U.S./World category, Page 366
U.S., Philippine forces launch combat drills in disputed South China Sea
MANILA, Philippines — American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower near the disputed South China Sea that has alarmed Beijing. The annual exercises by the longtime treaty allies will run until May 10 and involve more than 16,000 of...
Papua New Guinea leader takes offense after Biden implies his uncle was eaten by cannibals there
MELBOURNE, Australia — Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape accused Joe Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the U.S. president had been eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II. Biden’s comments offended a key strategic ally as China moves to...
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, at nearly twice the average global rate, report says
NAPLES, Italy — Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, two top climate monitoring organizations reported Monday, warning of the consequences for human health, glacier melt and economic activity. The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s climate agency, Copernicus,...
Heavy rainstorms kill 4 in southern China; 10 people missing
BEIJING — Heavy rainstorms that swept across southern China over the weekend killed at least four people in riverside cities, while a search was underway for 10 others missing, state media said Monday. The official Xinhua news agency said three people died in Zhaoqing city while one rescuer died in...
Baltimore leaders accuse ship’s owner and manager of negligence in Key Bridge collapse
BALTIMORE — The owner and manager of the massive container ship that took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month should be held fully liable for the deadly collapse, according to court papers filed Monday on behalf of Baltimore’s mayor and city council. The two companies filed a petition...
Pro-Palestinian protests sweep U.S. college campuses following mass arrests at Columbia
NEW YORK — Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at Yale and the gates to Harvard Yard were closed to the public on Monday as some of the most prestigious U.S. universities sought to diffuse campus tensions over Israel’s war with Hamas. The various actions followed the...
West Virginia confirms first measles case since 2009
CHARLESTON — A West Virginia hospital has confirmed the first known case of measles in the state since 2009, health officials said Monday. The Monongalia County Health Department said WVU Medicine alerted officials Sunday that an adult patient living in the county tested positive for the viral infection. Health officials...
Man who attacked police after storming U.S. Capitol with Confederate flag gets over 2 years in prison
WASHINGTON — A Kentucky man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while carrying a Confederate battle flag was sentenced on Monday to more than two years in prison for pepper spraying two police officers in the face, partially blinding them for hours during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Isreal Easterday was...
Supreme Court to decide if government can regulate ‘ghost guns’
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will decide whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can regulate so-called “ghost gun” kits that can be assembled into a working firearm. The Biden administration asked the justices to overturn a lower court decision that tossed out a rule meant to curb...
No charges yet in weekend crash that killed 2 siblings at Michigan birthday party
BERLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Investigators need more time to collect information before charges can be filed in the deaths of two young siblings who were killed by a suspected drunken driver at a child’s weekend birthday party, a Michigan prosecutor said Monday. “We expect to make a charging decision” on...
Work starts on bullet train rail line from Las Vegas to Los Angeles
LAS VEGAS — A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction, officials said Monday, amid predictions that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. “People have been dreaming of high-speed rail in America for decades,” U.S. Transportation Secretary...
European nations with Patriot missiles hesitate to give air defense systems to Ukraine
BRUSSELS — European Union countries possessing Patriot air defense systems gave no clear signal on Monday whether they might be willing to supply them to Ukraine, which is desperately seeking at least seven of the missile batteries to help fend off Russian air attacks. Russia’s air force is vastly more...
Russia convicts the spokesperson for Facebook owner Meta in a swift trial in absentia
A court in Russia on Monday convicted the spokesperson of U.S. technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison in a swift trial in absentia, Russia’s independent news site Mediazona reported. According to the outlet, the charges against Meta...
With homelessness on the rise, the Supreme Court will weigh bans on sleeping outdoors
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court wrestled with major questions about the growing issue of homelessness on Monday as it considered whether cities can ban people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking. The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on the...
Toxic: How the search for the origins of covid-19 turned politically poisonous
BEIJING — The hunt for the origins of covid-19 has gone dark in China, the victim of political infighting after a series of stalled and thwarted attempts to find the source of the virus that killed millions and paralyzed the world for months. The Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and...
Security forces kill 11 militants in northwest region bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani military says
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces killed eleven militants in two raids Monday targeting their hideouts in the volatile northwest region bordering Afghanistan, the military aid in a statement. Ten militants were killed in the first raid in Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This came a day...
Trump tried to ‘corrupt’ the 2016 election, prosecutor alleges as hush money trial gets underwayVideo
NEW YORK — Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial. “This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016...
Vice President Harris announces final rules mandating minimum standards for nursing home staffing
The federal government is for the first time requiring nursing homes to have minimum staffing levels after the covid-19 pandemic exposed grim realities in poorly staffed facilities for older and disabled Americans. Vice President Kamala Harris announced the final rules on Monday before a trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where...
Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over his role in failing to prevent Oct. 7 attack
TEL AVIV, Israel — The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned on Monday because of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the stunning failure to anticipate or quickly respond to the deadliest assault in Israel’s history. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva’s...
Biden marks Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal solar power grants
TRIANGLE, Virginia — President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities — while criticizing Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. The Democrat seeking reelection this year took aim...
Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, dies at 76
LOS ANGELES — Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76. Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants...
Young brother, sister dead, several hurt when vehicle crashes into Michigan birthday partyVideo
BERLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A young brother and sister died and several people were injured, some of them seriously, when a vehicle driven by a suspected drunken driver crashed into a young child’s birthday party Saturday at a boat club, a Michigan sheriff said. An 8-year-old girl and her 5-year-old...
Earth Day: How a grocery shopper takes steps to avoid ‘pointless plastic’
ALBANY, N.Y. — Nature wraps bananas and oranges in peels. But in some modern supermarkets, they’re bagged or wrapped in plastic too. For Judith Enck, that’s the epitome of pointless plastic. The baby food aisle is similarly distressing for her, with its rows and rows of blended fruits, vegetables and...
As Columbia protests continue, university rabbi warns Jewish students to stay home
As pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University continue their protest against the war in Gaza, the school’s Orthodox Jewish rabbi sent a message to hundreds of Jewish students urging them to stay home to ensure their own safety. “The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it...
Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial shifts to opening statements Monday, followed by the start of witness testimony. A jury of seven men and five women, plus six alternates, was picked last week. The trial centers on allegations the former president falsified his company’s internal records to...
