Migrants cross border amid legal uncertainty on asylum rule
EAGLE PASS, Texas — As U.S. officials anxiously waited, many of the migrants crossing the border from Mexico on Friday were oblivious to a pending momentous court ruling on whether to maintain pandemic-related powers that deny a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of covid-19. The...
As more doctors are kidnapped in Haiti, more hospitals protest by refusing new patients
The kidnapping-for-ransom of two more doctors in Haiti, where a pediatrician on Friday marked her 16th day in captivity, is prompting hospitals and physicians in the capital to close their doors and turn away new patients in protest. Bernard Mevs, a facility that specializes in trauma and critical care, and...
Russia claims to have taken full control of Mariupol
POKROVSK, Ukraine — Russia claimed to have captured Mariupol on Friday in what would be its biggest victory yet in its war with Ukraine, following a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of the strategic port city to a smoking ruin, with over 20,000 civilians feared dead. There was no...
Bill de Blasio, ex-NYC mayor, to run for redrawn House seat
NEW YORK — Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that he will run for Congress in a redrawn district that includes his Brooklyn home. De Blasio, whose second mayoral term ended last year, announced on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he will seek the Democratic nomination for...
Police: Chicago shooting leaves 2 people dead, 8 wounded
CHICAGO — Two people are dead and another eight wounded following a shooting near a fast food restaurant just blocks from Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile shopping district that sent bystanders scattering, authorities said. The shooting happened about 10:40 p.m. Thursday near a McDonald’s on the city’s Near North Side. One...
African scientists baffled by monkeypox cases in Europe, U.S.
LONDON — Scientists who have monitored numerous outbreaks of monkeypox in Africa say they are baffled by the disease’s recent spread in Europe and North America. Cases of the smallpox-related disease have previously been seen only among people with links to central and West Africa. But in the past week,...
Finland says Russia suspending natural gas supplies
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Russia will cut off natural gas to Finland after the Nordic country that applied for NATO membership this week refused President Vladimir Putin’s demand to pay in rubles, the Finnish state-owned energy company said Friday, the latest escalation over European energy amid the war in Ukraine. Finland...
G7 agree on pact to better prepare for future pandemics
BERLIN — The Group of Seven wealthy democracies announced plans Friday to strengthen epidemiological early-warning systems to detect infectious diseases with pandemic potential following the emergence of the coronavirus more than two years ago. Germany’s health minister, who hosted a two-day meeting of his G-7 counterparts in Berlin this week,...
Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary gap narrows between Oz, McCormick with recount likely
Two days after polls closed in Pennsylvania’s closely watched primary election, the Associated Press deemed the Republican U.S. Senate race still too early to call Thursday, with celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz and hedge fund CEO David McCormick seemingly headed toward a recount — and final results unlikely to be determined...
CDC urges Pfizer booster for children ages 5 to 11
Kids ages 5 to 11 should get a booster dose of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine, advisers to the U.S. government said Thursday. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention quickly adopted the panel’s recommendation, opening a third covid-19 shot to healthy elementary-age kids — just like what is already recommended for...
House passes bill to crack down on gasoline ‘price gouging’
WASHINGTON — A closely divided House approved legislation Thursday to crack down on alleged price gouging by oil companies and other energy producers as prices at the pump continue to soar. A bill backed by House Democrats would give President Joe Biden authority to declare an energy emergency that would...
Senate OKs overhaul of baby formula rules in aid program
WASHINGTON — The Senate approved a bill Thursday aimed at easing the baby formula shortage for families participating in a government assistance program that accounts for about half of all formula purchased in the United States. The House passed the bill the day before, so it now goes to President...
Jan. 6 panel asks GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk to testify about Capitol tour
WASHINGTON — The congressional committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection is asking a House Republican for more information about a tour of the building the panel says he led the day before the deadly attack. The committee’s letter to Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk on Thursday is the latest attempt by...
Blowback as George Bush gaffes Iraq war, not Ukraine, ‘unjustified’Video
Former President George W. Bush is facing criticism after mistakenly describing the invasion of Iraq — which he led as commander in chief — as “brutal” and “wholly unjustified,” before correcting himself to say he meant to refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The result is an absence of checks...
Despite high vaccination rates among Pa. prisoners, some covid restrictions remain in place
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 — More than two years after the first coronavirus cases were reported in Pennsylvania state prisons, some of the mitigation...
Oklahoma approves the nation’s most restrictive abortion ban
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s Legislature gave final approval Thursday to another Texas-style anti-abortion bill that providers say will be the most restrictive in the nation once the governor signs it. The bill is part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights. It...
Congress OKs latest $40B to help Ukraine repulse Russians
WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40 billion infusion of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies on Thursday as both parties rallied behind America’s latest, and quite possibly not last, financial salvo against Russia’s invasion. The 86-11 vote gave final congressional approval to the package, three...
Biden forest plan stirs dispute over what counts as ‘old’
BILLINGS, Mont. — President Joe Biden’s order to protect the nation’s oldest forests against climate change, wildfires and other problems devastating vast woodlands is raising a simple yet vexing question: When does a forest grow old? Millions of acres are potentially on the line — federal land that could eventually...
New Twitter policy aims to pierce fog of war misinformation
pSAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is stepping up its fight against misinformation with a new policy cracking down on posts that spread potentially dangerous false stories. The change is part of a broader effort to promote accurate information during times of conflict or crisis. Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer...
New Twitter policy aims to pierce fog of war misinformation
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is stepping up its fight against misinformation with a new policy cracking down on posts that spread potentially dangerous false stories. The change is part of a broader effort to promote accurate information during times of conflict or crisis. Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer...
Mysterious hepatitis cases in kids keep climbing as scientists search for a cause
MIAMI — No unusual cases of severe hepatitis among children have been confirmed in Florida despite a global rise in cases and an ongoing investigation into what’s causing the outbreak, which has affected more than 500 kids worldwide, including more than 150 in the United States. Doctors and public health...
Abortion-friendly states prep for more patients if Roe falls
JACKSON, Miss. — Leaders of a Tennessee abortion clinic calculated driving distances and studied passenger rail routes as they scanned the map for another place to offer services if the Supreme Court lets states restrict or eliminate abortion rights. They chose Carbondale in Illinois — a state that has easy...
Home sales tumble again as mortgage rates surge
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the third consecutive month in April as mortgage rates surged, driving up borrowing costs for would-be buyers as home prices soared to new highs. Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million,...
Germany’s Schroeder loses office amid anger over Russia ties
BERLIN — German lawmakers agreed Thursday to strip former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of his office and staff after he maintained and defended his long-standing ties with Russia and its energy sector despite the invasion of Ukraine. Sven Kindler, a financial policy spokesman for the Greens, one of the governing parties,...
Ukrainian troops surrendering at Mariupol registered as POWs
KYIV, Ukraine — Hundreds more Ukrainian fighters who made their stand inside Mariupol’s bombed-out steel plant surrendered, bringing the total to over 1,700, Russia said Thursday, amid international fears about the fate of the prisoners in Moscow’s hands. The Red Cross worked to register the soldiers as prisoners of war...
