U.S./World category, Page 1213

DETROIT — U.S.-based Roman Catholic bishops will gather Wednesday for a weeklong retreat near Chicago on the church sexual abuse scandal that organizers say will focus on prayer and spiritual reflection and not formulating policy. The retreat begins a day after The Associated Press reported that the Vatican blocked U.S....

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is convening a border security briefing Wednesday for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders as a partial government shutdown over his demand for border wall funding entered its 12th day. The president “wants an agreement that reopens the government AND keeps Americans safe,” the White House...

TAMPA, Fla. — Officials say six passengers fell ill on a Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland to Tampa. WFLA-TV reports health officials boarded the plane when it landed at Tampa International Airport on Tuesday afternoon and the sick passengers were removed. Officials say they are being held for observation. The...

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican blocked U.S. bishops from taking measures to address the clergy sex abuse scandal because U.S. church leaders didn’t discuss the legally problematic proposals with the Holy See enough beforehand, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The Nov. 11 letter from the Vatican’s...

MOSCOW — The family of an American arrested in Russia on espionage charges said Tuesday that he is innocent and that they fear for his safety. Paul Whelan, a 48-year-old retired Marine, was detained last week by Russia’s domestic security services while he was in Moscow for what they described...

TIJUANA, Mexico — U.S. authorities fired tear gas into Mexico during the early hours of the new year to repel about 150 migrants who tried to breach the border fence in Tijuana. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that about 45 migrants got through the first layer...

LAKE CITY, S.C. — South Carolina’s congressional delegation wants a post office to be named in honor of a 19th-century postmaster who was lynched because he was black and refused to resign. The state’s entire Washington delegation co-sponsored a bill to name Lake City’s post office after Frazier B. Baker,...

CHICAGO — Preliminary numbers indicate that homicides in Chicago fell by about 100 last year compared to 2017, though the total again eclipses the number of homicides in Los Angeles and New York combined, according to data released Tuesday. Police in Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, report that 561...

The U.S. military command responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons tweeted a New Year’s Eve message Monday afternoon: It is always ready to “drop something much, much bigger” than Manhattan’s iconic Time Square ball. The post and accompanying video went live as the country readied to ring in the new...

BISMARCK, N.D. — The developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline missed a year-end deadline to plant thousands of trees along the pipeline corridor in North Dakota, but the company said it was still complying with a settlement of allegations it violated state rules during construction. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners,...

PASADENA, Calif. — Floral floats and marching bands took to the streets under a sunny California sky as the 130th Rose Parade drew hundreds of thousands of spectators on New Year’s Day and millions more watched on TV. Among the fanciful floats was an award-winning entry from the UPS Store...

ATLANTA — Georgia’s outdated election system has drawn criticism from cybersecurity experts and voting integrity advocates, and now a commission tasked with examining potential replacements is preparing to make recommendations to lawmakers. The paperless system was closely scrutinized during last year’s nationally watched gubernatorial race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and...

LAUREL, Md. — The NASA spacecraft that yielded the first close-up views of Pluto opened the new year at an even more distant world, a billion miles beyond. Flight controllers said everything looked good for New Horizons’ flyby of the tiny, icy object at 12:33 a.m. Tuesday. Confirmation was not...

Fireworks, concerts, spiritual services and political addresses abounded to mark the transition to 2019 as revelers around the globe bid farewell Monday to a year filled with challenges to many of the world’s most basic institutions, including in the realms of politics, trade, alliances and religion. A look at how...

MELBOURNE, Fla. — Officials say a child has been injured as a result of falling into the rhinoceros exhibit at a Florida zoo. Brevard County Fire Rescue officials said on Twitter that the boy was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children on Tuesday afternoon in nearby Orlando. The mother...

One lucky winner in New York matched all the numbers in the Jan. 1 Mega Millions jackpot worth $425 million. According to CNN, the ticket was sold at Brookville Auto Service in Oyster Bay on Long Island. One ticket worth $4 million was sold in Pennsylvania and six others sold...