U.S./World category, Page 430
Tom Hanks draws on his love of space for immersive documentary ‘The Moonwalkers’Video
LONDON — You won’t see Tom Hanks on one of those space tourism flights that whisk celebrities and millionaires on a suborbital jaunt for a few hours. He says it wouldn’t be enough time out of this world. “I don’t need to go up and down,” Hanks said Tuesday. “I...
Over 50% of people feel competitive with their neighbors over holiday decorations: survey
You can see it all across America: One person puts up their Christmas decorations, then another person, then another, each with increasingly more lights and wreaths. If this is something you, reader, have seen, you’re not alone in your observation: A new survey on 2023 holiday decorating trends has found...
Brutal killings of women in Western Balkan countries trigger alarm and expose faults in the system
BELGRADE, Serbia — A man in Bosnia killed his wife and streamed the murder live on Instagram. In neighboring Serbia, 27 women were killed in gender-based attacks this year, despite efforts to raise awareness and reverse the trend. Activists in Kosovo say violence against women there is a “national emergency.”...
Prince Harry challenges the decision to strip him of security in Britain after he moved to the U.S.
LONDON — A lawyer for Prince Harry on Tuesday challenged the U.K. government’s decision to strip him of his security detail after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the United States. The Duke of Sussex has claimed that his safety...
Can JetBlue buy Spirit? Trial on deal that could further consolidate industry comes to a head
BOSTON — Lawyers for the Justice Department and JetBlue Airways are scheduled to make closing arguments Tuesday in a trial determining whether JetBlue can buy Spirit Airlines, the nation’s biggest low-fare carrier. The Justice Department argues that the proposed $3.8 billion merger would hurt consumers by eliminating Spirit and its...
Lebanon’s Christians feel the heat of climate change in its sacred forest and valley
BCHARRE, Lebanon — Majestic cedar trees towered over dozens of Lebanese Christians gathered outside a small mid-19th century chapel hidden in a mountain forest to celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, the miracle where Jesus Christ, on a mountaintop, shined with light before his disciples. The sunset’s yellow light coming...
Supreme Court is taking up a case that could rule out a tax on wealth favored by some Democrats
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is taking up a case Tuesday over a Washington couple’s $15,000 tax bill that is widely seen as a test of a never-enacted tax on wealth. A decision in favor of Charles and Kathleen Moore of Redmond, Washington, could strike down a provision of the...
Sudden eruption of Indonesia’s Mt. Marapi kills at least 22
BATU PALANO, Indonesia — Rescuers searching the hazardous slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano found 11 more bodies of climbers who were caught by a surprise weekend eruption, raising the number of confirmed dead to 22, officials said Tuesday. One person remained missing. More than 50 climbers were rescued after...
Israel strikes in and around Gaza’s 2nd-largest city in a bloody new phase of the war
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza’s second-largest city early Tuesday, sending ambulances and private cars racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war. Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is...
Cause sought of explosion that leveled an Virginia home as police tried to serve warrantVideo
ARLINGTON, Va. — Hours before a massive explosion destroyed a duplex and shook a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., a suspect inside his home fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times into the neighborhood, drawing a large police response, officials said Tuesday. All officers escaped serious injury, but it...
Oxford University Press names ‘rizz’ as its word of the year
LONDON — Oxford University Press has named “rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone’s ability to attract or seduce another person. It topped “Swiftie” (an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift), “situationship” (an informal romantic or sexual relationship)...
U.S. tourist from Boston killed in shark attack in Bahamas, police say
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A female tourist from Boston was killed Monday by a shark while paddleboarding in the Bahamas, police told reporters. The victim, who was not identified, was attacked less than a mile off the western end of New Providence island, where the capital, Nassau, is located....
Man charged in killings of 3 homeless people and a suburban Los Angeles resident, prosecutors say
LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors charged a man Monday with four counts of murder in the fatal shootings of three homeless men in Los Angeles and a suburban resident last month. Jerrid Joseph Powell was also charged with one count of residential robbery and one count of being a felon with...
George Santos is offering personalized videos for $200
ALBANY, N.Y. — George Santos already has a new gig. The former congressman, fresh off his historic expulsion last week, has created a Cameo account where the public can pay for a personalized video message. Screenshots of his account — with the bio “Former congressional ‘Icon’!” — started to spread...
Man suspected of killing 4, including a 1-year-old, at a Dallas home kills self during police chase
DALLAS — A man suspected of killing four people, including a 1-year-old boy, and injuring a 15-year-old girl in a shooting at a Dallas home fatally shot himself during a chase with law enforcement, police said Monday. Byron Carillo, 21, fled the home after the shooting late Sunday afternoon and...
Former career U.S. diplomat charged with secretly spying for Cuban intelligence for decades
MIAMI — A former career American diplomat was charged Monday with serving as a secret agent for communist Cuba going back decades in what prosecutors portrayed as one of the most brazen and long-running betrayals in the history of the U.S. foreign service. Court papers alleged that Manuel Rocha engaged...
Heavy snowfall drops tree branches onto power lines, causing outages in New EnglandVideo
A storm dropped a mix of rain and snow on parts of New England with some locations recording more than a half-foot of snowfall on Monday, knocking out power for tens of thousands of customers and causing slick roads that contributed to a fiery propane truck crash in Vermont. Evacuations...
After a fatal attack near the Eiffel Tower, French investigators look into suspect’s mental health
PARIS — French investigations into a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower were looking Monday into the mental health of the suspected assailant, who swore allegiance to the Islamic State group before stabbing a German-Filipino tourist to death and injuring two other people with a hammer. The French national...
Kennedy Center Honors fetes new inductees, including Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal and Dionne WarwickVideo
WASHINGTON (AP) — The newest group of Kennedy Center honorees, including comedian Billy Crystal and actor Queen Latifah, were feted Sunday night at a star-studded event commemorating their lifetime achievement in arts and entertainment. Opera singer Renée Fleming, music star Barry Gibb and prolific hitmaker Dionne Warwick were also honored...
U.S. is running out of money for Ukraine and that could hinder fight against Russia, White House warns
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s war effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion may grind to a halt without it. In a letter to...
California faculty at largest U.S. university system launch strike for better pay
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Faculty at California State University, the largest public university system in the U.S., will hold a series of one-day strikes starting Monday across four campuses to demand higher pay and more parental leave for thousands of professors, librarians, coaches and other workers. The strikes at California State...
Barbie doll honoring Cherokee Nation leader is met with mixed emotions
OKLAHOMA CITY — An iconic chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, inspired countless Native American children as a powerful but humble leader who expanded early education and rural healthcare. Her reach is now broadening with a quintessential American honor: a Barbie doll in the late Mankiller’s likeness as part...
What to know about Hanukkah and how it’s celebrated around the world
Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.” On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multibranched candelabra. In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of...
Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims
HAILEY, Idaho — Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story. When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said. It was March...
Supreme Court wrestles with OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy deal, with billions of dollars at stake
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids. The justices seemed by turns reluctant to break up an exhaustively negotiated agreement,...
