U.S./World category, Page 393
Missile strike targets Kyiv as Russian train carriages derail due to ‘unauthorized interference’
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as part of an overnight bombardment felt across the country, local officials said Saturday, while drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted areas around Moscow and the region of Smolensk. A ballistic missile was shot down as it...
In rare move, Pope forcibly removes leading U.S. conservative, Texas bishop
ROME — Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities. A one-line statement from the Vatican said Francis had “relieved” Bishop Joseph Strickland of the...
U.K. police step up efforts to ensure a massive pro-Palestinian march in London remains peaceful
LONDON — London police have stepped up efforts to ensure a pro-Palestinian march on Saturday remains peaceful following a week of political sparring over whether the demonstration should go ahead on the weekend Britain honors its war dead. More than 2,000 officers, some called in from surrounding forces, will be...
Gaza’s main hospital goes dark as Israel battles Hamas outside, causing patients to die; Netanyahu rejects cease-fire
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the military will continue its battle against Hamas in Gaza with “full force,” in a rejection of growing international calls for a cease-fire. Netanyahu said in a televised address that a cease-fire would only be possible if...
4 men wounded in shootout over allegedly stolen car on Interstate 59 in Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A confrontation over an allegedly stolen car in Birmingham, Alabama, ended Friday in a shootout on a busy interstate that wounded four people, including two who had life-threatening injuries, police said. The shooting took place shortly after 4:30 p.m. on southbound Interstate 59 near the 20th Street...
4 injured, 1 critically, in shooting at mall in Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Independence police are investigating a shooting Friday afternoon at the Independence Center mall. Police initially said three people had been shot, but later updated that to four shot. One person is in critical condition. A police spokesperson said the shooting occurred in a public area inside...
Lindell’s troubled MyPillow goes with in-house counsel to defend federal Smartmatic case
MINNEAPOLIS — MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has turned to in-house corporate counsel to defend him and his company against Smartmatic’s defamation claim in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, according to a court filing Friday. Doug Wardlow, who ran twice for state attorney general, filed formal notice that he and fellow...
Republican faction seeks to keep courts from interpreting Ohio’s new abortion rights amendment
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state’s constitution this week. Republican state Reps. Jennifer Gross, Bill Dean, Melanie Miller and Beth Lear said in a...
Moody’s lowers U.S. credit outlook, though keeps triple-A rating
WASHINGTON — The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt on Friday to “negative” from “stable,” citing the cost of rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress. Moody’s retained its top triple-A credit rating on U.S. government debt, though it is the...
5.0 magnitude quake strikes Dominican Republic near border with Haiti
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest Dominican Republic on Friday near the border with Haiti. The tremor occurred at a depth of 12 miles just west-northwest of Las Matas de Santa Cruz, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Officials in the Dominican Republic said...
Iranian-born Norwegian man is charged over deadly Oslo Pride attack in 2022
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran was charged Friday with aggravated terrorism for the 2022 deadly shooting ahead of an LGBTQ festival in the nightlife district of the capital, Oslo. Two people were killed and nine seriously wounded in the shooting at three locations, chiefly outside the...
Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State take root on the coast of West Africa
ATACORA, Benin — The insurgents pressured Zackari to join their movement, and he turned them down. Now he’s frightened of their revenge. He has been on the run from the jihadi fighters for more than a year. They regularly call the 33-year-old, warning: “We haven’t forgotten about you.” Groups linked...
The great grift: Covid-19 aid thieves bought fancy cars, a Pokemon card — even a private island
YANKEETOWN, Fla. — A freshwater spring bubbles amid the mangroves, cabbage palms and red cedars on Sweetheart Island, a two-acre uninhabited patch of paradise about a mile off the coast of this little Gulf Coast town. Pelicans divebomb nearby into the cool waters of Florida’s Withlacoochee Bay and the open...
Palestinian evacuees say thousands of people sheltering at Shifa hospital have fled after strikes
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Palestinians on Friday fled from around Gaza City’s main hospital after a series of strikes that staff blamed on Israel hit in and around several hospitals overnight. They joined a growing exodus of people toward the south amid intensified fighting as Gaza officials...
U.S. childhood vaccination exemptions reach their highest level ever
NEW YORK — The proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements has hit its highest level ever, 3%, U.S. health officials said Thursday. More parents are questioning routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect of the political schism that emerged during the pandemic around...
Former Arizona senator reports being molested while running in Iowa
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — A former United States senator from Arizona has said she was molested while jogging along the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Martha McSally described the attack on Wednesday morning in a video she posted online. “A man came up behind me and he engulfed me...
Election offices are sent envelopes with fentanyl or other substances. Authorities are investigatingVideo
WASHINGTON — Authorities were hunting Thursday for whoever sent suspicious letters — including some containing fentanyl — to elections offices in at least five states this week, delaying the counting of ballots in some local races in the latest instance of threats faced by election workers around the country. The...
FBI offers $10,000 reward for info leading to capture of Jan. 6 attack fugitive from New Jersey
HELMETTA, N.J. — After two days of searching for a suspect in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol who fled as federal agents approached his home, the FBI on Thursday offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the New Jersey man. The agency said...
Man accuses riverboat co-captain of assault during Alabama riverfront brawl
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Black riverboat co-captain at the center of an Alabama riverfront brawl that drew national attention has been accused of misdemeanor assault in the melee by one of the white boaters charged in the fight. Court records show one of the white men accused of assaulting the...
Pastor’s suicide brings grief, warnings of the dangers of outing amid erosion of LGBTQ+ rights
SMITHS STATION, Ala. — After the 2019 suicide of a local teenager, small-town mayor and pastor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland helped students place roadside signs in his Alabama community to try to reach others who might be hurting. “You are worthy of love.” “Don’t give up.” “You matter.” Those were the...
Trump ally Steve Bannon appeals conviction in Jan. 6 committee contempt case
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon on Thursday appealed his criminal conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Bannon’s attorney argued he didn’t ignore the subpoena, but was trying to avoid running afoul of executive...
The man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband was caught up in conspiracies, defense says
SAN FRANCISCO — The man accused of bludgeoning former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer was caught up in conspiracies when he broke into her San Francisco home last year, his defense attorney said at his trial opened Thursday. The attack on then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi in the early...
Can Michigan activists keep Trump off the ballot? A judge heard arguments today
A judge in Michigan heard arguments Thursday on whether Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has the authority to keep Donald Trump’s name off state ballots for president. Activists sued Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump’s name off ballots and to assess Trump’s constitutional...
Hollywood’s strikes are both now over as actors reach deal with studios, return to work with writers
LOS ANGELES — On Thursday, for the first time in more than six months, neither Hollywood’s actors nor its writers will be on strike. The long-awaited clearing in the industry’s stormiest season in decades comes as a deal was reached late Wednesday to end what was, at nearly four months,...
Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial will go on after lawyers seek early verdict ending case
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s lawyers were thwarted Thursday in their longshot bid to immediately end the New York civil fraud trial that threatens the former president’s real estate empire. Judge Arthur Engoron didn’t rule on the request, but indicated the trial will go on as scheduled Monday with Donald...
