U.S./World category, Page 316
Recreational marijuana sales in Ohio can start Tuesday at nearly 100 locations
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Recreational marijuana sales will begin across Ohio on Tuesday when the state issues its first operating certificates. Nearly 100 medical marijuana dispensaries will be able to begin sales immediately, although it’s not clear how many will be ready to open, the Division of Cannabis Control said Monday....
Microplastics are everywhere, but are they harming us?
NEW YORK — Microplastics have been found in the ocean and the air, in our food and water. They have been found in a wide range of body tissues, including the heart, liver, kidneys and even testicles. But are they actually harming you? Evidence suggests they might, but it’s limited...
TikTok agrees to withdraw rewards feature after EU raised concerns about potential online addiction
FRANKFURT, Germany — TikTok has agreed to withdraw a rewards feature that raised concerns about its potential to encourage excessive screen time, particularly among children, the European Union’s executive commission said Monday. It was the first resolution of an investigation under the 27-country EU’s sweeping Digital Services Act, which went...
Hezbollah says it launched a drone attack on northern Israel
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack early Monday on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops. The violence came amid fears of an all-out regional war following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top...
Bangladesh’s PM resigns and flees country as protesters storm her residence capping weeks of unrest
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s prime minister resigned and fled the country Monday, after weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs descended into violence and grew into a broader challenge to her 15-year rule. Thousands of demonstrators stormed her official residence, a day after nearly 100 died in...
Tropical Storm Debby hits Florida with floods, threat of record rain in Georgia and the CarolinasVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — Tropical Storm Debby slammed Florida on Monday with torrential rain and high winds, contributing to at least four deaths in the state and causing flooding before turning menacingly toward the Eastern Seaboard’s low-lying regions and threatened to flood some of America’s most historic Southern cities. Record-setting rain...
Wind lofts bounce house in Maryland, killing 5-year-old, injuring another child
A 5-year-old boy was killed and another child injured after a wind gust lofted a bouncy house 15 to 20 feet into the air at a Maryland baseball game, carried it over a wall and dropped it onto the playing field, as children fell out. The tragedy happened just before...
Judge in Trump’s federal election subversion case rejects defense effort to dismiss the prosecution
WASHINGTON — The federal judge presiding over the election subversion case against former President Donald Trump rejected Saturday a defense effort to dismiss the indictment on claims that he was prosecuted for vindictive and political purposes. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is the first substantive order since...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy displays newly arrived F-16 fighter jets to combat Russia in the air
SOMEWHERE IN UKRAINE — Ukraine’s newly arrived F-16 fighter jets were put on display Sunday by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the planes will boost the country’s war effort against Russia. “These jets are in our sky and today you see them,” said Zelenskyy, standing in front of two of...
Tropical Storm Debby strengthens into a Category 1 hurricane as it heads toward FloridaVideo
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Debby has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it approaches Florida. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said on Sunday evening that the storm has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The storm was located about 100 miles west southwest of Tampa and...
Trump says he’ll skip an ABC debate with Harris in September and wants them to face off on Fox News
CHAPIN, S.C. — Donald Trump says he is pulling out of a scheduled September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on ABC and wants them to face off on Fox News, making it increasingly unlikely that the candidates will confront each other on stage before the November election. In a...
Schumer predicts Democrats will keep control of the Senate now that Harris is atop the party ticket
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is predicting that Democrats will keep control of the Senate in the November election and he feels “exhilarated and gratified” by the surge of enthusiasm with Vice President Kamala Harris atop the party’s ticket. Schumer, who played a pivotal role in talking privately...
Simone Biles captures 7th Olympic gold medal by winning women’s vault for 2nd time
PARIS — Simone Biles is getting kind of old for this. Just maybe not too old to keep going. Maybe. Minutes after the American gymnastics star won the seventh Olympic gold of her career Saturday in a vault final that left little doubt that, even at 27, she remains in...
Favre challenges a judge’s order that blocked his lead attorney in Mississippi welfare lawsuit
JACKSON, Miss. — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre says a Mississippi judge improperly blocked his lead attorney from representing him in a state civil lawsuit that seeks to recover misspent welfare money. Using another of his attorneys, Favre filed an appeal Thursday asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to overturn the...
U.S. Homeland Security halts immigration permits from 4 countries
SAN DIEGO — The Biden administration has temporarily suspended permits for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to enter the United States and stay up to two years amid concerns about fraud by their financial sponsors, officials said Friday. Nearly 500,000 people from the four countries arrived through June under presidential...
What Americans still remain in Russian prisons?
The U.S. and Russia on Thursday completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many months of negotiations and concessions from other European countries who released Russians in their custody as part of the exchange. But not all Americans came home. Some still are being...
An assassin, a Putin foe’s death, secret talks: How a sweeping U.S.-Russia prisoner swap came together
WASHINGTON — It was December 2022 and the U.S. government’s chief hostage negotiator had just delivered Brittney Griner back to America after her 10-month imprisonment in Russia. Roger Carstens went to his hotel room anticipating a quick snooze after several sleepless days and had just put his head on the...
SpaceX knocks out company’s 50th Space Coast launch of the year
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — SpaceX shot up three Falcon 9 rockets from three launch pads last weekend once the Federal Aviation Administration gave its grounded rocket the OK to return to flight. Now it’s set to go another round. First up was a Falcon 9 launch of 23 more...
Masked assailants ransack Venezuela opposition leader’s headquarters as post-election tensions mount
CARACAS, Venezuela — A half dozen masked assailants ransacked the headquarters of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in the latest escalation of violence against opponents of Nicolás Maduro following the country’s disputed presidential election. The raid occurred at around 3 a.m., Machado’s party said, adding that the assailants broke...
Police dog dies in hot car in Missouri after air conditioner malfunctioned
ARNOLD, Mo. — A Missouri police dog died when the air conditioner failed in the patrol vehicle he had been left in, police said. Vader, a 4-year-old K-9 for the Arnold Police Department in suburban St. Louis, died Wednesday. Temperatures this week have been in the 90s, with high humidity....
U.S. added just 114,000 jobs in July, unemployment rate hits 4.3% as interest rates take economic toll
WASHINGTON — U.S. hiring decelerated sharply last month in the face of high interest rates as employers added a weak 114,000 jobs. Friday’s Labor Department report showed a drop from the 179,000 jobs created in June. Forecasters had expected to see 175,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate rose to...
Heat deaths of people without air conditioning, often in mobile homes, underscore energy inequity
PHOENIX — Mexican farm worker Avelino Vazquez Navarro didn’t have air conditioning in the motor home where he died last month in Washington state as temperatures surged into the triple digits. For the last dozen years, the 61-year-old spent much of the year working near Pasco, Washington, sending money to...
Things to know about the largest U.S.-Russia prisoner swap in post-Soviet history
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Russia on Thursday completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many months of negotiations and concessions from other European countries who released Russians in their custody as part of the exchange. Here are some things to know: Who...
Turkey blocks access to Instagram. It’s in response to removal of posts on Hamas chief, reports say
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the decision early Friday but did not provide a reason. Yeni Safak...
3 newly freed Americans are back on U.S. soil after a landmark prisoner exchange with Russia
WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free. Gershkovich, Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a...
