U.S./World category, Page 662
Biden approves $800M in new military assistance for Ukraine
WASHINGTON — In anticipation of a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved an $800 million package of military assistance, including additional helicopters and the first provision of American artillery. The Ukrainians also will receive armored personnel carriers, armored Humvees, naval drone vessels used in...
2 men from The Villages admit to casting multiple ballots in 2020 election
Two residents from The Villages confessed to voter fraud charges after filing two ballots in the 2020 presidential election, court records show. Charles F. Barnes and Jay Ketcik pleaded guilty to casting more than one ballot in an election, a third-degree felony that could have resulted in a maximum five-year...
Brooklyn subway suspect Frank James tipped off police to his locationVideo
NEW YORK — The man accused of shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway train was arrested Wednesday and charged with a federal terrorism offense after the suspect himself called police to come get him, law enforcement officials said. Frank R. James, 62, was taken into custody about 30 hours...
Wisconsin Supreme Court justices question ballot drop boxes
MADISON, Wis. — Skeptical Wisconsin Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday whether state law allows for voters to give their absentee ballot to someone else to return or whether drop boxes can be placed outside municipal clerk offices. The court’s ruling later this spring or summer is expected to establish rules...
Mark Meadows removed as North Carolina registered voter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff to President Donald Trump, has been removed from North Carolina’s list of registered voters after documents showed he lived in Virginia and voted in that state’s 2021 election, officials said Wednesday. Questions arose about Meadows last month, when North Carolina...
Police find 2 dead children in Miami apartment, mother arrested
MIAMI — Police in Miami arrested a 41-year-old woman in the deaths of her two children, aged 3 and 5, after officers responded to repeated hang-up 911 calls from her apartment where they found their tied-up bodies. “Come get them, I don’t want them anymore,” Odette Lysse Joassaint told officers...
Truck hits tourist bus in Egypt, kills 10
CAIRO — A tourist bus collided with a truck on a highway in southern Egypt and burst into flames on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, including four French and a Belgian, authorities said. The crash happened on a highway about 27 miles south of the city of Aswan, provincial...
Investigators: Drone that crashed in Croatia carried a bomb
ZAGREB, Croatia — A military drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone over three European NATO member states before crashing in the Croatian capital was armed with an explosive device, Croatian crash investigators said Wednesday. The 6-ton Soviet-era aircraft apparently drifted uncontrolled out of Ukraine,...
Texas keeping most truck inspections despite border gridlock
AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday defied intensifying pressure over his new border policy that has gridlocked trucks entering the U.S. and shut down some of the world’s busiest trade bridges as the Mexican government, businesses and even some allies urge him to relent. The two-term Republican governor,...
Russian embassy in Bosnia warns of destabilization
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The Russian embassy in Bosnia on Wednesday criticized the suspension of a Bosnian Serb property law and warned of potential destabilization in the tense Balkan country unless the decision by the top international official is revoked. The embassy in a statement carried by local media reiterated that...
U.K.’s Johnson rejects calls to resign amid ‘partygate’ fine
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government’s pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine. London police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party...
Japan, U.S. hold navy drills off Koreas amid nuke test worry
TOKYO — U.S. and Japanese warships, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, are conducting their joint naval exercise in waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula for the first time in five years, in a show of their close military alliance amid growing speculation of North Korea’s...
IS supporter given life sentence for murdering U.K. lawmaker
LONDON — An Islamic State supporter was given a whole-life sentence Wednesday for stabbing a British lawmaker to death in revenge for his voting in support for airstrikes on Syria. Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was convicted Monday of murdering Conservative lawmaker David Amess and preparing terrorist acts. A jury deliberated...
Biden: Russia war a ‘genocide,’ trying to ‘wipe out’ UkraineVideo
DES MOINES, Iowa — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.” Speaking in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, Biden said he meant...
Ukrainian politician close to Putin detained
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is both a pro-Russian opposition leader and a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been detained in a special operation carried out by the country’s SBU secret service. Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s national security...
Georgia Gov. Kemp to sign bill allowing concealed carry of handguns without a license
ATLANTA — As of Tuesday, most Georgians will be allowed to carry concealed handguns without first getting a license from the state. Making good on a 2018 campaign promise, Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to sign Senate Bill 319, sometimes referred to as “constitutional carry.” SB 319 would allow a...
Oklahoma governor signs bill to make abortion illegal
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights. The bill,...
Putin vows to press invasion until Russia’s goals are met
KYIV, Ukraine — Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday that Russia’s bloody offensive in Ukraine would continue until its goals are fulfilled and insisted the campaign was going as planned, despite a major withdrawal in the face of stiff Ukrainian opposition and significant losses. Russian troops, thwarted in their push toward Ukraine’s...
Japan, Italy to lift defense ties amid China, Russia worries
TOKYO — Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said he and his Italian counterpart agreed Tuesday to step up military cooperation as Japan expands security ties with Europe amid concern about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impact on Asia. Kishi told reporters that he and Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini...
N.Y. Lt. Gov. Benjamin arrested in campaign donation scheme
NEW YORK — New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, whose seven months in that role has been overshadowed by probes into a previous campaign, was arrested Tuesday in a federal corruption investigation. The Democrat was accused in an indictment of participating in a scheme to obtain campaign contributions from a...
Biden waiving ethanol rule in bid to lower gasoline prices
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer, as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine. Most gasoline sold...
Police focus on van renter in Brooklyn subway shooting probeVideo
NEW YORK — A gunman in a gas mask and construction vest set off a smoke grenade and fired a barrage of at least 33 bullets in a rush-hour subway train, shooting at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were scouring the city for the shooter and trying to...
Russian activist who said he had been poisoned is detainedVideo
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., who was twice sickened in incidents he suspected were poisonings, has been detained in Moscow by police, another prominent opposition figure said Monday. Ilya Yashin said on Twitter that Kara-Murza was detained Monday near his Moscow residence. It was unclear whether he had been...
Former Virginia police officer convicted of storming Capitol to disrupt Congress
WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Monday convicted a former Virginia police officer of storming the U.S. Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Jurors convicted former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson of all six counts he faced stemming from...
Trial opens in Florida opioid lawsuit case against Walgreens
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A trial opened Monday in Florida’s opioid epidemic lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which state officials accuse of prioritizing profits over health by improperly dispensing millions of powerful painkillers that caused tens of thousands of deaths. The trial, in Pasco County north of Tampa, comes...
