Russia keeps up attacks in Ukraine as two sides hold talks
LVIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine kept a fragile diplomatic path open with a new round of talks Monday even as Moscow’s forces pounded away at Kyiv and other cities across the country in a punishing bombardment the Red Cross said has created “nothing short of a nightmare” for civilians....
For kids with covid-19, everyday life can be a struggle
WASHINGTON — Eight-year-old Brooklynn Chiles fidgets on the hospital bed as she waits for the nurse at Children’s National Hospital. The white paper beneath her crinkles as she shifts to look at the medical objects in the room. She’s had the coronavirus three times, and no one can figure out...
Man sought in homeless killings in New York, Washington D.C.
NEW YORK — Authorities are searching for a man who is believed to have attacked multiple people who were sleeping on the streets in Washington, D.C., and New York City, killing two of his victims and injuring three others, police said. District of Columbia police said Sunday in a news...
China shuts business center of Shenzhen to fight coronavirus surge
BEIJING — China’s government responded Sunday to a spike in coronavirus infections by shutting down its southern business center of Shenzhen, a city of 17.5 million people, and restricted access to Shanghai by suspending bus service. Everyone in Shenzhen, a finance and technology center that abuts Hong Kong, will undergo...
Barack Obama tests positive for covid-19, says he’s ‘feeling fine’
Former President Barack Obama said on Sunday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, though he’s feeling relatively healthy and his wife, Michelle, tested negative. “I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” Obama said on Twitter. “Michelle and I are grateful to...
Acclaimed filmmaker Brent Renaud shot, killed in UkraineVideo
Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died Sunday after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine. The 50-year-old Little Rock, Ark., native was gathering material...
In America, a few days in March 2020 echo 2 years later
The conversations went like this: It will be just a few days. It can be kept at bay. There will be some inconvenience, sure, but the world will merely be paused — just a short break, out of an abundance of caution, and certainly not any kind of major grinding...
10 hurt in 73-vehicle pileup; no life-threatening injuries
NEW CUMBERLAND — State police said 10 people were injured in a crash involving 73 vehicles on a central Pennsylvania highway during a late winter storm over the weekend, but no life-threatening injuries were reported. Trooper Megan Ammerman said the crash was reported shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday on PA...
Video shows man stabbing 2 workers at New York’s MOMA
NEW YORK — Video from the Museum of Modern Art shows the moment a man leaped over a reception desk and stabbed two employees as they tried to flee Saturday. The video released by New York City police shows a man police identified as 60-year-old Gary Cabana entering the museum...
U.S., China officials to meet as tensions mount over RussiaVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States and China are sending top aides to Rome on Monday as tensions between the two countries mount over the Russia-Ukraine war and worries spread that the conflict will take even darker turns. In advance of the talks, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan bluntly...
Russian airstrike escalates offensive in western Ukraine
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles pounded a military base in western Ukraine on Sunday, killing 35 people in an attack on a facility that served as a crucial hub for cooperation between Ukraine and the NATO countries supporting its defense. The barrage marked an escalation of Moscow’s offensive and moved...
W.Va. lawmakers rush to advance abortion bills as session ends
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Lawmakers rushed to advance legislation restricting abortion access in West Virginia on Saturday as the Legislature convened for the last scheduled day of the 2022 session. The Republican-majority House of Delegates overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill barring parents from seeking abortion care because they believe...
Man wanted after child’s body found in California home
MERCED, Calif. — A manhunt was under way Saturday for a man wanted in the death of a child whose body was found inside a central California home during the search for a missing 8-year-old girl. The body was discovered at a home in Merced on Friday, several days after...
Police: Candidate for Idaho governor arrested in trespassing case
MERIDIAN, Idaho — Far-right activist Ammon Bundy, who’s running for governor in Idaho, has been arrested after refusing to leave a hospital in connection with a child-welfare case, police said Saturday. Bundy was arrested at about 1:15 a.m. on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center in...
Saudi Arabia puts 81 to death in its largest mass execution
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. The number of executed surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass...
All smiles, Jackson tries for Senate reset on Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — Engaging in lawyerly small talk, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley was telling Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson this past week how he met his wife while clerking at the high court. Jackson already knew the story, he discovered. She even “filled in some of the details for me.”...
Libya coast guard: Migrant boat capsizes; 19 presumed dead
CAIRO — A boat carrying around two dozen migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya on Saturday, with at least 19 people missing and presumed dead, authorities said. Libya’s coast guard said that a group of 23 migrants — both Egyptians and Syrians — set off...
Russia strikes near Ukraine’s capital; mosque reported hit
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces pounded the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, shelling its downtown as residents hid in its iconic mosque and elsewhere to avoid the explosions. Fighting also raged in the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, as Russia kept up its bombardment of several resisting cities....
W.Va. lawmakers OK bill barring ‘brainwashing’ race teaching
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers advanced legislation on Friday that would restrict the way public school teachers can talk about race, a bill one Republican delegate said is meant to protect kids from “brainwashing.” During more than two hours of tense, back-and-forth debate, Del. Todd Longanacre said he doesn’t...
Texas clinics’ lawsuit over abortion ban ‘effectively over’
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dealt essentially a final blow to abortion clinics’ best hopes of stopping a restrictive law that has sharply curtailed the number of abortions in the state since September and will now fully stay in place for the foreseeable future. The ruling...
Texas judge blocks investigations of trans youth parents
A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state from investigating as child abuse gender confirming care for transgender youth. District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to compel the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate reports...
Florida Gov. DeSantis, Disney butting heads on LGBTQ issue
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Disney World is suspending its political donations in Florida after the company’s CEO received huge blowback for not using Disney’s vast influence in the state to try to quash a recently passed Republican bill that would prevent teachers from instructing early grades on LGBTQ issues. Shortly after,...
Ex-student protest leader becomes Chile’s youngest president
SANTIAGO, Chile — Left-leaning former student leader Gabriel Boric vowed to improve the lives of all Chileans and attack deep inequality that has sparked massive protests, hours after being inaugurated Friday as the youngest president in the country’s history. At 36, Boric was only 4 years old when democracy returned...
Russia widens social media crackdown by blocking Instagram
Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national...
Russia’s bioweapon conspiracy theory finds support in U.S.
Russia’s baseless claims about secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine are taking root in the U.S. too, uniting covid-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of ex-President Donald Trump. Despite rebuttals from independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon, the online popularity of...
