U.S./World category, Page 653

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday against an effort by former President Donald Trump to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. In a 68-page ruling, the three-judge panel tossed aside Trump’s various arguments for blocking through executive privilege records that...

DAVIS, Calif. — Banana peels, chicken bones and leftover veggies won’t have a place in California trashcans under the nation’s largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program that’s set to take effect in January. The effort is designed to keep landfills in the most populous U.S. state clear of food...

HOUSTON — Rapper Travis Scott said in an interview that he didn’t know that fans had died at his Astroworld festival in Houston until after his performance. In a lengthy interview with radio personality Charlamagne Tha God posted on YouTube on Thursday, Scott described from his perspective what happened at...

MOSCOW — Russia’s top military officer on Thursday sternly warned neighboring Ukraine against trying to reclaim control over separatist areas by force, saying that Moscow will “suppress” any such attempt. The statement by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, comes amid soaring tensions over a Russian...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — America’s casinos have won more money this year than ever before, according to figures released Thursday from a national gambling trade association. The American Gaming Association said U.S. casinos have already broken the record for most money won in a single year at $44.15 billion. Those...

MINNEAPOLIS — A crash in Minneapolis early Thursday that followed a police pursuit of an SUV that was reportedly stolen has left two juveniles dead and three others hospitalized, authorities said. Officers in suburban Robbinsdale spotted a Mercedes SUV about 2 a.m. that was reported stolen in Minneapolis and attempted...

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in 52 years, more evidence that the U.S. job market is recovering from last year’s coronavirus recession. Unemployment claims dropped by 43,000 to 184,000 last week, the lowest since September 1969, the Labor...

It was a tally that shocked the experts: 38,680 deaths on U.S. roadways last year, the most since 2007 even though pandemic precautions had dramatically reduced driving. “This was completely unprecedented,” said Ken Kolosh, a researcher at the nonprofit National Safety Council. “We didn’t know what was happening.” One possibility...

ORLANDO — University of Florida professors say fear of upsetting state politicians pervades the campus to the point that race-related references have been edited out of course materials and faculty members have been restricted from participating in outside activities that challenge the priorities of the governor’s administration, according to a...

SACRAMENTO — A father and son were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of starting a massive California wildfire that destroyed many homes and forced tens of thousands of people to flee Lake Tahoe communities earlier this year, authorities said. David Scott Smith, 66, and his son, Travis Shane Smith, 32, are...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nearly 17 years after being sentenced to die, Scott Peterson was resentenced to life without parole Wednesday during an emotional hearing in which family members of his slain pregnant wife, Laci, called him out for the killing in 2002 and his apparent lack of remorse. “I still...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order to make the federal government carbon-neutral by 2050, aiming for a 65% reduction in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and an all-electric fleet of car and trucks five years later. The White House said the order shows how...

LAGRANGE, Ga. — Investigators have discovered the 1974 Pinto a 22-year-old student was driving on his way back to Auburn University from Georgia when he disappeared more than 45 years ago, sheriff’s officials announced Wednesday. Kyle Wade Clinkscales’ car was pulled from a creek around Cusseta, Ala., on Tuesday after...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With more than two dozen states poised to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court gives them the OK next year, California clinics and their allies in the state Legislature on Wednesday revealed a plan to make the state a “sanctuary” for those seeking reproductive care, including...

BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities freed Wednesday a freelance American journalist who was detained in Beirut last month. The release came just hours after two international human rights groups called her detention arbitrary and demanded that she be set free. Nada Homsi, the journalist, said after her release that her arrest...

CHICAGO — A prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that there is “overwhelming evidence” that former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett staged a racist, anti-gay attack against himself in downtown Chicago for publicity, then lied to police about it. Special prosecutor Dan Webb said during his closing argument that what Smollett did in...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A South Florida judge declared a mistrial in a murder case on Wednesday after the jury delivered a verdict of manslaughter, only to have its decision collapse when a juror told the court she didn’t agree. The jurors were told to keep trying for a fifth...

KILLEEN, Texas — Police in Texas searched Wednesday for a man who opened fire inside a shopping mall, wounding one person, authorities said. Officers responded to the Killeen Mall at about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday after shots were fired, Killeen Police Chief Charles Kimble said. One person was shot multiple times...

NEW DELHI — India’s military chief, Gen. Bipin Rawat, and 12 others were killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash in southern Tamil Nadu state, the air force said. It said in a tweet that the helicopter “met with a tragic accident.” The dead included Rawat’s wife. The air force said...

MOSCOW — When the leaders of the Soviet Union’s three Slavic republics met at a secluded hunting lodge on Dec. 8, 1991, the fate of the vast country hung in the balance. With a stroke of their pens, they delivered a death blow to the USSR, triggering shockwaves that are...

NEW YORK — The Rev. Craig Duke has been a Methodist minister for three decades, building a reputation as a staunch advocate of LGBTQ inclusion. His pastoral duties have now been terminated — the result of a bitter rift surfacing in his Indiana church after he sought to demonstrate solidarity...