U.S./World category, Page 672
Egypt displays recently discovered ancient tombs in Saqqara
Egypt on Saturday displayed recently discovered, well-decorated ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo. The five tombs were unearthed earlier this month and date back to the Old Kingdom — a period spanning roughly from around 2700 BC to 2200 B.C., as well as to the...
Judge: Same-sex marriage license denials violated rights
A federal judge has ruled that a former Kentucky clerk violated the constitutional rights of two same-sex couples who were among those she wouldn’t issue marriage licenses — a refusal that sparked international attention and briefly landed her in jail in 2015. U.S. District Judge David Bunning in Ashland issued...
Russians push deeper into Mariupol as locals plead for help
Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine’s besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help. The fall of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war’s worst suffering, would mark a major battlefield...
4 U.S. Marines die in NATO drill when Osprey crashes in Norway
Four U.S. Marines were killed when their Osprey aircraft crashed in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise unrelated to Russia’s war in Ukraine, authorities said Saturday. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere tweeted that they died in the crash on Friday night. The cause was...
Denied swift victory, Russian military maintains strong hand
The signs are abundant of how Ukraine frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a swift victory and how Russia’s military proved far from ready for the fight. A truck carrying Russian troops crashes, its doors blown open by a rocket-propelled grenade. Foreign-supplied drones target Russian command posts. Orthodox priests in trailing...
Afghanistan is world’s unhappiest country, even before Taliban
Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world — even before the Taliban swept to power last August. That’s according to a so-called World Happiness report released ahead of the U.N.-designated International Day of Happiness on Sunday. The annual report ranked Afghanistan as last among 149 countries surveyed, with a...
Authorities: Virginia reporter among 2 killed in shooting
A Virginia newspaper reporter was one of two people killed during a shooting early Saturday outside a restaurant and bar, authorities said. Sierra Jenkins, 25, who covered education and schools for The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after the shooting outside Chicho’s Pizza Backstage, according to...
Firing-squad executions get the greenlight in South Carolina
South Carolina has given the greenlight to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs. The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death...
Disney ‘regrets’ performance by visiting school drill team
Officials at Walt Disney World said Friday that a performance by a visiting Texas high school drill team that used American Indian stereotypes, including chants of “scalp them,” doesn’t reflect the Florida resort’s values. The performance this week in the Magic Kingdom by the “Indianettes” drill team from Port Neches-Grove...
9/11 victim photo search leads to Michigan school yearbook
ROMULUS, Mich. — Albert Ogletree was a name represented by an image of an oak leaf at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York until a bit of sleuthing led to a 1966 Michigan high school yearbook. On Tuesday, the museum added Ogletree’s Romulus High School freshman...
American gunmakers help Ukrainians fight back against Putin
MIAMI — Adrian Kellgren’s family-owned gun company in Florida was left holding a $200,000 shipment of semi-automatic rifles after a longtime customer in Ukraine suddenly went silent during Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country. Fearing the worst, Kellgren and his company KelTec decided to put those stranded 400 guns to...
Texas wildfires fueled by gusty winds prompt evacuations
EASTLAND, Texas — Low humidity and gusty winds fueled multiple wildfires Friday in Texas, burning homes and other structures and prompting evacuations of small communities. Several wildfires merged to form what fire officials call a “complex” that was burning near Eastland, about 120 miles west of Dallas. As of Friday...
Putin appears at huge rally as troops press attack in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a packed Moscow stadium Friday and lavished praise on his troops fighting in Ukraine, three weeks into the invasion that has led to heavier-than-expected Russian losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home. Meanwhile, the leader of Russia’s delegation...
Arnold Schwarzenegger tells Putin in video: Stop this warVideo
Film icon Arnold Schwarzenegger told Russians in a video posted on social media Thursday they’re being lied to about the war in Ukraine and accused President Vladimir Putin of sacrificing Russian soldiers’ lives for his own ambitions. Schwarzenegger is hugely popular in Russia, and apparently also with Putin. The President...
Hot spring forecast: Drought deepens in West, flooding ebbs
There’s no relief in sight for the West’s record-shattering megadrought, which will likely only deepen this spring, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its seasonal outlook Thursday. But central and eastern states should be mostly spared from significant flooding. Spring is likely to be hotter than normal in...
NTSB: 13-year-old was driving pickup that struck van killing 9
HOBBS, N.M. — A 13-year-old was driving the pickup truck that struck a van in West Texas in a fiery collision that killed nine people, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said Thursday. The truck’s left front tire, which was a spare tire, also blew out before impact,...
Washington state prohibits Texas-style abortion lawsuits
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A Washington state measure that prohibits legal action against people seeking an abortion and those who aid them was signed into law Thursday by the governor, in a move designed to rebut recent actions by conservative states. “We know this bill is necessary because this is a...
St. Patrick’s Day parades turn pandemic blues Irish green
NEW YORK — St. Patrick’s Day celebrations across the country are back after a two-year hiatus, including the nation’s largest in New York City, in a sign of growing hope that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic may be over. The holiday served as a key marker in the outbreak’s...
U.S. stocks extend rally even as oil climbs back above $100
NEW YORK — Wall Street is extending a rally into a third day Thursday even as oil prices jump back above $100, upping the pressure on inflation. The S&P 500 was 0.8% higher, with 75% of the stocks in the benchmark index rising. That follows gains of more than 2%...
Explainer: Ex-Honduras president step closer to extradition
MEXICO CITY — A judge in Honduras has ruled that former President Juan Orlando Hernández should be extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking and weapons charges. Wednesday’s decision came one month after police arrested Hernández at his home at the request of the U.S. government. While Hernández...
Study: SUVs, pickups hit pedestrians more often than cars do
DETROIT — Drivers of bigger vehicles such as pickup trucks and SUVs are more likely to hit pedestrians while making turns than drivers of cars, according to a new study. The research released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety points to the increasing popularity of larger vehicles as...
Biden to call China’s Xi to discuss Russia, economic issues
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will speak Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ongoing economic competition between the two countries and Russia’s war against Ukraine. White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced the upcoming phone call in a Thursday statement that said it’s “part of our ongoing efforts...
Rescuers search theater rubble as Russian attacks continue
KYIV, Ukraine — Rescue workers searched for survivors Thursday in the ruins of a theater blown apart by a Russian airstrike in the besieged city of Mariupol, while scores of Ukrainians across the country were killed in ferocious urban attacks on a school, a hostel and other sites. Hundreds of...
Who is a war criminal, and who gets to decide?
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden flatly called Russia’s Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for the unfolding onslaught in Ukraine, where hospitals and maternity wards have been bombed. But declaring someone a war criminal is not as simple as just saying the words. There are set definitions and processes for determining...
Italy seeks to study, sample Europe’s southern-most glacier
ON THE CALDERONE GLACIER, Italy — Italian scientists are racing against time to study, scan and sample Europe’s southernmost glacier before it melts and disappears as a result of rising global temperatures. Researchers conducted a preliminary radar survey of the Calderone glacier in Italy’s central Apennine Mountains on March 13...
