Detention of WNBA’s Brittney Griner in Moscow extended for 1 month
The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner said Friday her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month. Alexander Boykov told The Associated Press he believed the relatively short extension of the detention indicated the case would come to trial soon. She has been in detention for nearly...
Child malnutrition mounts amid conflict in northeast Nigeria
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Iza Ali’s five children are still waiting to eat at 3 p.m. It’s not the first day that the family has gone without food since they fled extremist violence in northeast Nigeria six years ago. She and her husband scrape together $3 a day, but it’s rarely...
Russian soldier on trial in 1st Ukraine war-crimes case
KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian soldier went on trial in Ukraine on Friday for the killing of an unarmed civilian, marking the first time a member of the Russian military has been prosecuted for a war crime during the 11-week conflict. A 21-year-old captured member of a tank unit is...
Pennsylvania ranks near the top nationally in book-banning activity, report finds
PHILADELPHIA — Amid a wave of challenges nationally to books in school libraries, Pennsylvania experienced more book-banning activity from the second half of last year through this spring than almost any other state, according to a group supporting free expression in literature. A report released last month by PEN America...
North Korea reports 6 deaths after admitting covid-19 outbreak
North Korea said Friday six people died and nearly 190,000 are under quarantine following a rapid spread of fever across the nation in recent weeks, a day after it first acknowledged a covid-19 outbreak in a largely unvaccinated population. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that more than...
Rand Paul stalls quick Senate OK of $40B Ukraine packageVideo
WASHINGTON — Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul defied leaders of both parties Thursday and single-handedly delayed until next week Senate approval of an additional $40 billion to help Ukraine and its allies withstand Russia’s three-month old invasion. With the Senate poised to debate and vote on the package of military...
Pennsylvania covid-19 update: 21,781 cases reported for week
The Pennsylvania Department of Health published its weekly update of data on the covid-19 pandemic, reporting 21,781 additional infections of the last seven days, an average of 3,112 per day. That calculates to a 46% increase in a week, and more than triple the average of 862 daily cases recorded...
Donald Trump questions Kathy Barnette’s electability in Pennsylvania Senate race
PHILADELPHIA — Former President Donald Trump jumped back into Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary, warning that the surging underdog Kathy Barnette “will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats.” Yet in the same statement, Trump, who has endorsed Mehmet Oz for Senate, said Barnette could...
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Kevin McCarthy, 4 other GOP lawmakersVideo
WASHINGTON — A House panel issued subpoenas Thursday to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other GOP lawmakers in its probe into the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, an extraordinary step that has little precedent and is certain to further inflame partisan tensions over the 2021 attack. The panel is...
Reports show fatal crashes increased in Pennsylvania in 2021
Traffic crashes in the U.S. are increasing at a record pace, according to the latest data estimates from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. NHTSA estimates of the first nine months of 2021 project that more than 31,700 people died in vehicle crashes from January to September 2021. That’s an...
Spain debates if menstrual leave policy will help or hurt
MADRID — A government proposal that could make Spain the first country in Europe to allow workers to take menstrual leave has sparked debate over whether the policy would help or hinder women in the workplace. A leaked draft of new legislation that the Spanish Cabinet is expected to discuss...
Jake Corman drops out of Pa. governor’s race, backs Barletta as primary nears
HARRISBURG — Jake Corman, Pennsylvania’s ranking state senator and a Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor said Thursday that he was ending his campaign and endorsing rival Lou Barletta, a move that comes as GOP leaders warn that leading candidate Doug Mastriano is too far right to win in a general...
Georgia man challenges eligibility of 13,600 voters
CUMMING, Ga. — A Georgia man is challenging the eligibility of more than 13,000 registered voters in his county in the northern part of the state. Frank Schneider filed the challenge Tuesday with the Forsyth County Board of Voter Registration and Elections, which will consider it during their regularly scheduled...
Russia blasts east Ukraine, Mariupol
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces pounded areas in Ukraine’s east on Thursday, including the last pocket of resistance in besieged Mariupol. Even as the globe-shaking repercussions of the invasion spread, the conflict on the ground slogged on, with Ukraine’s military recapturing some towns and villages in the country’s northeast but...
EU plan aims to help get wheat from Ukraine to the world
BRUSSELS — The European Commission proposed helping Ukraine export its wheat and other grains by rail, road and river to get around a Russian blockade of Black Sea ports, which is preventing those critical supplies from reaching parts of the world at risk of food insecurity. The European Union’s executive...
Biden urges world to renew covid fight as U.S. nears 1M deaths
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden appealed to world leaders on Thursday for a renewed international commitment to attacking covid-19 as he led the U.S. in marking the approaching “tragic milestone” of 1 million deaths at home from the virus. He ordered flags lowered to half-staff and warned against “complacency” around...
Several feared dead after chemical plant blast in Slovenia
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — An explosion and fire at a chemical plant in southeast Slovenia has left at least four people missing and feared dead, officials said Thursday. Emergency officials said another two people were hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns after the blast, which was reported around 8.30 a.m....
Palestinians mourn slain Al Jazeera journalist, blame Israel
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Thousands gathered to mourn a slain Al Jazeera journalist in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, as the head of the Palestinian Authority blamed Israel for her death and rejected Israeli calls for a joint investigation. Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter who...
Mercedes recalls 292K vehicles to fix problem with brakes
DETROIT — Mercedes-Benz is recalling more than 292,000 vehicles in the U.S. to fix a problem that could cause the brakes to fail or perform poorly. The recall covers certain ML, GL and R-Class vehicles from the 2006 through 2012 model years. Mercedes says in documents posted Thursday by the...
Astronomers capture 1st image of Milky Way’s huge black hole
WASHINGTON — The world’s first image of the chaotic supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy doesn’t portray a voracious cosmic destroyer but what astronomers Thursday called a “gentle giant” on a near-starvation diet. Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black...
South African firm says it may close its covid vaccine plant
JOHANNESBURG — The first factory to produce covid-19 vaccines in Africa says it has not received enough orders and may stop production within weeks, in what a senior World Health Organization official described Thursday as a “failure” in efforts to achieve vaccine equity. South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare said that it...
No more murder charge for women in Louisiana abortion bill
NEW ORLEANS — The sponsor of a bill that would have subjected Louisiana women to murder charges for having abortions abruptly pulled the proposal from debate Thursday night after House members voted 65-26 to totally revamp the legislation, eliminating the criminal penalties. The controversial bill would have ventured farther against...
Finland moves toward joining NATO amid Russia threats
HELSINKI — Finland’s leaders Thursday came out in favor of applying to join NATO, and Sweden could do the same within days, in a historic realignment on the continent 2½ months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear through Moscow’s neighbors. The Kremlin reacted...
Public database significantly undercounts former drug labs in Pa.
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 — The only online federal database that allows people to see whether their home or property was contaminated with toxic...
Soldier killed in bear attack during training in Alaska, U.S. Army says
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier was killed by a bear Tuesday while training in Anchorage, the U.S. Army Alaska said. The soldier was part of a small group training in an area west of the Anchorage Regional Landfill when the bear attacked, the Army said in a...
