U.S./World category, Page 1122
Supreme Court’s election-year term opens with insanity case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court began its election-year term Monday by wrestling over whether states must allow criminal defendants to plead insanity. The one minor surprise when the justices took the bench just after 10 o’clock was the absence of Justice Clarence Thomas. The 71-year-old Thomas was at home, likely...
Trump’s Syria withdrawal announcement draws GOP condemnation
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s sudden decision to pull back U.S. troops from northern Syria drew quick, strong criticism Monday from some of his closest allies in Congress. It was condemned, too, by Kurdish fighters who would be abandoned to face a likely Turkish assault after fighting alongside Americans for...
Woman hides in Big Lots ceiling to avoid shoplifting arrest
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — A Florida woman faces multiple charges after authorities say she climbed into the ceiling of a Big Lots store to avoid a shoplifting arrest. A Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office news release says 37-year-old Kristina Perkins went into the store’s restroom on Friday and removed some tiles...
At least 13 dead in migrant boat capsizing off Lampedusa
MILAN — At least 13 people died when an overloaded migrant boat capsized near the island of Lampedusa as they were about to be rescued, the Italian coast guard said Monday. Twenty-two people were rescued from the sea and taken to land. The smugglers’ boat overturned as a patrol boat...
Immigration protesters shout down acting DHS secretary
WASHINGTON — Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan left an immigration policy conference Monday without speaking after protesters shouted him down. McAleenan was scheduled as the keynote speaker at Georgetown University Law Center during an annual immigration law and policy conference held by the nonprofit immigration think tank Migration Policy...
3 get Nobel Medicine prize for learning how cells use oxygen
LONDON — Two Americans and a British scientist won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering how the body’s cells sense and react to oxygen levels, work that has paved the way for new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and other diseases, the Nobel Committee said. Drs....
1 of 2 men wanted in deadly Kansas bar shooting arrestedVideo
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — One of the two men accused of opening fire inside a Kansas bar early Sunday, killing four people and wounding five others, was arrested Sunday afternoon while the other remained at large, police said. Javier Alatorre, 23, and Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, were each charged with four...
Judge rejects Trump challenge to release of his tax returnsVideo
NEW YORK — A federal judge Monday emphatically rejected President Donald Trump’s challenge to the release of his tax returns to New York prosecutors, saying the president’s broad claim of immunity from all criminal investigations is at odds with the Constitution. But an appeals court blocked any handover of the...
Repubblica: Italy’s spy chief met twice with William Barr to aid inquiry
ROME — Italy’s spy chief Gennaro Vecchione met twice in August with U.S. Attorney General William Barr and prosecutor John Durham to help an investigation into the scandal involving President Donald Trump’s possible ties to Russia, one of Italy’s leading newspapers reported. The first meeting took place on Aug. 15...
Ex-President Jimmy Carter has black eye, stitches as a result of fall
NASHVILLE — Former President Jimmy Carter had a black eye and 14 stitches after falling at his Georgia home on Sunday, but made it to an evening concert in Tennessee to rally volunteers ahead of his 36th home building project for Habitat for Humanity. The 39th president fell earlier in...
Homeless man arraigned for beating deaths in ChinatownVideo
NEW YORK — A homeless man who used a metal rod to bludgeon four other homeless men to death in New York City was arrested holding the murder weapon covered with blood and hair and admitted that he was the person in a video of one of the attacks, prosecutors...
2nd whistleblower adds to impeachment peril at White House
WASHINGTON — A second whistleblower has come forward with information about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, adding to the impeachment peril engulfing the White House and potentially providing new leads to Democrats in their unfurling investigation of Trump’s conduct. Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said in a...
Police look for 2 men in Kansas bar shooting that killed 4Video
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Two men opened fire inside a bar in Kansas City, Kan., early Sunday, killing four people and wounding five others in a shooting believed to have stemmed from an earlier dispute, police said. Authorities were searching Sunday for the two gunmen, said Officer Thomas Tomasic, a...
Ex-officer not guilty of manslaughter in Georgia shooting
WOODBINE, Ga. — A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed black man was acquitted Saturday of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. The jury, however, found Zechariah Presley guilty of violating his oath of office in the 2018 shooting of Tony Green, 33, in coastal Camden County...
Long-lost sculpture has returned to Los Angeles library
LOS ANGELES — A bronze sculpture that mysteriously disappeared from the Los Angeles Central Library 50 years ago has returned to its original home. One of three panels of the Well of Scribes was unveiled at the downtown library Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported . The sculpture depicting writers...
Mormon leader: Uphold ‘sexual purity’ in face of mocking
SALT LAKE CITY — A high-ranking leader from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urged members Saturday to adhere to the faith’s law of chastity that forbids premarital sex despite mocking by others on social media. During a speech at a twice-annual church conference in Salt Lake City,...
Census errs again, makes mistakes measuring poverty nationwide
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Census Bureau erred in calculating a major national poverty measure — the second mistake reported by the bureau in the last month. The so-called Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) was released with faulty data in mid-September. A corrected version, with a slightly lower poverty rate for the...
Pope urges compassion in elevating 13 likeminded cardinals
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis added 13 new cardinals to the top of the Catholic hierarchy on Saturday, telling them they must show God’s compassion to those who suffer to be faithful to their ministry. Francis presided over the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, elevating churchmen who share his pastoral...
Security forces kill at least 9 in new protests in Iraq
BAGHDAD — Security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at protesters in the Iraqi capital and in a southern city on Saturday, killing at least nine people and wounding 39 as thousands of protesters took to the streets and set fire to political party offices, government and human rights...
4 homeless men attacked and killed in New York City
NEW YORK — Four men who are believed to be homeless were brutally attacked and killed Saturday in a New York City street rampage. New York Police Department Detective Annette Shelton said that a fifth man remained in critical condition Saturday after also being struck with a long metal object...
NASA sets 1st all-female spacewalk after suit flap in spring
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first all-female spacewalk is back on, six months after a suit-sizing flap led to an embarrassing cancellation. NASA announced Friday that the International Space Station’s two women will pair up for a spacewalk later this month. Astronauts Christina Koch and the newly arrived Jessica Meir...
Texas execution halted over claims judge was anti-Semitic
HOUSTON — A Jewish death row inmate who was part of the “Texas 7” gang of escaped prisoners and faced execution in less than a week won a reprieve on Friday after claiming the former judge at his trial was anti-Semitic and frequently used racial slurs. The Texas Court of...
Couple injured in possible bobcat attack in South Florida
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — An animal believed to be a bobcat dropped down from a tree and attacked a couple out on their typical early morning walk Friday in a dense, urban part of South Florida, authorities said. Wildlife experts said bobcats are quite common in urban areas although...
Bus carrying developmentally disabled flips over in Toledo; 17 injured
TOLEDO, Ohio — A bus carrying developmentally disabled people crashed into a car, flipped over and hit two more vehicles in Ohio on Friday, sending 17 people to hospitals. Five people were severely injured in the accident in Sylvania Township near Toledo, but Sgt. Jared Ulinski of the Ohio State...
Judge finds no bias from Jussie Smollett special prosecutor
CHICAGO — A Chicago judge said Friday he won’t replace a special prosecutor looking into why the state’s attorney’s office abruptly dismissed charges against actor Jussie Smollett, rejecting concerns that campaign money could taint the findings. The judge’s decision during a hearing came days after the special prosecutor, former U.S....
