U.S./World category, Page 1192
Bridge in China collapses, sending vehicles into river
BEIJING — An entire section of a roadway bridge has plunged into a wide river in southern China, sending two vehicles into the water and leaving two people missing. Heyuan city police said the 390-foot section collapsed early Friday morning. China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that two nearby security guards...
Oregon public defenders mobilize for pay, staffing overhaul
SALEM, Ore. — Facing an ever-mounting caseload, dozens of public defenders in Oregon walked out of courthouses and into the Statehouse this week to lobby for a bill that would fix a staffing shortage and an outdated contract payment system that has some attorneys representing more than 200 clients at...
Utah man held without bail in deputy’s killing
LOS ANGELES — A Utah man was held without bail Thursday on charges of murder in the deaths of an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy and another man. Rhett McKenzie Nelson, 30, of St. George, wore a navy blue jail uniform during his initial arraignment in Los Angeles Superior...
Testimony: Suspect bought Drano after Chinese scholar death
PEORIA, Ill. — A former University of Illinois doctoral student on trial in the killing of a visiting scholar from China bought Drano and garbage bags three days after the slaying, according to testimony Thursday. The detail came during the second day of the federal murder trial of Brendt Christensen...
US considers more options for detaining transgender migrants
MILAN, N.M. — Behind a thick metal door and down a sterile hallway at a privately-run detention center in rural New Mexico, voices echo from the confines of a small outdoor recreation yard. It’s a three-on-three volleyball match. The players, all clad in different colored jumpsuits, are transgender women awaiting...
Utah officer who pulled gun on black child sparks protests
WOODS CROSS, Utah — Activists are planning to protest at a police agency in northern Utah after learning an officer who pulled his gun on a 10-year-old child will continue to work. Black Lives Matter in Utah founder Lex Scott said Thursday they will hold a protest Friday night to...
Perfectly preserved head of Ice Age wolf found in Siberia
Russian scientists have found the furry head of an Ice Age wolf perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost. The head of a wolf, which died 40,000 years ago, was discovered in the Russian Arctic region of Yakutia. Valery Plotnikov, a top researcher at the local branch of the Russian Academy...
Lawmakers say doctored videos pose national security threat
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and experts said Thursday that videos altered with artificial intelligence software pose a threat to national security and the 2020 U.S. election. The technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos — known as “deep fakes” — that appear genuine, and they “enable malicious actors...
Jury: Man held stepdaughter for 18 years, fathered 9 kids
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal jury has convicted a 64-year-old man accused of kidnapping his stepdaughter and holding her captive for 19 years in Mexico and elsewhere while fathering her nine children. Court records indicate jurors found Henri Michelle Piette guilty on June 6 of kidnapping and travel with intent...
Florida law lets autonomous vehicles drive without humans
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Self-driving vehicles will be able to operate in Florida without a human on board under a bill signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis signed the measure Thursday at a test track for autonomous vehicles. The governor says he wants companies testing the vehicles to move to...
Rescued dog who got forever home in hospice facility dies of cancer
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — A rescued English bulldog mix named Lola who got her forever home thanks to a New York hospice has died of cancer. Hospice Buffalo confirmed Lola’s passing to WGRZ , which featured her story when workers at the facility took her in last November from a group...
Infant’s body found in well; parents charged with kidnapping
OTWAY, Ohio — Authorities in Ohio say the body of a 4-month-old boy has been found in a well and his parents have been arrested on charges including kidnapping and abduction. Scioto County Sheriff Marty Donini said in a news release that Dylan Groves was found Wednesday in a well...
New research aims to show what happens when galaxies are about to die
The beginning of the end of our galaxy is just a few billion years away. That’s when the glittering disk of the Milky Way is projected to smash into its nearest neighbor, a spiral galaxy called Andromeda. The force of the collision will fuse the black holes at the centers...
Dad wants mercy in 5 kids deaths; prosecutor calls for death
COLUMBIA, S.C. — If jurors are unsure whether a South Carolina father should get the death penalty for killing his five children, a prosecutor says they should just consider the five garbage bags where he left their bodies in rural Alabama. Solicitor Rick Hubbard told a jury Thursday that 37-year-old...
Pelosi: No debt increase until spending limits are raised
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Democratic-controlled House won’t pass must-do legislation to increase the government’s borrowing cap until the Trump administration agrees to boost spending limits on domestic programs. The California Democrat said she’ll agree to increase the so-called debt ceiling, which is needed to avoid a market-cratering...
Honda lawnmower gets new Guinness record hitting 100 mph in 6 seconds
If you need to cut your lawn fast, this mower may be for you. The new Honda Mean Mower V2 set a Guinness World Records for fastest acceleration for a lawnmower, by averaging 0 to 100 mph in just 6.285 seconds. The record was set May 7 at a race...
25 officers injured in Memphis after marshals kill fugitive
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Armed officers and an angry crowd faced off after a Tennessee man was fatally shot by U.S. Marshals in a working-class Memphis neighborhood. People in the crowd threw rocks and bricks, with 25 officers suffering mostly minor injuries during the tense clash Wednesday night in the Frayser...
Suicide bomber kills 9 in eastern Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber walked up to an Afghan police vehicle in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, and detonated an explosive device that killed three police and six civilians on Thursday, said provincial health department official Shoaib Sahak. He said another 13 people were wounded, some...
Tankers targeted near Strait of Hormuz amid Iran-U.S. tensions
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz were damaged in suspected attacks on Thursday, leaving one ablaze and the other adrift and forcing sailors to evacuate in the latest mysterious incident involving tankers amid heightened tensions between the U.S and Iran. The...
San Francisco prosecutors turn to AI to reduce racial bias
SAN FRANCISCO — In a first-of-its kind experiment, San Francisco prosecutors are turning to artificial intelligence to reduce racial bias in the courts, adopting a system that strips certain identifying details from police reports and leaves only key facts to govern charging decisions. District Attorney George Gascon announced Wednesday that...
Mothers: Air Force failed when child sex assaults reported
To the mothers, the 13-year-old boy appeared largely unsupervised as he roamed among the clusters of townhomes on the U.S. Air Force base in Japan. It would have been unremarkable — the neighborhood was full of kids — except that young girls were starting to report the boy had led...
Catholic bishops approve new sex-abuse reporting hotline
BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to create a new national sex-abuse hotline run by an independent entity, a decision that represents one of the church’s most tangible steps yet in confronting its sex-abuse crisis. The hotline, which would field allegations that bishops committed abuse or covered it up,...
Experts: Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets
LONDON — Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into the Washington’s political scene. The 30-something redhead boasted a job at a top think tank and a who’s-who network of pundits and experts, from the centrist Brookings Institution to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. She was connected to a deputy assistant secretary of...
Utah police: Deputy shooting suspect left home with a gun
LOS ANGELES — The Utah man accused of shooting an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Monday and killing another man an hour earlier had told his family he wanted to “make it on his own or die,” police said Wednesday. The family of Rhett Nelson, 30, contacted St. George...
3 life sentences without parole for man who killed 3 Muslims
DURHAM, N.C. — Moments after a North Carolina man pleaded guilty to gunning down three Muslim university students, a prosecutor played a cellphone video of the slayings in court Wednesday as one of the victims’ relatives fainted, others wept and a man cursed the confessed killer openly. Craig Stephen Hicks,...
