U.S./World category, Page 536
Former IS families face neighbors’ hatred returning home
RAQQA, Syria — Marwa Ahmad rarely leaves her run-down house in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The single mother of four says people look at her with suspicion and refuse to offer her a job, while her children get bullied and beaten up at school. She and her children are...
Putin, Xi hold talks as Russia fires another Ukraine barrage
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed Friday to deepen their bilateral cooperation against the backdrop of Moscow’s 10-month war in Ukraine, which weathered another night of drone and rocket attacks following a massive missile bombardment. Putin and Xi made no direct mention of...
New Alzheimer’s drug undergoes testing
PHILADELPHIA — A new drug designed to ward off Alzheimer’s is being tested at more than 100 sites around the world, including the University of Pennsylvania. Called lecanemab, it consists of antibodies that bind to the abnormal proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Previous efforts to...
Biden signs $1.7 trillion bill funding government operations
KINGSHILL, U.S. Virgin Islands — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill that will keep the federal government operating through the end of the federal budget year in September 2023, and provide tens of billions of dollars in new aid to Ukraine for its fight against...
Biden outpacing Trump, Obama with diverse judicial nominees
WASHINGTON — For the Biden White House, a quartet of four female judges in Colorado encapsulates its mission when it comes to the federal judiciary. One of the judges, Charlotte Sweeney, is an openly gay woman with a background in workers’ rights. Nina Wang, an immigrant from Taiwan, is the...
Democrat wins Arizona attorney general race after recount
PHOENIX — A recount of votes has confirmed Democrat Kris Mayes narrowly defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh in the Arizona attorney general’s race, one of the closest elections in state history. The highly anticipated results announced Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court are among the last in the country to come...
Massive fire at Cambodia hotel casino kills at least 19
POIPET, Cambodia — A massive fire at a Cambodian hotel casino Thursday injured over 60 people and killed at least 19 — a number that officials warned would rise after the search for bodies resumes Friday. The blaze, which started around midnight Wednesday, was put out over 12 hours later...
Another year of mass shootings in the U.S.
Mass shootings have become part of every year’s news, and 2022 was no exception. In May, a man targeted Black shoppers at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people and injuring three in one of the deadliest racial massacres in recent U.S. history. Then, just days later,...
Prayers for ailing Benedict in retired pope’s native Bavaria
MARKTL AM INN, Germany — People in Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian homeland prayed Thursday for the retired pontiff, a favorite son of the region even 40 years after he left Germany for the Vatican and nearly a decade after his resignation stunned the world. At the St. Oswald church in...
Southwest cuts 2,300 flights, schedule in sustained chaos
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines continued to extract itself from sustained scheduling chaos Thursday, canceling another 2,350 flights after a winter storm overwhelmed its operations days ago. The Dallas carrier acknowledged it has inadequate and outdated operations technology that can leave flight crews out of position when adverse weather strikes. Southwest...
Israel swears in Netanyahu as PM of hard-line government
JERUSALEM — Israel on Thursday swore in Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s history. Netanyahu took the oath of office moments after Israel’s parliament, or Knesset, passed a vote of confidence in his new government. The coalition, made up of...
E.U. doesn’t follow Italy with covid checks on China arrivals
BRUSSELS — The European Union is assessing Beijing’s rollback of its strict anti-infection controls but refrained Thursday from immediately following EU member Italy in requiring coronavirus tests for airline passengers coming from China. Health officials from the 27-member bloc promised to continue talks on seeking a common approach to travel...
Fire after highway crash in South Korea kills 5, injures 37
SEOUL, South Korea — A freight truck collided with a bus on a highway near the South Korean capital Seoul on Thursday, causing a fire that killed at least five people and injured 37 others, officials said. It wasn’t immediately known what caused the collision and fire, nor what cargo...
Buffalo roads reopen as search for storm victims contines
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roads reopened Thursday in storm-besieged Buffalo as authorities continued searching for people who may have died or are stuck and suffering after last week’s blizzard. The driving ban in New York’s second-most-populous city was lifted just after midnight Thursday, Mayor Byron Brown announced. “Significant progress has been...
Starbucks refused union contract talks at 21 cafes, NLRB says
Starbucks Corp. has illegally refused to negotiate at 21 recently unionized cafes in Washington state and Oregon, U.S. labor board prosecutors alleged in a complaint. In a Tuesday filing on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel, the agency’s Seattle regional director wrote that Starbucks “has been failing...
Family files missing persons report for Theophilus London
LOS ANGELES — The family of rapper Theophilus London filed a missing persons report with Los Angeles police this week and are asking for the public’s help, saying he hasn’t been seen in months. London’s family and friends believe someone last spoke to the musician in July in Los Angeles,...
Private Afghan universities risk closure after ban on women
KABUL, Afghanistan — A quarter of Afghanistan’s private universities risks closure because of the ban on female students imposed by the Taliban government, a spokesman for the sector said Thursday. Afghanistan’s rulers last week barred women from attending universities effective immediately, dealing another blow to women and girl’s rights and...
Lack of info on China’s covid-19 surge stirs global concern
BEIJING — Moves by several countries to mandate covid-19 tests for passengers arriving from China reflect global concern that new variants could emerge in its ongoing explosive outbreak — and that the government may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough. There have been no reports of new...
Russia launches massive missile barrage across Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Multiple regions of Ukraine, including its capital, faced a massive Russian missile attack Thursday, the biggest wave of strikes in weeks targeting power stations and other critical infrastructure during freezing weather. Air raid sirens rang out across the country. Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said preliminary...
Hold on to receipts if you were affected by Southwest’s flight cancellations
To the many people affected by the cancelation this week of nearly 10,000 flights by Southwest Airlines, be sure to hold onto your receipts. From having a longer stay at the airport to hotel rooms to rental cars and more, if you incurred additional costs due to Southwest stranding you,...
U.S. will require covid-19 testing for travelers from China
The U.S. announced new covid-19 testing requirements Wednesday for all travelers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections. The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation’s strict anti-virus controls. China’s “zero covid” policies had kept China’s infection rate low but...
Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack enters not guilty plea
SAN FRANCISCO — The man who allegedly broke into U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and beat her 82-year-old husband in October pleaded not guilty Wednesday to six charges, including attempted murder, prosecutors said. The suspect, David DePape, had planned to kidnap the speaker — who was in Washington at...
Judge orders longest prison term so far in Gov. Whitmer plot
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Delaware trucker described as an architect of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s governor was sentenced Wednesday to more than 19 years in prison — the longest term yet given to anyone convicted in the plot. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Barry Croft Jr.,...
7 hurt as Grand Canyon tour helicopter makes hard landing
LAS VEGAS — A Grand Canyon tour helicopter made a hard landing at a Las Vegas-area airport, injuring seven people, officials said Wednesday. Authorities are investigating the cause. Local responders and the National Transportation Safety Board characterized it as a “hard landing” around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Boulder City Municipal...
Mega Millions jackpot up to $640M after no big winner
DES MOINES, Iowa — A giant Mega Millions jackpot grew larger Wednesday to an estimated $640 million after another drawing without a winner. No one won the lottery game’s top prize Tuesday night, making it 21 straight drawings without anyone matching all six numbers. The next drawing will be Friday...
