U.S./World category, Page 547
China eases anti-covid measures following protests
BEIJING — China rolled back rules on isolating people with covid-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign. The move adds...
Congress set to rescind covid-19 vaccine mandate for troops
WASHINGTON — The covid-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military would be rescinded under the annual defense bill heading for a vote this week in Congress, ending a directive that helped ensure the vast majority of troops were vaccinated but also raised concerns that it harmed recruitment and...
U.S. court dismisses suit against Saudi prince in killing
WASHINGTON — A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, bowing to the Biden administration’s insistence that the prince was legally immune in the case. District of Columbia U.S. District Judge John D. Bates...
Amid outcry, San Francisco pauses on ‘killer police robots’
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco supervisors voted Tuesday to put the brakes on a controversial policy that would have let police use robots for deadly force, reversing course just days after their approval of the plan generated fierce pushback and warnings about the militarization and automation of policing. The Board...
Florida beach erosion uncovers wooden ship from 1800sVideo
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — Severe beach erosion from two late-season hurricanes has helped uncover what appears to be a wooden ship dating from the 1800s which had been buried under the sand on Florida’s East Coast for up to two centuries, impervious to cars that drove daily on the...
North Carolina county’s power cut by shooting could be restored sooner than expectedVideo
RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke Energy said it expects to be able to restore power by Wednesday night to a county where electric substations were attacked by gunfire. Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said the company expects to have power back Wednesday just before midnight in Moore County. The company had...
Trump Organization convicted in executive tax dodge schemeVideo
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s company was convicted of tax fraud on Tuesday in a case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney, a significant repudiation of financial practices at the former president’s business. The guilty verdict came on the second day of deliberations following a trial in which the Trump...
Fight over officer testimony roils Proud Boys sedition case
A legal fight has erupted over a Washington D.C. police officer who was communicating with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack that could shape the outcome of the upcoming trial of Tarrio and other far-right extremists. Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond’s...
Big Tech, free speech advocates join to oppose journalism bill
WASHINGTON — Top social media companies and free speech advocates, groups that usually take opposing views over tech policy, are coming together to oppose a measure that would allow journalism organizations to jointly negotiate with tech companies. The groups are opposing any inclusion in the fiscal 2023 Pentagon policy bill...
DOJ subpoenas state election officials, including Allegheny County, for Trump documents
MADISON, Wis. —Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed local election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving former President Donald Trump, his 2020 campaign aides and a list of allies involved in his efforts to try to overturn the results of the election. The...
Biden’s efforts to protect abortion access hit roadblocks
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is still actively searching for ways to safeguard abortion access for millions of women, even as it bumps up against a complex web of strict new state laws enacted in the months after the Supreme Court stripped the constitutional right. Looking to seize on momentum...
Jan. 6 heroes honored for defending Capitol from Trump mob
WASHINGTON — Law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 were honored Tuesday with Congressional Gold Medals, praised as “heroes” for securing democracy when they fought off a brutal and bloody attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened an emotional ceremony,...
Jan. 6 committee to issue criminal referrals, chairman says
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will make criminal referrals to the Justice Department as it wraps up its probe and looks to publish a final report by the end of the year, the panel’s chairman said Tuesday. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.,...
Ukraine leader defiant as drone strikes hit Russia again
KYIV, Ukraine — Drones struck inside Russia’s border with Ukraine Tuesday in the second day of attacks exposing the vulnerability of some of Moscow’s most important military sites, observers said. Ukrainian officials did not formally confirm carrying out drone strikes inside Russia, and they have maintained ambiguity over previous high-profile...
EU, Western Balkans boost partnership amid Ukraine war
TIRANA, Albania — For the six Western Balkans countries aspiring to join the European Union, gaining full membership in the 27-nation club remains a distant goal. But Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia are getting more concrete signs that they have a future place in the EU as...
Hopeful glimmers in long war on Alzheimer’s disease
After decades of failure in Alzheimer’s disease research, scientists are buoyed by new findings that could mark a turning point in the field, offering hope that treatment may someday slow the grim deterioration of the brain. The data, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and presented to...
Colorado gay club shooting suspect charged with hate crimes
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 17 others, was formally charged with hate crimes as well as murder on Tuesday. Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, sat upright in...
Indonesia’s Parliament votes to ban sex outside of marriage
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously passed a long-awaited revision of the country’s penal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside of marriage for citizens as well as foreigners, prohibits promotion of contraception and bans defamation of the president and state institutions. The amended code also expands an existing blasphemy...
Justices spar in latest clash of religion and gay rightsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ‘s conservative majority sounded sympathetic Monday to a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, the latest collision of religion and gay rights to land at the high court. The designer and her supporters say that ruling against her would...
U.S. says it will expand, extend temporary status for Haitians
SAN DIEGO — The Biden administration said Monday that it would expand temporary legal status for Haitians already living in the United States, determining conditions in the Caribbean nation were too dangerous for their forced return. The Homeland Security Department said Haitians who were in the United States Nov. 6...
Oklahoma man charged in killings of 4 men found in river
OKLAHOMA CITY — A Oklahoma man accused of killing and dismembering four men in eastern Oklahoma was charged Monday with four counts of first-degree murder. Okmulgee County District Attorney Carol Iski announced the charges against Joseph Kennedy, 67, at a news conference. The dismembered bodies of Mark Chastain, 32, Billy...
Florid sheriff: Deputy fatally shot fellow deputy in ‘extremely dumb’ accident
PALM BAY, Fla. — A deputy mistakenly shot and killed his roommate, who was also a deputy, as the two took a break from playing an online game with friends while they were off duty, a Florida sheriff said. Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey called the shooting “an extremely dumb...
Ex-Miami congressman David Rivera arrested in Venezuela probe
WASHINGTON — A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government was arrested Monday on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering. David Rivera, a Republican who served from 2011 to 2013, was arrested at Atlanta’s airport, said Marlene Rodriguez,...
Michael Avenatti gets 14 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from clients
LOS ANGELES — Michael Avenatti, the once-swaggering celebrity lawyer who was undone by his proclivity for embezzlement and fraud, was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison for dodging taxes and stealing millions of dollars from clients. His sentencing by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana concludes...
North Carolina power outages could last days after shootings
CARTHAGE, N.C. — Tens of thousands of people braced for days without electricity in a North Carolina county where authorities say two power substations were shot up by one or more people with apparent criminal intent. Across Moore County southwest of Raleigh on Monday, businesses handed out free food or...
