U.S./World category, Page 1045
West Virginia University president responds after 2 shootings
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The president of West Virginia University released a letter Sunday emphasizing the university’s commitment to safety after two recent shootings near the Morgantown campus, one of them involving a fatality. WVU President Gordon Gee wrote to the community that the campus of more than 26,000 students is...
Weary and divided, Israel goes back to the polls
JERUSALEM — For the third time in under a year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking reelection, and once again the Israeli leader is on the ropes. After two inconclusive elections last year, opinion polls forecast another stalemate — a troubling scenario for Netanyahu, who will go on trial on...
Turkey, Syria fighting escalates; refugees mass at EU borderVideo
KASTANIES, Greece — Thousands of migrants and refugees massed at Turkey’s western frontier Sunday, trying to enter Greece by land and sea after Turkey said its borders were open to those hoping to head to Europe. In Syria, Turkish troops shot down two Syrian warplanes after the Syrian military downed...
Pentagon sees Taliban deal as allowing fuller focus on China
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s peace deal with the Taliban opens the door for an initial American troop withdrawal that Defense Secretary Mark Esper sees as a step toward the broader goal of preparing for potential war with China. Esper has his eye on “great power competition,” which means staying...
Authorities announce 2nd coronavirus death in United StatesVideo
SEATTLE — Health officials in Washington state said Sunday night that a second person had died from the coronavirus. Researchers said the virus may have been circulating for weeks undetected in the greater Seattle area. In a statement, Public Health—Seattle & King County said a man in his 70s died...
Coronavirus outbreak batters economies, raises fear of spread
TOKYO — Amid fears about where the next outbreak of a fast-spreading new virus would appear, infections and deaths continued to rise across the globe Sunday, emptying streets of tourists and workers, shaking economies and rewriting the realities of daily life. Panic-buying of daily necessities emerged in Japan, tourist sites...
Coronavirus fears close down France’s Louvre Museum
PARIS — The spreading coronavirus epidemic shut down France’s Louvre Museum on Sunday, with workers who guard its trove of artworks fearful of being contaminated by the museum’s flow of visitors from around the world. “We are very worried because we have visitors from everywhere,” said Andre Sacristin, a Louvre...
Coughing pope cancels participating in Lenten retreat
VATICAN CITY — A coughing Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered for the traditional Sunday blessing that he is canceling his participation at a week-long spiritual retreat in the Roman countryside because of a cold. It is the first time in his seven-year papacy that he has missed the spiritual exercises...
President’s power to fire independent agency heads faces test
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is about to tell President Donald Trump whether he has more power to use a favorite phrase: “You’re fired.” A case being argued at the high court on Tuesday could threaten the structure of agencies that form an enormous swath of the federal government. It...
Socialist hardliner aims gun on Guaidó march in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — Socialist hardliners in Venezuela opened fire during a march headed by Juan Guaidó, injuring a 16-year-old demonstrator and adding to tensions in the country as the opposition leader seeks to revive his campaign to oust Nicolás Maduro. A photo of the confrontation provided exclusively to The Associated...
U.S. ups travel restrictions as Trump says more coronavirus cases ‘likely’
WASHINGTON — Seeking to reassure the American public, President Donald Trump said Saturday there was “no reason to panic” as the new coronavirus claimed its first victim inside the U.S. The White House also announced new restrictions on international travel to prevent its spread. Trump, speaking only moments after the...
Students end sit-in outside University of Oklahoma offices
NORMAN, Okla. — Dozens of students at the University of Oklahoma have ended a sit-in outside the university’s administrative offices following two instances in which professors used racial slurs in their classrooms. The three-day sit-in organized by the Black Emergency Response Team, known as BERT, ended Friday with the student...
`Let’s go home’: Afghan war vets torn on US-Taliban deal
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Veterans of America’s longest war are finding themselves torn as the U.S. signs a potentially historic peace accord with the Taliban in Afghanistan. For many, the U.S. is long overdue in withdrawing its forces after more than 18 years of fighting. Others question the trustworthiness of...
Serbia passes law in response to missing babies scandal
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian lawmakers on Saturday approved a long-awaited law that aims to shed light on the fate of hundreds of children whose parents fear might have been stolen from birth clinics throughout the Balkan country. The bill passed on a 136-0 vote in the 250-member assembly. Two...
Florida’s freshwater turtles falling prey to the international black marketVideo
MIAMI — Florida freshwater turtles are being illegally caught and exported live in increasingly large numbers to keep up with demand for their meat, their supposed medicinal purposes and their value as pets, state wildlife officials said this month. The black market trade is putting a strain on the state’s...
Washington governor declares state of emergency over virus after 1st. U.S. death
The governor of Washington state declared a state of emergency Saturday after a man died there of COVID-19, the first such reported death in the United States. More than 50 people in a nursing facility are sick and being tested for the virus. Gov. Jay Inslee directed state agencies to...
Baltimore squeegee kids find work, risks, cash at stoplights
BALTIMORE — A clock starts ticking when the light turns red at Baltimore intersections. Young men huddled on the sidewalk jump into the street, a squeegee in one hand, a bottle of glass cleaner in the other. For these “squeegee kids,” every idling windshield is an opportunity - to make...
Oregon reports 1st coronavirus case: elementary school employee
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s first corinavirus case emerged on Friday, and the infected person worked at an elementary school in the Portland area, which will be temporarily closed, authorities said. The Lake Oswego School District sent a robocall to parents saying that Forest Hills Elementary will be closed until Wednesday...
Man gets 99 years in prison for role in Texas girl’s death
DALLAS — A Dallas man was convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison Friday for his part in the abduction and killing of a 13-year-old suburban Dallas girl. Dallas County jurors deliberated for about an hour before sentencing Desmond Jones for his involvement in the death of Shavon Randle....
Inmate who escaped Utah jail caught in Idaho 4 days later
SALT LAKE CITY — A California man convicted of mail fraud who escaped from a Utah jail by posing as a fellow inmate whose time had come to be released was captured in Idaho Friday, authorities said. Kaleb Wiewandt was arrested on Interstate 84 southeast of Mountain Home, Idaho, the...
Utah advances plan to remove felony status for polygamy
SALT LAKE CITY — Polygamy wouldn’t be a felony crime in Utah for the first time in 85 years under a bill that passed the Legislature on Friday and appears to be supported by the governor. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for the proposal that supporters said will allow the 30,000 or...
Students stage sit-in outside University of Oklahoma offices
NORMAN, Okla. — Dozens of University of Oklahoma students staged a sit-in that continued Friday outside OU’s administrative offices following two instances of professors using racial slurs in the classroom. However, OU Interim President Joseph Harroz Jr. has rejected the demands of the school’s Black Emergency Response Team, known as...
‘Lone wolf’ broke news of the Milwaukee gunman’s identity
IOWA CITY, Iowa — When a local newspaper reported the identity of the gunman in Milwaukee’s mass shooting, it came many hours after that news was broken on Twitter by an unemployed and formerly imprisoned journalist working from his bedroom in California. Matthew Keys was the first to report that...
US judge cancels oil and gas leases on some sage grouse land
BOISE, Idaho — A federal judge has cancelled more than $125 million in oil and gas leases on public lands that are home to the declining bird species greater sage grouse, in a ruling that said the Trump administration illegally curtailed public comment. The ruling doesn’t prevent the administration from...
Court temporarily halts Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy
SAN DIEGO — Dealing a significant blow to a signature Trump administration immigration policy, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that the government can no longer make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. The government faced a setback from a three-judge panel of the...
