Suicide bomber strikes at a center of Taliban power, kills 4
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck at a center of Taliban power Wednesday, setting off a blast at a government ministry in the Afghan capital of Kabul and killing at least four people. The explosion went off in the afternoon as workers and visitors were praying inside a mosque...
Nobel Prize for 3 chemists who made molecules ‘click’
STOCKHOLM — Three scientists were jointly awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for developing a way of “snapping molecules together” that can be used to design better medicines, including ones that target diseases such as cancer more precisely. Americans Carolyn R. Bertozzi and K. Barry Sharpless, and...
OPEC+ makes big oil cut to boost prices; pump costs may rise
FRANKFURT, Germany — The OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries decided Wednesday to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could deal the struggling global economy another blow and raise politically sensitive pump prices for U.S. drivers just ahead of key national elections. Energy ministers cut production...
Putin signs annexation of Ukrainian regions as losses mount
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws that claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russia’s territory while his country’s military struggled Wednesday to control the illegally annexed areas. The documents finalizing the annexation, carried out in violation of international laws, were published on a Russian government website. In...
Remains identified as those of girl, 14, missing since 1969
WILKES-BARRE — Remains found a decade ago have been identified as those of a teenager girl who went missing in northeastern Pennsylvania more than a half-century ago, state police said. State police in Wilkes-Barre said Tuesday that the remains were identified as those of 14-year-old Joan Marie Dymond of Wilkes-Barre,...
Federal judge orders Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify in abortion lawsuit
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge has ordered Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify in a high-profile abortion case, a week after the Republican reportedly fled his McKinney home to avoid being served with a subpoena. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote that Paxton needs to clarify...
South Korea missile accident panics public on edge over NorthVideo
SEOUL — A South Korean ballistic missile malfunctioned and crashed into the ground during a live-fire drill with the United States, panicking confused residents of a coastal city already uneasy over increasingly provocative weapons tests by rival North Korea. The sound of the blast and subsequent fire on Tuesday night...
Unresolved gray areas in Pa. mail voting law likely to spur fresh confusion, legal challenges
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 — As millions of Pennsylvanians once again go to the polls this November, some key questions on mail ballots remain...
Ex-trooper missing after sentencing in Tennessee protester’s unmasking
NASHVILLE — A former Tennessee state trooper has gone missing after he was sentenced for a misdemeanor assault conviction on a charge that he pulled the face mask off a protester during the covid-19 pandemic in August 2020. In a Facebook post Monday, Columbia Police said 54-year-old Harvey Briggs was...
Teen sought in ambush outside Philadelphia school that killed 1, hurt 4
PHILADELPHIA — Police are seeking a 16-year-old youth in last week’s ambush shooting outside a Philadelphia high school that killed a 14-year-old and wounded four other teenagers after a football scrimmage Police said Tuesday that the 16-year-old is wanted on active arrest warrants for a charge of murder and multiple...
Domestic violence focus of next Unity in the Community event in Greensburg
A Greensburg-based community group wants to help raise awareness about the pervasive problem of domestic violence. Coinciding with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, “Break the Silence” is the title of an event hosted by Unity in the Community from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the YWCA, 424 N. Main St.,...
Trump asks Supreme Court to intervene in classified documents dispute
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate, escalating a dispute over the powers of an independent arbiter appointed to inspect the records. The...
Record high revenue of $3.3 billion recorded at Pa. casinos
In-person gambling bounced back at the 16 casinos across the state as slots and table game revenue reached a record high $3.3 billion in the last fiscal year according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board annual report. That tops the previous record of $3.2 billion for fiscal year 2018-19. Retail...
Kids with disabilities face off-the-books school suspensions
The phone call from her son’s school was alarming. The assistant principal told her to come to the school immediately. But when Lisa Manwell arrived at Pioneer Middle School in Plymouth, Michigan, her son wasn’t sick or injured. He was sitting calmly in the principal’s office. John, who has ADHD...
Police: 6 California killings may be work of serial killer
STOCKTON, Calif. — Ballistics tests have linked the fatal shootings of six men and the wounding of one woman in California — all potentially at the hands of a serial killer — in crimes going back more than a year, police said. Authorities last week announced that five men in...
Poll: Many pessimistic about improving standard of living
NEW YORK — More than half of Americans believe it’s unlikely younger people today will have better lives than their parents, according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Most of those polled said...
Smacked asteroid’s debris trail more than 6,000 miles long
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The asteroid that got smacked by a NASA spacecraft is now being trailed by thousands of miles of debris from the impact. Astronomers captured the scene millions of miles away with a telescope in Chile. Their remarkable observation two days after last month’s planetary defense test...
Judge tosses charges against 7 people in Flint water crisis
A Michigan judge dismissed charges Tuesday against seven people in the Flint water scandal, including two former state health officials blamed for deaths from Legionnaires’ disease. Judge Elizabeth Kelly took action three months after the Michigan Supreme Court said a one-judge grand jury had no authority to issue indictments. Kelly...
U.S. announces new $625M security package for Ukraine
WASHINGTON — The U.S. announced plans Tuesday to provide an additional $625 million in military aid to Ukraine, a package that includes additional advanced rocket systems credited with helping the country’s military gain momentum in its war with Russia. President Joe Biden provided details on the latest package, which includes...
Musk offers to end legal fight, pay $44B to buy TwitterVideo
Elon Musk is abandoning his legal battle to back out of buying Twitter by offering to go through with his original $44 billion bid for the social media platform. The mercurial Tesla CEO made the offer in a letter to Twitter, which the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with...
Pa. woman accused of trying to drown ‘possessed’ children, report says
A Dauphin County woman faces charges including attempted murder after police said she tried to drown her children during a “baptism,” according to ABC 27. Pennsylvania State Police began investigating after reports of a woman they allege was Candice McElwee walking with four children along a road in Middle Paxton...
Indonesia soccer group: Some gates locked in deadly crush
MALANG, Indonesia — Delays in unlocking the gates at an Indonesian soccer stadium after violence broke out at the end of a match contributed to a disaster in which at least 131 people died, the national soccer association said Tuesday. The Football Association of Indonesia said it has permanently banned...
Seriously, The Onion files Supreme Court brief in defense of parody
WASHINGTON — The Onion has some serious things to say in defense of parody. The satirical site that manages to persuade people to believe the absurd has filed a Supreme Court brief in support of a man who was arrested and prosecuted for making fun of police on social media....
U.K.’s Truss vows to listen as she reels from policy U-turns
BIRMINGHAM, England — Liz Truss should be celebrating her first month as Britain’s prime minister. Instead, she’s fighting for her job. Truss is spending her first Conservative Party conference as leader this week scrambling to reassure financial markets spooked by her government’s see-sawing economic pledges, while trying to restore her...
Job openings sink as economy slows, cost to borrow rises
WASHINGTON — The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July as businesses grow less desperate for workers, a trend that could cool chronically high inflation. That is good news for the Federal Reserve in its efforts to bring down high prices without plunging the...
