U.S./World category, Page 353
Newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped 50 years ago. Now she’s famous for her dogs
LOS ANGELES — Newspaper heiress Patricia “Patty” Hearst was kidnapped at gunpoint 50 years ago Sunday by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a little-known armed revolutionary group. The 19-year-old college student’s infamous abduction in Berkeley, California, led to Hearst joining forces with her captors for a 1974 bank robbery that earned...
A woman stole a memory card from a truck. The gruesome footage is now key to an Alaska murder trial
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A woman with a lengthy criminal history including theft, assault and prostitution got into a truck with a man who had picked her up for a “date” near downtown Anchorage. When he left her alone in the vehicle, she stole a digital memory card from the center...
U.S. warns of further retaliation if Iran-backed militias continue their attacks
JERUSALEM — After a weekend of retaliatory strikes, the United States on Sunday warned Iran and the militias it arms and funds that it will conduct more attacks if American forces in the Mideast continue to be targeted, but that it does not want an “open-ended military campaign” across the...
At least 19 dead in Chile as forest fires approach densely populated central areas
VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile — Intense forest fires burning around a densely populated area of central Chile have left at least 19 people dead and destroyed about 1,100 homes, officials said Saturday. Chile’s Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said there were currently 92 forest fires burning in the center and south...
As investors pile into psychedelics, idealism gives way to pharma economics
Money is pouring into the fledgling psychedelic medicine industry, with dozens of startup companies vying to be among the first to sell mind-expanding drugs for depression, addiction and other mental health conditions. While psychedelics are still illegal under federal law, companies are jostling to try and patent key ingredients found...
U.S., Britain begin new strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, retaliating for attacks by Iran-backed militants
WASHINGTON — The United States and Britain struck at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in a second wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked American and international interests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, U.S. officials told The Associated Press....
Hamas deploys police, distributes funds in sign of resurgence in Gaza areas Israeli troops have left
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas has begun deploying police forces and making partial salary payments to some of its civil servants in Gaza City in recent days, resurfacing in areas from which Israel had withdrawn the bulk of its troops a month ago, four residents and a senior official in...
Judge dismisses case against Michigan man accused of threatening Biden, Harris
BAY CITY, Mich. — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a criminal case against a northern Michigan man accused of threatening President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. After a preliminary examination in federal court in Bay City, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Morris concluded there was no probable cause...
Prosecutors in classified files case: Trump team’s version of events ‘inaccurate, distorted’
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump told a judge Friday that defense lawyers had painted an “inaccurate and distorted picture of events” and had unfairly sought to “cast a cloud of suspicion” over government officials who were simply trying to do their jobs....
U.S. hits militias in Iraq and Syria, beginning retaliation for fatal drone attack
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Friday in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend. President Joe Biden...
Biden honors troops killed in Jordan as remains returned to U.S.
President Joe Biden honored three U.S. service members killed in a recent attack in Jordan as their remains were returned at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday. The president was joined by members of their families for what is known as a dignified transfer — a solemn occasion...
Federal judge in D.C. postpones Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn 2020 election
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington formally postponed Donald Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election as a key legal appeal from the former president continues to work its way through the courts. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday vacated the March 4...
Great escapes exhibit explores how World War II captives coped with tedium and torment
LONDON — Eighty years ago in one of the most ingenious and audacious acts of defiance of World War II, 76 prisoners of war tunneled out of a German POW camp into a snowy forest. For most of the escapees, it ended tragically. Three made it to safety, but the...
London judge acquits climate activist Greta Thunberg of refusing to leave oil industry conference
LONDON — Climate activist Greta Thunberg was acquitted Friday of a charge of refusing to follow a police order to leave a protest blocking the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year. The courtroom gallery erupted with applause as Judge John Law told Thunberg...
Ukraine says Russia refuses to turn over the bodies of military plane crash victims
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia has refused Ukrainian requests to hand over the bodies of scores of prisoners of war whom the Kremlin claims were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane by Kyiv’s forces, a Ukrainian intelligence official said. Andrii Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence,...
Hamas says it’s studying Gaza cease-fire proposal, but appears to rule out key provisions
BEIRUT — Hamas officials said Friday that the group is studying a proposed cease-fire deal that would include prolonged pauses in fighting in Gaza and swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but at the same time appeared to rule out some of its key components. Osama Hamdan, a senior...
U.S. employers add robust 353,000 jobs in January in further sign of economic strength
WASHINGTON — The nation’s employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades. Friday’s government report showed that last month’s job gain — far above...
3 killed when small plane crashed and burned in Florida mobile home park
CLEARWATER, Fla. — A 72-year-old Florida man was drifting off to sleep when he heard an “unbelievable roar” and was thrown to the floor covered in insulation and broken glass, narrowly surviving the deadly crash of a small plane that ripped apart his mobile home and destroyed the trailer next...
Prosecutors weigh perjury charge for ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg over civil fraud trial testimony
NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors are weighing a potential perjury charge against Donald Trump’s former corporate finance chief in connection with testimony he gave in October at the ex-president’s New York civil fraud trial, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. Allen Weisselberg, who had been the...
A grainy sonar image reignites excitement and skepticism over Earhart’s final flight
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A grainy sonar image recorded by a private pilot has reinvigorated interest in one of the past century’s most alluring mysteries: What happened to Amelia Earhart when her plane vanished during her flight around the world in 1937? Numerous expeditions have turned up nothing, only confirming that...
What to know as Republican governors consider sending more National Guard to the Texas border
AUSTIN, Texas — As Republicans cheer on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s escalating feud with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement, some governors are considering deploying National Guard members to the border — again. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday was among the first to commit more personnel to Texas, announcing...
New videos show towers of fire that prompted evacuations after last year’s fiery Ohio derailment
Residents of eastern Ohio can now get an up-close view in newly released videos of the twin toxic towers of fire that forced them from their homes last February when officials decided to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride they worried might explode days after a Norfolk...
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for handling of cancer and hospitalization
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized on Thursday over his handling of his prostate-cancer surgery and two-week hospital stay, saying he should have informed President Joe Biden and the American public. “I did not handle this right,” Austin said during a briefing at the Pentagon, where he returned to...
California pummeled by first of back-to-back atmospheric rivers as ‘Pineapple Express’ sweeps stateVideo
LOS ANGELES — Heavy rain flooded California roadways and much-needed snow piled up in the mountains as the first of back-to-back atmospheric rivers pummeled the state Thursday. The storm focused its energy on the southern and eastern parts of the state after initially hitting the San Francisco Bay Area on...
Skyscraper-size asteroid will buzz Earth on Friday, safely passing within 1.7 million miles
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday. Don’t worry: There’s no chance of it hitting us since it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies...
