records law for failing to produce documents and other material it requested related to two flights relocating migrants from Texas to Massachusetts. It comes days after the governor’s...
Nebraska senator faces questions, protests at University of FloridaVideo
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse faced pointed questions and loud protests Monday during his first visit to the University of Florida as the lone finalist for the school’s presidency. Sasse, a Republican in his second Senate term, has drawn criticism from some at the school in Gainesville,...
Authorities: 5 dead in shooting at South Carolina home
INMAN, S.C. — Five people died Sunday night in a shooting at a home in northern South Carolina, authorities said, Spartanburg County deputies and emergency workers found them suffering from gunshot wounds at a house in Inman, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a statement. Four people died at...
Army to expand recruiting programs, investment to fill ranks
WASHINGTON — The Army plans to increase its investment in marketing and is expected to expand a new program for struggling recruits, but leaders on Monday offered few new details on how they’ll fill the ranks after falling far short of recruiting goals this year. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told...
Box covering Columbus statue sports colors of Italian flag
PHILADELPHIA — A statue of Christopher Columbus in Philadelphia remains hidden by a plywood box while its fate is decided in the courts, but the box has now been painted with the colors of the Italian flag. City officials told the news station KYW that they painted the box covering...
Search for victims done, Florida coast aims for Hurricane Ian recovery
FORT MYERS, Fla. — An army of 42,000 utility workers has restored electricity to more than 2.5 million businesses and homes in Florida since Hurricane Ian’s onslaught, and Brenda Palmer’s place is among them. By the government’s count, she and her husband Ralph are part of a success story. Yet...
As suicides rise, U.S. military seeks to address mental health
WASHINGTON — After finishing a tour in Afghanistan in 2013, Dionne Williamson felt emotionally numb. More warning signs appeared during several years of subsequent overseas postings. “It’s like I lost me somewhere,” said Williamson, a Navy lieutenant commander who experienced disorientation, depression, memory loss and chronic exhaustion. “I went to...
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene rises from GOP fringe to frontVideo
WASHINGTON — Marjorie Taylor Greene took her seat directly behind Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, a proximity to power for the firebrand congresswoman that did not go unnoticed, as he unveiled the House GOP’s midterm election agenda in Pennsylvania. Days later, she appeared on stage warming up the crowd for...
Social Security boost will help millions of kids, too
WASHINGTON — Seventy-year-old Cassandra Gentry is looking forward to a hefty cost-of-living increase in her Social Security benefits — not for herself but to pay for haircuts for her two grandchildren and put food on the table. The three live in a Washington apartment building that houses 50 “grandfamilies” —...
Analysts: Russian missiles seek to levy pain, could backfire
LONDON — The Russian missiles that rained down Monday on cities across Ukraine, bringing fear and destruction to areas that had seen months of relative calm, are an escalation in Moscow’s war against its neighbor. But military analysts say it’s far from clear whether the strikes mark a turning point...
Los Angeles Council President Nury Martinez resigns after racist remarks
LOS ANGELES — The president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from the post Monday after she was heard making racist comments and other coarse remarks in a leaked recording of a conversation with other Latino leaders. Council President Nury Martinez issued an apology and expressed shame. “In the...
Why doesn’t James Franklin show up on Penn State’s list of highest-paid employees?
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. The Penn State Transparency Tracker is an ongoing effort by Spotlight PA to document and...
28 dead as Julia drenches Central America with rainfallVideo
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Former Hurricane Julia has dissipated, but is still drenching Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains Monday after it reemerged in the Pacific following a pounding of Nicaragua. At least 28 people were reported dead as a direct or indirect result of the storm. Guatemala’s...
A look at the Kevin Spacey-Anthony Rapp trial
NEW YORK — The second week of Kevin Spacey’s #MeToo-era trial starts Tuesday in New York — but no criminal charges are involved. Stage and screen star Anthony Rapp has sued Spacey, accusing him of assault, battery and intentionally inflecting emotional distress when Rapp was 14. The trial opened with...
Former Fed Chair Bernanke shares Nobel for research on banks
STOCKHOLM — Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who put his academic expertise on the Great Depression to work reviving the American economy after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences along with two other U.S.-based economists for their research into the fallout from bank...
Airbus, Air France face criminal trial over Rio-Paris crash
PARIS — Airbus and Air France went on trial on manslaughter charges Monday over the crash of a Rio de Janeiro to Paris flight in 2009 that plunged into the Atlantic amid thunderstorms, killing all 228 people aboard and leading to changes in air safety regulations. The worst plane crash...
Dutch activists sue government over assisted suicide
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Campaigners calling for the decriminalization of assisted suicide in the Netherlands took the Dutch government to court Monday, arguing that its ban on helping a person end their life breaches human rights norms. The case at The Hague District Court is the latest legal battle in...