U.S./World category, Page 1065
U.S. vows greater effort to fight flood of counterfeit goods
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration pledged Friday to step up efforts against the vast amounts of counterfeit clothing, medicine and other goods that have flooded into the U.S. in increasing waves with the rise in e-commerce. Customs and Border Patrol would subject online retailers, including the growing number of third-party...
California threatened with funds loss over abortion coverage
WASHINGTON — Saying that California is violating a federal law, the Trump administration on Friday threatened the state with a potential loss of federal health care funds over its requirement that insurance plans cover abortions. The announcement was timed to coincide with the anti-abortion March for Life in the nation’s...
Snow plow kills 2 near Kansas State University campus
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A snow plow struck and killed two pedestrians in Kansas before sunrise Friday after a winter storm coated parts of the Midwest with snow. The collision involving a Riley County plow truck happened shortly after 5 a.m., after the National Weather Service issued winter weather advisories...
Lawsuit: 2 cheated man of $4 million in lottery winnings
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A Massachusetts says two women cheated him out of $4 million in lottery winnings by taking advantage of his inability to read or speak English. Joao Luis DaPonte filed a lawsuit this month against Maria Oliveira and Susana Gaspar in Bristol Superior Court over the ownership...
Pentagon: 34 U.S. troops had brain injuries from Iran’s strike
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Friday that 34 U.S. troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries suffered in this month’s Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi air base, and that half of the troops have returned to their military duties. Seventeen of the 34 are still under medical observation, according...
China expands lockdown against virus, fast-tracks hospital
BEIJING — China expanded its lockdown against the deadly new virus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushed to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims Friday as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest and most festive holiday. The number of confirmed cases...
Iraqis rally against U.S. troops, demanding they leave
BAGHDAD — Waving national flags and banners denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump, tens of thousands of Iraqis marched peacefully through Baghdad on Friday to demand the ouster of U.S. troops from their country in a protest organized by a populist Shiite cleric. The show of force by followers of Muqtada...
Chicago woman becomes 2nd U.S. case of new virus from ChinaVideo
WASHINGTON — A Chicago woman has become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new pneumonia-like virus from China, health officials announced Friday. The woman in her 60s returned from China on Jan. 13 without showing any signs of illness, but a few days later she called her doctor to...
Convicted NYC bomber gets life term for New Jersey shootout
ELIZABETH, N.J. — An Afghan-born U.S. citizen already serving life in prison for a bombing in New York City was sentenced Friday to an additional life term for a shootout with police in New Jersey as he attempted to avoid arrest in 2016. State Superior Court Judge John Deitch sentenced...
6 killed in Germany shooting, suspect arrested
BERLIN — Six people have been killed and several were injured in a shooting in the southwestern German town of Rot am See, police said Friday. A suspect has been arrested and no further suspects are believed to be at large, Aalen police said. “According to my information, there were...
2 killed, 20 injured when warehouse explosion shakes HoustonVideo
HOUSTON — A massive explosion Friday leveled a warehouse in Houston, killing two workers, damaging nearby buildings and homes and rousing frightened residents from their sleep miles away, authorities said. The explosion happened about 4:30 a.m. inside a building at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing, which makes valves and provides thermal-spray...
Vice President Pence to Pope Francis: ‘You made me a hero’Video
VATICAN CITY — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Pope Francis, “You made me a hero” back home by granting him a private audience at the Vatican on Friday. The pontiff and the vice president had a private hour-long conservation. Pence was beaming when the rest of his delegation was...
Agents recover stolen 500-year-old copy of Columbus letter
WILMINGTON, Del. — Federal agents in Delaware have recovered a more than 500-year-old copy of a letter penned by Christopher Columbus that vanished from an Italian library decades ago. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware and Homeland Security investigators, who specialize in the recovery of stolen rare books and historic...
Outer Banks sea turtles rescued from frigid waters
The cold weather isn’t just a pain for us humans. For some sea turtles, it can mean life or death. More than 100 sea turtles, stunned by frigid waters, washed ashore on the soundside of Hatteras Island, N.C., on Monday and Tuesday. “When the water temperatures drop, they are not...
Ex-pharmaceutical exec John Kapoor gets more than 5 years for pushing opioid
BOSTON — The founder of an Arizona pharmaceutical company was ordered to spend 5 1/2 years in prison Thursday for orchestrating a bribery and kickback scheme prosecutors said helped fuel the opioid crisis. John Kapoor, 76, the former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was sentenced in Boston’s federal court after a...
3 U.S. firefighters who died in Australia crash identified
SYDNEY — The three American firefighters who were killed when the aerial water tanker they were in crashed while battling wildfires in Australia have been identified by their employer. The men who died Thursday in the crash of the C-130 Hercules were Capt. Ian H. McBeth, 44, of Great Falls,...
Snakes could be source of deadly coronavirus outbreak, new study saysVideo
A closer look into the deadly virus that has sickened hundreds in China and around the world suggests the pneumonia-like infection may have come from snakes, a new study has found. The newly discovered coronavirus is linked to a large seafood and animal market in Wuhan, which sells birds, bats,...
Prosecutor: DNA match leads to Florida ‘pillowcase rapist’
MIAMI — A DNA match has led to a Florida man prosecutors suspect is the “pillowcase rapist” responsible for numerous sexual assaults of women in the Miami area during the 1980s. Robert Koehler, 60, was arrested over the weekend in Brevard County and was being held without bond Thursday after...
Veteran accuses bank of discrimination for not taking checks
LIVONIA, Mich. — A black Air Force veteran who tried to deposit settlement checks from a discrimination lawsuit was rejected by his suburban Detroit bank, which suspected fraud and called police. After settling a lawsuit with his former employer, Sauntore Thomas now is suing TCF Bank, alleging racial discrimination. “They...
Greek police find 1.25 tons of cannabis hidden in date paste
ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities say they found more than a ton of processed cannabis camouflaged among a shipment of date paste headed by sea from Lebanon to Libya, police said Thursday. A police statement said the drugs were discovered on Jan. 16 in a ship’s container on a freighter...
Pence: Israel PM, election rival invited to U.S. to talk peace
JERUSALEM — Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main political rival Benny Gantz would visit the White House to discuss the “prospect of peace” with the Palestinians. The dramatic announcement, made after a meeting with Netanyahu, raised speculation that the White...
Michigan veteran accuses bank of discrimination for not cashing checksVideo
LIVONIA, Mich. — A black Air Force veteran who tried to deposit settlement checks from a discrimination lawsuit was rejected by his suburban Detroit bank, which suspected fraud and called police. After settling a lawsuit with his former employer, Sauntore Thomas now is suing TCF Bank, alleging racial discrimination. “They...
Police: Man kills firefighter who was leaving wife’s home
GRANITE QUARRY, N.C. — A North Carolina man shot and killed a firefighter who stepped outside his estranged wife’s house, then walked inside the home and fatally shot himself after confronting the woman, officials said. The man parked a pickup truck in the driveway and was “lying in wait” Wednesday,...
Deputy uses stun gun to settle a beef between K9 and cow
GEORGETOWN, S.C. — A sheriff’s deputy responding to a burglary call in South Carolina was forced to settle a beef between his K9 and a spooked cow by using a stun gun. Georgetown County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Pleasant Hill community on Wednesday when a K9 that was...
9 parents separated from families return to children in U.S.
LOS ANGELES — As his long-lost son walked toward him in an airport terminal, a sobbing David Xol stretched out his arms, fell to one knee and embraced the boy for about three minutes, crying into his shoulder. He had not held the child since May 2018, when border agents...
