Biden renews sanctions license for Chevron in Venezuela
MIAMI — The Biden administration has renewed a license partially exempting Chevron from sanctions on Venezuela so it can keep operating in the oil-rich, socialist-run nation. The license issued Friday by the U.S. Treasury Department allows the California-based Chevron and other U.S. companies to perform only basic upkeep of wells...
Students who survived Texas school attack describe scene
UVALDE, Texas — A young survivor of the massacre at a Texas elementary school said she covered herself with a friend’s blood and pretended to be dead while she waited for help to arrive. Miah Cerrillo, 11, told CNN that she and a friend called 911 from her dead teacher’s...
‘Relentless’: Russia squeezes Ukrainian strongholds in east
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Russia-backed separatists claimed they captured a railway hub city in eastern Ukraine as Moscow’s forces pushed to gain more ground Friday by pounding another Ukrainian-held area where authorities say 1,500 people have died since the start of the war. With Russia’s offensive in Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region...
Oz declares ‘presumptive win’ in Pa. GOP’s U.S. Senate primary
Dr. Mehmet Oz has seen enough, and he isn’t waiting for a recount. Sitting on a 910-vote lead in preliminary, unofficial tallies from Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary race as of Friday morning, Oz declared himself the presumptive winner in a new video release in which he took a definitive turn...
Here’s why scientists aren’t ‘crazy scared’ about monkeypox
The monkeypox outbreak has captured the attention of an anxious public that’s struggling to emerge from the covid-19 pandemic and is on high alert for the next virus that might upend our lives. Fortunately, professionals are a lot calmer about monkeypox than the armchair pundits. “In the last couple of...
Iran seizes 2 Greek tankers in Persian Gulf as tensions rise
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized two Greek oil tankers Friday in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf, officials said. The action appeared to be retaliation for Athens’ assistance in the U.S. seizure of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker this week in the Mediterranean Sea over violating Washington’s crushing sanctions...
Census Bureau: Big U.S. cities shedded population early in pandemic
Ko Im always thought she would live in New York forever. She knew every corner of Manhattan and had worked hard to build a community of friends. Living in a small apartment, she found her attitude shifting early in the coronavirus pandemic. After her brother accepted a job in Seattle...
Gun, ammo found in 2nd grader’s desk at Sacramento school
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A gun and a loaded magazine were found in a second-grade student’s desk at a California school after other students alerted the staff that a classmate had brought the weapon, officials said. The incident happened Tuesday at Edward Kemble Elementary in Sacramento, the Sacramento City Unified School...
Palestinians: Israel deliberately killed Al Jazeera reporter
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority on Thursday announced the results of its investigation into the shooting death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, saying it had proven she was deliberately killed by Israeli forces as she tried to flee. The conclusion echoed the results of a preliminary...
Michigan GOP governor hopefuls off ballot, court fight next
Two of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor say they will ask the courts to intervene after they were found ineligible Thursday for the August primary, reshaping the race to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the battleground state this fall. Former Detroit Police Chief James...
Husband of one of the teachers fatally shot at Uvalde school dies from heart attack
The husband of one of the fourth-grade teachers killed in the Uvalde school shooting Tuesday has died, according to multiple news reports. Irma Garcia, who was a 23-year veteran teacher at Robb Elementary School, was killed after an 18-year-old gunman entered the campus, barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom and...
329 years later, last Salem ‘witch’ who wasn’t is pardoned
BOSTON — It took more than three centuries, but the last Salem “witch” who wasn’t has been officially pardoned. Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the...
Oxford students walk out to support Robb school in Texas
OXFORD, Mich. — Hundreds of students at Oxford High School, the Michigan school where four were killed in November, walked out Thursday and formed a ‘U’ on the football field to show support for students and families in Uvalde, Texas. “We went through the same thing. I lost a lot...
‘This tears my soul apart’: A Ukrainian boy and a killing
BUCHA, Ukraine — As he listened to his father die, the boy lay still on the asphalt. His elbow burned where a bullet had pierced him. His thumb stung from being grazed. Another killing was in progress on a lonely street in Bucha, the community on the outskirts of Ukraine’s...
Justices to rule in gun case with U.S. raw from mass shootings
WASHINGTON — With mass shootings in Texas, New York and California fresh in Americans’ mind, the Supreme Court will soon issue its biggest gun ruling in more than a decade, one expected to make it easier to carry guns in public in some of the largest cities. Already in an...
Dominant coronavirus mutant contains ghost of pandemic past
The coronavirus mutant that is now dominant in the United States is a member of the omicron family but scientists say it spreads faster than its omicron predecessors, is adept at escaping immunity and might possibly cause more serious disease. Why? Because it combines properties of both omicron and delta,...
Trump loses appeal, must testify in New York civil probe
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, rejecting his argument that he be excused from testifying because his answers could be used in a parallel criminal probe....
Kevin Spacey charged in UK with 4 counts of sexual assault
LONDON — British prosecutors said Thursday they have charged actor Kevin Spacey with four counts of sexual assault against three men. The Crown Prosecution Service said Spacey “has also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.” The alleged incidents took place in London...
Russia slams sanctions, seeks to blame West for food crisis
KYIV, Ukraine — Moscow pressed the West on Thursday to lift sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis that has been worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products due to the...
Police: Texas gunman was inside the school for over an hourVideo
UVALDE, Texas — The gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school was inside for more than an hour before he was killed in a shootout, law enforcement authorities said Thursday amid mounting public anger and scrutiny over their response to the rampage. A media...
Prague strips Soviet WWII commander of honorary citizenship
PRAGUE — The Czech capital stripped a Soviet World War II commander of his honorary Prague citizenship Thursday. The Prague City Council ‘s approved Mayor Zdenek Hrib’s proposal to revoke the honor bestowed in June 1945 on Soviet Marshal Ivan Stepanovic Konev. Konev led the Red Army forces that liberated...
Pakistan’s ex-premier calls off planned sit-in, demands vote
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s defiant former Prime Minister Imran Khan called off a planned, open-ended sit-in in Islamabad on Thursday, temporarily assuaging fears of a protracted civil conflict after he led thousands on a march toward Parliament and demanded the government’s resignation. Khan’s followers began converging on the Pakistani capital on...
Senate GOP blocks domestic terrorism bill, gun policy debate
WASHINGTON — Democrats’ first attempt at responding to the back-to-back mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, failed in the Senate on Thursday as Republicans blocked a domestic terrorism bill that would have opened debate on difficult questions surrounding hate crimes and gun safety. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y....
Spanish court dismisses Shakira appeal in tax fraud case
MADRID — A court in Spain on Thursday dismissed Colombian singer Shakira’s appeal in a tax fraud case, paving the way for a trial after a judge previously concluded there was enough evidence to suggest the pop star may have avoided her fiscal obligations to the state. The case first...
Wisconsin GOP leader open to arming teachers in schools
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s top legislative Republican said Thursday that he is open to the idea of arming teachers following the latest school shooting in Texas, while he dismissed as “disingenuous” an offer from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to find common ground. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told the Associated Press...
