U.S./World category, Page 1072

Science might just have come up with a way to stop overeaters from indulging too much. A team at Stanford University is testing a new brain chip implant — the responsive neurostimulation system (RNS) — that proved effective in halting binge eating in mice. So, why not humans? The chip...

BURIEN, Wash. — A Washington state trooper who pulled over to help what he thought was a disabled vehicle found something else instead: The driver had eight phones simultaneously playing the video game Pokemon Go. The driver was stopped on the shoulder of Highway 518 in Burien, south of Seattle,...

ATLANTA — An investigation involving two of the world’s biggest airports and hundreds of turtles has led to federal charges that a man illegally shipped the reptiles to China. Nathan Horton is charged with violating the Lacey Act, which forbids illegal wildlife trafficking. Prosecutors took a slow-wins-the-race approach to filing...

AIKEN, S.C. — A South Carolina man is suing Walmart, saying a gas can that exploded and set him on fire was defective and should never have been sold to him at a Walmart store in Barnwell. In a federal lawsuit filed this month, Jamie Grubbs says he was using...

WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts fell 4.0% in July, driven by a decline in the construction of apartment buildings. The Commerce Department says that housing starts slipped last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.19 million units. So far this year, housing starts have declined 3.1%. While there...

Elvis Presley fans carrying lit candles in the Tennessee night are visiting the rock ‘n’ roll icon’s grave at Graceland during the annual vigil commemorating his death 42 years ago. Presley admirers from all over the world descend on Memphis every year to honor his life and career during Elvis...

MOSCOW — A Russian pilot who managed to smoothly land his disabled plane in a corn field after birds hit both engines said Friday that a quick landing was his only chance and he was not afraid of handling it. The experienced captain, 41-year-old Damir Yusupov, said when one of...

LONDON — British police say a police officer investigating a reported burglary in southeast England has been killed, and they have arrested and detained 10 males in the case, including a 13-year-old. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is “deeply shocked and appalled” by the death of Thames Valley police...

PORTLAND, Maine — Most African asylum seekers who made the perilous journey through Central America to the southern U.S. border and flooded shelters in Maine’s largest city have new homes. Thursday marked the closing of an emergency shelter set up in a basketball arena in Portland after several hundred African...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee executed its third inmate in the electric chair since November, killing a man Thursday who maintained that he didn’t stab a mother and her 15-year-old daughter to death in 1986. State officials pronounced 56-year-old Stephen West dead at 7:27 p.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in...

SAN DIEGO — A gun-rights group sued Thursday to block California from enforcing its assault weapons ban, contending it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The lawsuit was the latest among gun advocacy and lobbying groups to challenge California’s firearms laws, which are among the strictest in the...

SPOKANE, Wash. — Newly leaked emails show that conservative state Rep. Matt Shea, a Republican from Spokane Valley, has had close ties with a group that trained children and young men for religious combat. The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that the emails were first revealed in The Guardian on Wednesday, while...

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of judges on Thursday dismissed an appeal by the U.S. government that contended detained immigrant children might not require soap during shorter stints in custody under a longstanding settlement agreement. A three-judge panel for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed...

UPHAM, N.M. — Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from this remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin...

BUCHAREST, Romania — Metallica says it has donated $277,600 to support the construction of Romania’s first pediatric oncology hospital. The American heavy metal band, which is very popular in Romania, made the donation ahead of their sold-out show Wednesday in Romania’s National Arena, according to the band’s All Within My...

NEW YORK — With suicides on the rise , the U.S. government wants to make the national crisis hotline easier to reach. Once implemented, people will just need to dial 988 to seek help. Currently, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-TALK (8255). Callers are routed to...

LONDON — A British judge has sentenced a lookalike of “Friends” actor David Schwimmer to nine months in prison for theft and fraud. Judge Sara Dodd sentenced Abdulah Husseni on Thursday for using a stolen bank card to make or attempt to make fraudulent purchases at four shops in Blackpool,...

BERLIN — July was the hottest month measured on Earth since records began in 1880, the latest in a long line of peaks that scientists say backs up predictions for man-made climate change. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that July was 1.71 degrees warmer than the...

MADRID — Gibraltar on Thursday allowed a detained Iranian supertanker to leave the British overseas territory despite a last-minute U.S. attempt to seize the vessel, potentially defusing tensions between London and Tehran as a British-flagged tanker remains held by the Islamic Republic. The release of the Grace 1 comes amid...

RALEIGH, N.C. — President Donald Trump has nominated a law professor who previously worked as a prosecutor, defense attorney and journalist to fill the nation’s longest federal judiciary vacancy. Trump nominated Richard E. Myers on Wednesday to be a federal judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Raleigh lawyer...

NEW YORK — Lawyer Michael Avenatti wants a judge to dismiss criminal charges alleging he extorted Nike, and he’s blaming his arrest on what he calls “vindictive” prosecutors. Avenatti’s attorneys filed papers Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to extort up to...

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Officials say a Florida woman who pulled a small alligator from her yoga pants during a traffic stop and illegally possessed numerous other wild animals has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to four charges. Florida prosecutors say a Charlotte County sheriff’s deputy stopped a...

WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates remained near historically low levels this week against a backdrop of volatile financial markets around the globe. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on the benchmark 30-year loan was unchanged at 3.60%, its lowest level since November 2016. A year ago the...

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — A man in Ohio is crediting his dog for saving him after the man suffered a bad fall. WSAZ-TV reports Jimmy Hale fell off a flood wall in Portsmouth last week while walking his dog Taco. Hale ended up passing out after falling 15 feet and didn’t...