U.S./World category, Page 687
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Kevin McCarthy, 4 other GOP lawmakersVideo
WASHINGTON — A House panel issued subpoenas Thursday to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other GOP lawmakers in its probe into the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, an extraordinary step that has little precedent and is certain to further inflame partisan tensions over the 2021 attack. The panel is...
Spain debates if menstrual leave policy will help or hurt
MADRID — A government proposal that could make Spain the first country in Europe to allow workers to take menstrual leave has sparked debate over whether the policy would help or hinder women in the workplace. A leaked draft of new legislation that the Spanish Cabinet is expected to discuss...
Georgia man challenges eligibility of 13,600 voters
CUMMING, Ga. — A Georgia man is challenging the eligibility of more than 13,000 registered voters in his county in the northern part of the state. Frank Schneider filed the challenge Tuesday with the Forsyth County Board of Voter Registration and Elections, which will consider it during their regularly scheduled...
Russia blasts east Ukraine, Mariupol
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces pounded areas in Ukraine’s east on Thursday, including the last pocket of resistance in besieged Mariupol. Even as the globe-shaking repercussions of the invasion spread, the conflict on the ground slogged on, with Ukraine’s military recapturing some towns and villages in the country’s northeast but...
EU plan aims to help get wheat from Ukraine to the world
BRUSSELS — The European Commission proposed helping Ukraine export its wheat and other grains by rail, road and river to get around a Russian blockade of Black Sea ports, which is preventing those critical supplies from reaching parts of the world at risk of food insecurity. The European Union’s executive...
Several feared dead after chemical plant blast in Slovenia
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — An explosion and fire at a chemical plant in southeast Slovenia has left at least four people missing and feared dead, officials said Thursday. Emergency officials said another two people were hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns after the blast, which was reported around 8.30 a.m....
Palestinians mourn slain Al Jazeera journalist, blame Israel
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Thousands gathered to mourn a slain Al Jazeera journalist in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, as the head of the Palestinian Authority blamed Israel for her death and rejected Israeli calls for a joint investigation. Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter who...
Astronomers capture 1st image of Milky Way’s huge black hole
WASHINGTON — The world’s first image of the chaotic supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy doesn’t portray a voracious cosmic destroyer but what astronomers Thursday called a “gentle giant” on a near-starvation diet. Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black...
No more murder charge for women in Louisiana abortion bill
NEW ORLEANS — The sponsor of a bill that would have subjected Louisiana women to murder charges for having abortions abruptly pulled the proposal from debate Thursday night after House members voted 65-26 to totally revamp the legislation, eliminating the criminal penalties. The controversial bill would have ventured farther against...
Finland moves toward joining NATO amid Russia threats
HELSINKI — Finland’s leaders Thursday came out in favor of applying to join NATO, and Sweden could do the same within days, in a historic realignment on the continent 2½ months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear through Moscow’s neighbors. The Kremlin reacted...
Soldier killed in bear attack during training in Alaska, U.S. Army says
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier was killed by a bear Tuesday while training in Anchorage, the U.S. Army Alaska said. The soldier was part of a small group training in an area west of the Anchorage Regional Landfill when the bear attacked, the Army said in a...
House panel sets hearing on baby formula shortage exacerbated by recall from Michigan plant
WASHINGTON — A U.S. House committee on Wednesday announced plans for a May 25 hearing on a national baby formula shortage fueled in part by a February recall by the manufacturer Abbot for products made at its Michigan plant. Those recalled products included powder formula sold under the labels Similac,...
Trump sells Washington hotel to Miami-based investor group
NEW YORK — The lease to the Washington, D.C., hotel run by Donald Trump’s family company while he was president, a symbol of his power to GOP politicians who gathered there and of corruption to his critics, has been sold by his family company to a Miami-based investor fund. The...
Pilot down, passenger takes over with ‘no idea how to fly’
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A passenger with no flying experience radioed an urgent plea for help when the pilot of a small plane suddenly fell ill off Florida’s Atlantic coast, and was able to land the plane safely with the help of air traffic controllers. “I’ve got a serious...
Lawyers in suit over Surfside collapse reveal staggering legal settlement: $997 million
MIAMI — In a surprise development, the class-action litigation over the collapse of Champlain Towers South has been settled, a federal judge was told Wednesday, with plaintiffs expected to receive just under $1 billion. The comprehensive settlement announced in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman’s courtroom effectively closes the litigation...
Egg-sized diamond fetches over $21M with fees at Geneva sale
GENEVA — Christie’s says “The Rock,” an egg-sized white diamond billed as the largest of its kind to go up for auction, sold Wednesday for more than 21.6 million Swiss francs ($21.75 million), including fees — though at the low end of the expected range. The 228-carat pear-shaped G-Color stone,...
The tiniest babies: Shifting the boundary of life earlier
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Michelle Butler was just over halfway through her pregnancy when her water broke and contractions wracked her body. She couldn’t escape a terrifying truth: Her twins were coming much too soon. Dr. Brian Sims entered the delivery room and gently explained that babies born so early likely...
Ukraine shuts off Russian pipeline amid talk of annexation
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Ukraine shut down a pipeline Wednesday that carries Russian natural gas to homes and industries in Western Europe, while a Kremlin-installed official in a southern region seized by Russian troops said the area will ask Moscow to annex it. The immediate effect of the energy cutoff is...
It wasn’t murder: Judge frees innocent man after 30 years
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After serving 30 years of a life sentence in Tennessee for the fire that killed his girlfriend, a 65-year-old man has been declared innocent and released from prison. Claude Garrett was released Tuesday from Riverbend prison in Nashville after a judge vacated his murder conviction and a...
U.S. identifies Native American boarding schools, burial sites
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A first-of-its-kind federal study of Native American boarding schools that for over a century sought to assimilate Indigenous children into white society has identified more than 400 such schools that were supported by the U.S. government and more than 50 associated burial sites, a figure that could...
German airline apologizes for excluding Jewish passengers
BERLIN — German airline Lufthansa has apologized for refusing to let any members of a large group of Orthodox Jewish passengers onto a flight after some of them had refused to wear masks. In a statement late Tuesday, Lufthansa said that it “regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude...
Judge: Trump must pay $110K, meet conditions to end contempt
NEW YORK — A New York judge said Wednesday he will lift Donald Trump’s contempt of court order if the former president meets conditions including paying $110,000 in fines he’s racked up for being slow to respond to a civil subpoena issued by the state’s attorney general. Judge Arthur Engoron...
Prisoner put to death in Arizona’s 1st execution since 2014
FLORENCE, Ariz. — An Arizona man convicted of killing a college student in 1978 was put to death Wednesday after a nearly eight-year hiatus in the state’s use of the death penalty brought on by an execution that critics say was botched — and the difficulty state officials faced in...
UN says $144 million needed to avert Yemen tanker disaster
The United Nations was seeking $144 million on Wednesday needed to fund the salvage operation of a decaying tanker full of oil moored off the coast of Yemen, a ship whose demise could cause an environmental disaster. The amount includes $80 million to transfer the more than 1 million barrels...
Elon Musk, an erratic visionary, revels in contradiction
As the uproar over Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter reaches a crescendo, another Musk drama, still chaotic four years after it began, has been back in court. Ironically, that spectacle started with a Musk tweet about doing an audacious deal. Then, with Wall Street awaiting his next move,...
