U.S./World category, Page 452
U.S. confirms China has had spy base in Cuba since at least 2019
WASHINGTON — China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, part of a global effort by Beijing to upgrade its intelligence-gathering capabilities, according to a Biden administration official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said...
Biden marks LGBTQ+ Pride Month with celebration on White House South Lawn
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed hundreds to the White House on Saturday for a delayed Pride Month celebration aimed at showing LGBTQ+ people that his administration has their back at a time when advocates are warning of a spike in discriminatory legislation, particularly aimed at the transgender community, sweeping...
Heavy rains in northwest Pakistan leave 20 dead, 80 injured
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Heavy rains swept through Pakistan’s northwest on Saturday, causing several houses to collapse and leaving at least 20 people dead and 80 injured, authorities said. Rains and hail hit the Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Karak districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, senior rescue officer Khateer Ahmed said, uprooting...
‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski found dead in prison cell
WASHINGTON — Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81. Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical...
Man who told jurors he had ‘fun’ at the Capitol riot sentenced to 6 years in prison
WASHINGTON — A Virginia man who told his wife — and a federal jury — that he had “fun” at the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for attacking police as he stormed the building. Markus Maly’s prison sentence is significantly lower than the punishment...
One of the 2 giant ducks in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor deflates
HONG KONG — One of the two giant inflatable ducks floating in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor deflated on Saturday, just a day after they were unveiled to revelers. Crowds of residents and tourists flocked in the scorching heat to the promenade near the government headquarters in Admiralty to snap photos...
5 killed in explosion at rocket and explosives factory in Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey — An explosion at a rocket and explosives plant in Turkey caused a building to collapse on Saturday, killing all five workers inside, an official said. The explosion occurred at around 8:45 a.m. at the compound of the state-owned Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, on the outskirts of...
On doctor’s advice, Pope Francis to skip Sunday public blessing
ROME — Pope Francis, “wisely” following doctors’ advice, will skip Sunday’s customary public blessing to allow him to better heal after abdominal surgery earlier this week, his surgeon told reporters. Blood and imaging tests indicate that the 86-year-old pope’s recovery is proceeding in an “absolutely normal” manner, Sergio Alfieri, who...
Ex-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigns as MP
Boris Johnson quit his seat in the U.K. Parliament, denouncing as a “kangaroo court” the panel of lawmakers investigating his behavior and attacking the policies of the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak. The former premier — who blames Sunak for the role he played in his own downfall last year...
UN peacekeeper killed, 8 seriously injured in northern Mali attack
UNITED NATIONS — Attackers killed one U.N. peacekeeper and seriously injured eight others Friday in Mali’s northern Timbuktu region, an area where extremists continue to operate, the United Nations said. The peacekeepers, all from Burkina Faso, were part of a security patrol that was targeted first by an improvised explosive...
4 kids lost in the jungle for 40 days after plane crash found alive in Colombia
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday that authorities found alive four children who survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the Amazon jungle that held Colombians on edge. The children were alone when searchers found them...
Judge in FTX bankruptcy rejects media challenge, says customer names can remain secret
DOVER, Del. — The names of individual customers of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading can be permanently shielded from public disclosure, a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled Friday. Following a two-day hearing, Judge John Dorsey rejected arguments from lawyers for several media outlets and for the U.S. bankruptcy trustee, which serves...
Trump case assigned to judge who faced criticism over her ruling in his favor in Mar-a-Lago search
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The historic federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump has been assigned to a judge he appointed who faced blistering criticism over her decision to grant his request for an independent arbiter to review documents obtained during an FBI search of his Florida estate. A...
Donald Trump stored, showed off and refused to return classified documents, indictment says
MIAMI — Donald Trump improperly stored in his Florida estate sensitive documents on nuclear capabilities, repeatedly enlisted aides and lawyers to help him hide records demanded by investigators and cavalierly showed off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and classified map, according to a sweeping felony indictment that paints a damning...
Chief suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance pleads not guilty to extortion charges
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing teen’s mother. Van der Sloot was extradited to the United States on Thursday from Peru, where he...
Putin says Russian tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed to Belarus next month
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow will deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus next month, a move that the Belarusian opposition described as an attempt to blackmail the West. Putin said during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that work on building...
Supreme Court sides with Jack Daniel’s in dispute with makers of dog toy
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday gave whiskey maker Jack Daniel’s reason to raise a glass, handing the company a new chance to win a trademark dispute with the makers of the Bad Spaniels dog toy. In announcing the decision for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan was in...
France hails hero with a rucksack who intervened in knife attack on children
LE PECQ, France — The attacker slashed at the 24-year-old man with the knife that he used to savagely stab one young child after another. But rather than run, Henri held his ground — using a weighty backpack he was carrying to swing at the assailant and parry his blade....
A dam collapses and thousands face the deluge — often with no help — in Russian-occupied Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — For days, the Ukrainian teenager has waited in the attic, just down the street from the cemetery of her flooded town, marking time with her 83-year-old grandfather and two other elderly people and hoping for help to escape the deluge of a catastrophic dam collapse. But help...
Climate activist Greta Thunberg won’t be school striking after graduation but vows to still protest
STOCKHOLM — Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg said Friday she will no longer be able to skip classes as a way to draw attention to climate change because she is graduating from high school. Thunberg, 20, started staging Friday protests outside the Swedish parliament building during school hours in 2018....
In bold move challenging the United States, Cuba agrees to host a Chinese spy base
In a move underscoring its geopolitical ambitions in the Western Hemisphere, China is going to establish an espionage base in Cuba just 90 miles from Florida, for which the Chinese government will reportedly pay billions of dollars to the cash-strapped Caribbean nation. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first...
James Watt, sharp-tongued and pro-development Interior secretary under Reagan, dies at 85
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — James Watt, the Reagan administration’s sharp-tongued, pro-development interior secretary who was beloved by conservatives but ran afoul of environmentalists, Beach Boys fans and eventually the president, has died. He was 85. Watt died in Arizona on May 27, son Eric Watt said in a statement Thursday. In...
Trump indicted: What to know about the documents case and what’s next
Donald Trump’s indictment on 37 counts of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate represents the most serious legal jeopardy so far for Trump, coming less than three months after he was charged in New York with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Here’s a look at the charges,...
Trump charged over classified documents in 1st federal indictment of an ex-presidentVideo
MIAMI — Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House. The Justice Department...
Main suspect in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway arrives from Peru to face chargesVideo
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, arrived in the United States from Peru on Thursday to face charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing teen’s mother. An FBI-operated plane carrying van der Sloot landed at Birmingham’s...
