Biden says remark on Putin’s power was about ‘moral outrage’Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday that he would make “no apologies” and wasn’t “walking anything back” after his weekend comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” The president also insisted he’s not calling for regime change in Moscow. “I was expressing the moral outrage that...
Biden’s budget plan: Higher taxes on rich, lower deficits
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced a budget blueprint Monday that calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, lower federal deficits, more money for police and greater funding for education, public health and housing. In essence, it tries to tell voters what a diverse and at times fractured Democratic Party...
Judge: Trump likely committed crimes related to election
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday asserted it is “more likely than not” that former President Donald Trump committed crimes in his attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, ruling to order the release of more than 100 emails from Trump adviser John Eastman to the committee...
Pennsylvania interstate remains closed after deadly pileupVideo
POTTSVILLE — A stretch of an interstate highway in Pennsylvania remained shuttered Tuesday, a day after at least three people were killed and more than a dozen others injured when tractor-trailers and other vehicles lost control and slammed into each other during a snow squall. Interstate 81 north remained closed...
Russia shifts focus to try to grind Ukraine’s army in east
KYIV, Ukraine — With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s territory to possibly end the war. The bulk of the...
G7 reject paying for Russian energy in rubles
BERLIN — Germany’s energy minister says the Group of Seven major economies have agreed to reject Russia’s demand to pay for Russian energy imports in rubles. Robert Habeck told reporters Monday that “all G-7 ministers agreed completely that this (would be) a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts.”...
Ukrainians claim to retake ground ahead of latest talks
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken a Kyiv suburb and an eastern town from the Russians in what is becoming a back-and-forth stalemate on the ground, while negotiators began assembling for another round of talks Tuesday aimed at stopping the fighting. Ahead of the talks, to be...
Arab, U.S. top diplomats in Israel as Mideast dynamic shifts
SDE BOKER, Israel — Israel on Monday hosted the foreign ministers of four Arab nations and the United States in a bid to strengthen its position in a rapidly shifting Middle East. The gathering brought together the top diplomats from all but one of the Arab countries that have normalized...
Jan. 6 panel files contempt cases against 2 former Trump allies
Two ex-advisers to former President Donald Trump should be held in contempt of Congress because they are withholding information that a House committee considers “central” to its investigation of events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the committee asserts. Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for...
Dollywood closes free-fall ride after Florida death
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Dollywood amusement park in Tennessee said Sunday it has temporarily closed a ride developed by the same maker of a free-fall ride from which a teen dropped to his death at a Florida attraction. Dollywood told The Associated Press it was saddened to hear about the...
Gunmen kill 2 in central Israel attack, Israeli police say
JERUSALEM — A pair of Arab gunmen on Sunday killed two people and wounded four others in a shooting spree in central Israel before they were killed by police, according to police and medical officials. It was the second deadly nationalist attack carried out by Arab assailants in an Israeli...
Nevada casino to pay $8M for serving chemicals, not beer
LAS VEGAS — A jury in Las Vegas has awarded $8 million to a middle school special education teacher who sued after being permanently injured when he was served cleaning solvents instead of tap beer at a casino bar. Lon Enwright, 38, used to also work as a wine steward...
Biscuits or bratwurst: GOP weighs its convention choices
In Milwaukee, one of two cities vying to host the Republican presidential convention in 2024, Democrats were pilloried by the potential visitors after predawn election results delivered Wisconsin for Joe Biden in the 2020 White House race. Rival Nashville, Tennessee, is run by a mayor whose Democratic brother was effectively...
Ukraine pleads for help, says Russia wants to split nation
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the West of cowardice Sunday while another top official said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea. Zelenskyy made an exasperated plea for fighter jets and tanks to help defend his country from Russia’s invading...
Biden on Russia’s Putin: ‘This man cannot remain in power’
WARSAW, Poland — President Joe Biden said Saturday that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” dramatically escalating the rhetoric against the Russian leader after his brutal invasion of Ukraine. Even as Biden’s words rocketed around the world, the White House attempted to clarify soon after Biden finished speaking in Poland...
Did teen’s big size factor in Florida amusement ride death?
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A rising middle school football player in Missouri, only 14 but already 6 feet, 5 inches tall and well over 300 pounds, Tyre Sampson fell to his death from a towering Florida amusement ride. Lawyers for his family want to know if negligence about his size,...
Japan PM, U.S. envoy pray in Hiroshima amid Russia nuke fears
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escorted the U.S. ambassador to his hometown of Hiroshima on Saturday to pay respects to atomic bombing victims and warned that the world is again facing threats of nuclear attacks stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “As we face a possibility of Russia’s...
China says no survivors in plane crash with 132 on board
BEIJING — Chinese authorities officially confirmed Saturday that there were no survivors in the crash of a China Eastern 737-800 earlier this week with 132 people on board. The announcement by an official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China at a late-night news conference was followed by a brief...
A really cool planetary event is happening on Monday, then not again until 2040
A planetary event that will not happen again until 2040 will occur Monday morning when Venus, Mars and Saturn appear very close together near the horizon just before sunrise. And to make the show more fun, a crescent moon will appear nearby. They aren’t really close together, of course. Venus...
Shelled city in north Ukraine fears becoming ‘next Mariupol’
LVIV, Ukraine — Nights are spent huddling underground from Russian strikes pounding their encircled city into rubble. Daylight hours are devoted to hunting down drinkable water and braving the risk of standing in line for the little food available as shells and bombs rain down. In the second month of...
Explainer: Why the 14th Amendment has surfaced in midterms
RALEIGH, N.C. — An 1868 amendment to the U.S. Constitution best known for protecting the due process rights of previously enslaved Americans has resurfaced in certain congressional races this year. Some attorneys and voters believe a rarely cited section of the 14th Amendment dealing with insurrection can disqualify a handful...
China crash mystery grows as evidence signals midair breakup
At least one piece of the Boeing Co. 737-800 that crashed in China appears to have broken loose well before impact, a finding that adds mystery to the plane’s fatal dive. The piece suspected to have come from the China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. jet was found about 6 miles...
How would those accused of Ukraine war crimes be prosecuted?
LVIV, Ukraine — Each day searing stories pour out of Ukraine: A maternity hospital bombed in Mariupol. A mother and her children killed as they fled Irpin in a humanitarian corridor. Burning apartment blocks. Mass graves. A child dead of dehydration in a city under siege, denied humanitarian aid. Such...
Ice shelf collapses in previously stable East Antarctica
An ice shelf the size of New York City has collapsed in East Antarctica, an area long thought to be stable and not hit much by climate change, concerned scientists said Friday. The collapse, captured by satellite images, marked the first time in human history that the frigid region had...
New Orleans school board reverses little known ban on jazz
NEW ORLEANS — With its president saying it had racist origins, the New Orleans school board has unanimously reversed a little known but century-old ban on jazz in schools in a city that had a huge role in developing jazz and where it is still played nightly at various venues....
