Leaks on Russian gas pipelines raise concerns about sabotage
WARSAW, Poland — Explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before unusual leaks were discovered on two natural gas pipelines running underwater from Russia to Germany, seismologists said Tuesday. Some European leaders and experts are pointing to possible sabotage during an energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine. The...
Appeals ruling leaves Trump fate in defamation suit in flux
NEW YORK — A federal appeals court asked a Washington D.C. appeals court Tuesday to help it decide whether the United States should be substituted for former President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says he raped her over a quarter century...
Jan. 6 sedition trial underway for Oath Keepers leader
WASHINGTON — Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy, one of the most serious cases to emerge from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Stewart Rhodes and the others are the...
China’s Xi reappears on state TV amid rumors over absence
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping reappeared on state television Tuesday after a several-day absence from public view that sparked rumors about the 69-year-old leader’s political fortunes. Xi was shown visiting a display at the Beijing Exhibition Hall on the theme of “Forging Ahead into the New Era.” Accompanied by...
Vote in Ukraine’s Russia-held areas stokes tension with West
KYIV, Ukraine — Kremlin-orchestrated referendums that are expected to serve as a pretext for Moscow to annex Russian-held regions of Ukraine concluded Tuesday as the preordained outcome of the votes heightened tension between Russia and the West. Moscow-backed officials in the four occupied regions in southern and eastern Ukraine said...
British pound stabilizes, but turmoil still roils U.K. economy
LONDON — The British pound stabilized Tuesday as U.K. authorities tried to ease investor concerns after the biggest tax cuts in 50 years sent the currency tumbling to a record low the previous day. The turmoil is already having real-world effects, with several British mortgage lenders pulling offers from the...
Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba, Florida braces for Cat 4 damage
HAVANA — Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba on Tuesday as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 storm before it hits Florida, where officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate before it crashes ashore Wednesday. Ian made landfall at 4:30 a.m....
Pennsylvania spending $45M to establish 3 new state parks
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is spending $45 million to add new state parks at a nature preserve in Tunkhannock, on Big Elk Creek in the Philadelphia suburbs and along the Susquehanna River near Wrightsville, officials were set to announce Tuesday. The additions to the state’s 121-park system will be an existing...
Meta disables Russian propaganda network targeting Europe
A sprawling disinformation network originating in Russia sought to use hundreds of fake social media accounts and dozens of sham news websites to spread Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine, Meta revealed Tuesday. The company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it identified and disabled the operation before...
Prosecutors: Jurors need to see ‘extreme views’ of central Pa. woman accused of stealing Pelosi’s laptop
Weeks before prosecutors say Riley Williams broke into the U.S. Capitol and stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Jan. 6 riots, she attended pro-Trump rallies featuring a white supremacist leader, according to new court documents filed in her case. Prosecutors filed motions on Friday advising the court they...
CBO: Biden’s student debt plan would cost $400 billion over 30 years
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s plan for student debt cancellation will cost the federal government about $400 billion over the next 30 years, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The figures were released Monday in response to a request from Republican lawmakers who oppose Biden’s plan in...
Pa. election 2022: No constitutional amendments on Nov. 8 ballot, but big ones are looming
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania voters will not see any proposed constitutional amendments on this year’s November ballot, but that is almost certain...
Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba, Florida braces for Cat 4 damageVideo
HAVANA — Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba on Tuesday as a major hurricane, with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane before it hits Florida on Wednesday. Ian made landfall at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up...
Pa. election 2022: How to serve as a poll worker on Nov. 8
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — When Pennsylvania holds its 2022 general election in November, thousands of poll workers will ensure that voting runs smoothly....
Soldier who went missing during Korean War accounted for
BOSTON — A soldier from Massachusetts who went missing during the Korean War and was later reported to have died in a prisoner of war camp has been accounted for using modern scientific techniques, military officials said. Army Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo, 19, of East Boston, was accounted for in...
Ollie’s bargain-hunting shoppers push the Pa. retailer’s growth to 457 stores
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet president and CEO John Swygert described the last two-and-a-half years as “a total rollercoaster ride.” “It was a challenge from every aspect you could think of,” he said. In December 2019, co-founder and longtime Ollie’s CEO Mark Butler died unexpectedly at the age of 61. Butler was...
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas new evidence ahead of public hearingVideo
WASHINGTON — The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election is seeking new evidence, just days before the next public hearing and as lawmakers push to complete an interim report next month. A lawsuit filed...
Bam! NASA spacecraft crashes into asteroid in defense testVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft rammed an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth. The galactic grand slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the small space...
Russia gives citizenship to ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden
MOSCOW — Russia on Monday granted citizenship to former American intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who fled prosecution after he revealed highly classified U.S. surveillance programs to capture communications and data from around the world. A decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin listed Snowden as one of 75 foreign citizens...
Wolf takes lawsuit on constitutional changes to lower court
HARRISBURG — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is taking another shot at a lawsuit that argues Republican lawmakers improperly bundled together five proposed state constitutional amendments to get them approved by the Pennsylvania Legislature. Wolf’s new lawsuit filed late last week in Commonwealth Court is similar to the litigation he previously...
How a party with neo-fascist roots won big in Italy
ROME — The Brothers of Italy party, which won the most votes in Italy’s national election, has its roots in the post-World War II neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. Keeping the movement’s most potent symbol, the tricolor flame, Giorgia Meloni has taken Brothers of Italy from a fringe far-right group to...
Canada won’t require masks on planes, drops vaccine mandate
TORONTO — The Canadian government announced Monday it will no longer require people to wear masks on planes to guard against covid-19. Transport Canada said the existing rules for masks will come off Oct. 1 “We are able to do this because tens of millions of Canadians rolled up their...
Building collapse near Kenyan capital kills 3; more missing
NAIROBI, Kenya — A multi-story building collapsed outside Kenya’s capital Monday, killing a woman and two children, and rescuers picked through the debris in search of a family reported missing. Four people were rescued, including a child, after the collapse in Kirigiti, said Kiambu county Gov. Kimani Wamatangi. But “we...
Russian military recruiter shot amid fear of Ukraine call-up
KYIV, Ukraine — A young man shot a Russian military officer at close range at an enlistment office Monday, in an unusually bold attack reflecting resistance to the Russian leadership’s efforts to mobilize hundreds of thousands of men to wage war on Ukraine. The shooting comes after scattered arson attacks...
Pfizer seeks to expand omicron booster to 5- to 11-year-olds
Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Monday to expand use of its updated covid-19 booster shot to children ages 5 to 11. Elementary school-aged children already received kid-sized doses of Pfizer’s original vaccine, a third of the dose given to everyone 12 and older — two primary shots plus a booster. If...
