Fed nominee Michael Barr calls inflation ‘far too high’
WASHINGTON — Michael Barr, President Joe Biden’s pick to be the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator, pledged Thursday to help reduce high inflation and provide “clear rules” to govern financial innovation. “I would be strongly committed to bringing down inflation to the Federal Reserve’s target” of 2%, Barr said in...
FDA head: Baby formula factory could reopen by next week
WASHINGTON — The head of the Food and Drug Administration told lawmakers Thursday that a shuttered baby formula factory could be up and running as soon as next week, though he sidestepped questions about whether his agency should have intervened earlier at the plant at the center of the national...
Turkey’s leader says ‘no’ to Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid
ISTANBUL — Turkey will oppose Sweden and Finland joining NATO, the country’s president flatly stated in a video released Thursday, as Turkish officials emphasized Ankara’s security concerns. “We have told our relevant friends we would say ‘no’ to Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO, and we will continue on our...
McDonald’s finds a buyer for Russian restaurants
McDonald’s has begun the sale of its restaurants in Russia 30 years after the burger chain became a powerful symbol of easing of Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union. The Chicago burger giant said its existing licensee Alexander Govor, who operates 25 restaurants in Siberia, has...
Germany: 1 person wounded, 1 detained in school attack
BERLIN — German police said they detained a suspect following an attack at a high school in the northern city of Bremerhaven on Thursday morning in which a school employee was wounded. Police said the incident happened at the Lloyd high school in the center of the city, which is...
U.S. case of monkeypox reported in Massachusetts man
NEW YORK — Massachusetts on Wednesday reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada, and health officials are looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe. Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the United States and elsewhere...
President Biden invokes Defense Production Act for formula shortage
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant. The Defense...
Teen dies, sister rescued in New Jersey beach sand collapseVideo
TOMS RIVER, N.J. — An 18-year-old male died while playing with his sister at a New Jersey beach when a large hole they were digging in the sand collapsed, police said. His sister was also trapped but was rescued and treated at the scene, the Toms River Police Department said...
DHS warns abortion ruling could increase extremist violence
WASHINGTON — The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion striking down the constitutional right to abortion has unleashed a wave of threats against officials and others and increased the likelihood of extremist violence, an internal government report says. Violence could come from either side of the abortion issue or...
Stocks fall sharply as Target’s woes renew inflation fears
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,100 points and the S&P 500 had its biggest drop in nearly two years Wednesday, as big earnings misses by Target and other major retailers stoked investors’ fears that surging inflation could cut deeply into corporate profits. The broad...
What to know about Pennsylvania’s election recount rules
Pennsylvania election law requires an automatic recount if the difference between the top two candidates for a statewide office is 0.5% of the vote or less. Such a recount has been triggered five times since the law was enacted in 2004 — most recently in the Commonwealth Court race in...
Fetterman says he’s ready to return to lieutenant governor duties
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said in a letter to state legislators Wednesday that he is ready to return to his duties in Pennsylvania’s second-highest elected office, a day after undergoing a procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator in his chest. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman will continue...
Global pollution kills 9 million people a year, study findsVideo
A new study blames pollution of all types for 9 million deaths a year globally, with the death toll attributed to dirty air from cars, trucks and industry rising 55% since 2000. That increase is offset by fewer pollution deaths from primitive indoor stoves and water contaminated with human and...
After Buffalo massacre, NY governor seeks action on guns
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York would require state police to seek court orders to keep guns away from people who might pose a threat to themselves or others under a package of executive orders and gun control bills touted Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul in the aftermath of a racist...
‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli freed from prison for halfway house
NEW YORK — Convicted pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was freed Wednesday from prison after serving much of a seven-year prison sentence for lying to hedge fund investors and cheating investors in a drug company. His attorney, Ben Brafman, said Shkreli, 39, was released early from a prison in Allenwood, Pa....
Officials say more areas of U.S. may see mask recommendations
WASHINGTON — Covid-19 cases are increasing in the United States – and could get even worse over the coming months, federal health officials warned Wednesday in urging areas hardest hit to consider reissuing calls for indoor masking. Increasing numbers of covid-19 infections and hospitalizations are putting more of the country...
UN envoy: U.S. sanctions on Iran worsen humanitarian situation
TEHRAN, Iran — Sweeping U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran have badly impacted the country’s economy and worsened the humanitarian situation in the Persian Gulf nation, a United Nations special envoy said Wednesday. According to Alena Douhan, the U.N. special rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, the sanctions have affected Iran’s main...
Ex-cop pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd killing
MINNEAPOLIS — A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. As part of the plea deal, Thomas Lane will have a count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder dismissed. Lane and former Officers...
Interrogation, uncertainty for surrendering Mariupol troops
KYIV, Ukraine — Nearly 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russia said Wednesday, as the battle that turned the city into a worldwide symbol of defiance and suffering drew toward a close. Meanwhile, the first captured Russian soldier to be put...
Russian soldier pleads guilty at Ukraine war crimes trial
KYIV, Ukraine — A 21-year-old Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded Ukraine pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing an unarmed civilian. Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin could get life in prison for shooting a a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in the...
Exiled Russian director returns to Cannes, decries war
CANNES, France — The last two times the Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov had films playing at the Cannes Film Festival, he couldn’t attend. He was under a travel ban in Russia as part of a conviction for fraud in what was widely protested as unwarranted repression of the arts in...
Pennsylvania covid update: 27K cases reported for week
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health released its weekly update on covid-19, showing an additional 27,391 infections in the past seven days. The state is recording new cases of the virus at levels not seen since mid-February. The latest report shows new cases increased 23% over the previous week’s...
Oz, McCormick still neck and neck in Pa. GOP Senate primary
HARRISBURG — Heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick went into Wednesday essentially tied in Pennsylvania’s hotly contested Republican nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat, expected to be among the nation’s most competitive races in the fall. The contest was within a couple...
Pakistan Taliban extend truce for more talks with government
ISLAMABAD — The Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday said they are extending a cease-fire with the government until May 30, after the two sides held an initial round of talks in neighboring Afghanistan. In a statement, Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said the talks were being facilitated by Afghanistan’s...
In Ukraine, limbs lost and lives devastated in an instant
KYIV, Ukraine — There is a cost to war — to the countries that wage it, to the soldiers who fight it, to the civilians who endure it. For nations, territory is gained and lost, and sometimes regained and lost again. But some losses are permanent. Lives lost can never...
