U.S./World category, Page 1238
Putin outlines Russia’s ambitious Arctic expansion programVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday put forward an ambitious program to secure Russia’s foothold in the Arctic, including efforts to build new ports and other infrastructure facilities and expand an icebreaker fleet. Speaking at the Arctic forum in St. Petersburg attended by leaders of Finland, Iceland,...
Sen. Pat Toomey wants local cops informed of failed firearms background checks
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, is taking another run at the nation’s gun laws. This time, he has put his name on a bill that would attempt to close what he sees as a loophole that allows thousands of people who attempt to buy a gun illegally to walk...
Conservatives push Kris Kobach as Homeland Security chief
WASHINGTON — Outside allies of President Donald Trump have launched a public campaign urging him to nominate former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as his next secretary of Homeland Security. That’s despite the uphill battle Kobach would certainly face getting confirmed by the Senate. NumbersUSA, a group that seeks...
David Dao, doctor dragged from United flight while screaming, breaks silence
Exactly two years after passenger David Dao was dragged, screaming, from his seat on a United Airlines flight, he has broken his silence, saying he has shed many tears over the incident. Dao’s case captured worldwide attention in 2017 when he was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight at Chicago’s...
New York City orders mandatory vaccines for some amid measles outbreak
NEW YORK — New York City has declared a public health emergency over a measles outbreak and ordered mandatory vaccinations for some people who may have been exposed to the virus. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the order Tuesday. It covers people who live in four ZIP codes in Brooklyn’s...
Barr to release redacted Mueller report within a week
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday he expects to release a redacted version of the special counsel’s Trump-Russia investigation report “within a week.” Barr told members of Congress at his first public appearance since receiving special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that his earlier projection of releasing a version...
Suspected Parkland gunman pens letters about having kids, naming them after guns
In love letters knotted with stick figures and smiley faces, Parkland shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz looks toward the future. “I really want kids. I think of it all the time, you know the joy they bring,” Cruz, 20, wrote on Halloween to Miley, one of his many online admirers whom...
White House steps up attacks as Mueller report release nears
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took a victory lap after special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his Russia investigation. It may have been premature. The scramble to frame the investigation’s findings in the best political light is sure to be renewed in coming days when Mueller’s report is expected to be...
Storm to hit Rockies before forming new ‘bomb cyclone’
HELENA, Mont. — Flood, snow, avalanche and fire alerts popped up Monday from Idaho to Colorado, as parts of the U.S. interior that were paralyzed by blizzards and floods last month braced for round two of an unusual weather phenomenon. Welcome to springtime in the Rockies and parts of the...
‘Smallville’ actress Allison Mack pleads guilty ahead of sex cult trial
A “Smallville” actress accused of recruiting women into a sadistic sex cult in upstate New York pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering and conspiracy charges. Allison Mack was charged with duping women into joining NXIVM by telling them it was a self-help group. The Albany-based operation was founded by Keith Raniere,...
Felicity Huffman, 12 other parents to plead guilty in college scheme
BOSTON — Actress Felicity Huffman and a dozen other prominent parents have agreed to plead guilty in the sweeping college admissions cheating scam that has ensnared wealthy families and athletic coaches at some of the nation’s most selective universities, federal authorities said Monday. The “Desperate Housewives” star and the other...
3 American soldiers, 1 U.S. contractor killed in Afghanistan
KABUL — Three American service members and a U.S. contractor were killed when their convoy hit a roadside bomb on Monday near the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, the U.S. forces said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission said the four Americans...
Louisiana officer Jonathan Landrum cleared in fatal shooting
LAKE CHARLES, La. — The family of a 26-year-old man who was killed after threatening a store clerk with a lethal-looking BB gun plans to sue now that a Louisiana grand jury has cleared the officer who shot him. The grand jury rejected three possible charges against Lake Charles Police...
Bad idea: Pouring gas on wet ballfield, setting it on fire
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — Authorities say it could cost over $50,000 to repair a Connecticut baseball diamond where somebody dumped gasoline and set it on fire to dry out the infield. Police are investigating the fire in Ridgefield in which 25 gallons of gasoline was poured on the field Saturday. First...
For some river towns, flood protection is simply too costly
CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — The window of the Bee Naturals bath-and-body shop offers a view out of a Mark Twain novel: The sprawling Mississippi River at one of its widest points lapping against a small-town Missouri waterfront as barges float by and eagles dart in the air above. But with a...
Global warming is shrinking glaciers faster than thought
WASHINGTON — Earth’s glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. The most comprehensive measurement of glaciers worldwide found that thousands of inland masses of snow...
U.S. labels Iran Revolutionary Guard ‘terrorist organization’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. is designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization,” in an effort to increase pressure on the country. It is the first time that the U.S. has designated a part of another country as a terrorist organization. The designation imposes...
Spacewalking astronauts tackle battery, cable work
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts tackled battery and cable work outside the International Space Station on Monday. It was the third spacewalk in just 2 ½ weeks for the space station crew. NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques hustled through their part in battery swap-outs that...
Suspected rhino poacher killed by elephant then eaten by lions, authorities say
Five suspected poachers entered Kruger National Park in South Africa last week to kill rhino living there, according to authorities. Only four of the men left alive. The fifth was killed by an elephant and later “devoured” by a pride of lions, park officials said in a statement. “Entering Kruger...
17-foot, 140-pound python captured in Florida park
Researchers last week captured and killed the largest Burmese python to be removed from Big Cypress National Preserve in the Florida Everglades, according to wildlife officials. The 17-foot, 140-pound female snake — an invasive species devastating to native wildlife — was discovered using a new tracking approach that leans on...
2 South Carolina men charged with killing, burying women
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Two South Carolina men have been charged with murder after sheriff’s deputies found two bodies buried at a house just outside Spartanburg, authorities said. The arrests were made after one of the suspects shot himself in the head in front of deputies, survived, and subsequently told deputies...
Uganda police say kidnapped U.S. woman and driver are freed
KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan police said on Sunday they had rescued an American woman and her driver who had been kidnapped by gunmen in a national park. The two “are in good health” and “in the safe hands” of security officials, police said in a Twitter update. Although authorities provided...
4 adults, 2 kids shot and wounded at Chicago baby shower
CHICAGO — Two men who opened fire on a crowd of people gathered for a baby shower, wounding six people, including two children, may have acted in retaliation for an earlier gang conflict, police said Sunday. Authorities have only “shards of information” about what happened at the family gathering in...
French priest’s 150-year-old heart being venerated in NYC
NEW YORK — The 150-year-old heart of a French priest is on a U.S. tour — a Roman Catholic relic with New York City as its latest stop. It was on display Saturday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, where both the faithful and the curious lined up to...
Maldives leader celebrates victory in parliamentary election
MALE, Maldives — Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s party is leading in the vote count in the parliamentary election and has already declared a landslide victory that could give him a free hand in efforts to restore political freedoms and tackle corruption. The official results are expected late Sunday. Solih’s...
