U.S./World category, Page 694
California firefighter fatally shot while responding to fire
STOCKTON, Calif. — A veteran central California firefighter was fatally shot Monday when he and others responded to a report of a dumpster fire, and authorities arrested a suspect, officials said. Fire Capt. Vidal “Max” Fortuna was shot before dawn in the city of Stockton and died at a hospital,...
El Salvador angrily rejects IMF call to drop Bitcoin use
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The government of El Salvador on Monday rejected a recommendation by the International Monetary Fund to drop Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American country. Treasury Minister Alejandro Zelaya angrily said “no international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.”...
Death toll from landslides, flooding climbs to 24 in Brazil
FRANCO DA ROCHA, Brazil — The death toll from landslides and flooding set off by heavy rains in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state reached 24 on Monday as firefighters continued pulling bodies from the mud. Brazil’s most populous state was blasted with rain over the weekend, and hundreds of thousands of...
Bomb threats made to historically Black schools across U.S.
WOODSTOCK, Ga. — At least a half-dozen historically Black universities in five states and the District of Columbia were responding to bomb threats Monday, with many of them locking down their campuses for a time. In warnings to students, school officials say some of the threats were directed at academic...
U.S. sanctions Myanmar judiciary officials on coup anniversary
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday slapped sanctions on top members of Myanmar’s judiciary and one of its main revenue-producing ports over rights abuses since last year’s coup. The sanctions on the country’s attorney general, supreme court chief justice and others were announced by the Treasury and State Departments...
A new law expanding access to birth control is about to take effect in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C. — Beginning Tuesday, North Carolina women will be able to get hormonal birth control without a doctor’s prescription — a change that will give millions of women easier access to some of the most common contraceptives that prevent pregnancy. Under a new law, passed by the state’s Republican-controlled...
California moves to dismantle nation’s largest death row
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who three years ago placed a moratorium on executions, now is moving to dismantle the nation’s largest death row by moving all condemned inmates to other prisons within two years. The goal is to turn the section at San Quentin State Prison into...
‘Nazi’ protests held over the weekend condemned in Florida
ORLANDO, Fla. — More than a dozen self-proclaimed Nazis yelled antisemitic slogans outside a Florida shopping plaza and waved a swastika flag from a highway overpass before authorities broke them up over the weekend. The demonstrators, wearing Nazi garb, protested Saturday at an intersection near the University of Central Florida...
Chicago synagogue, businesses vandalized over weekend
CHICAGO — A synagogue and an affiliated Jewish school in Chicago were vandalized over the weekend with swastika images and antisemitic graffiti, officials said. The incidents occurred Sunday at the FREE Synagogue and Hanna Sacks Bais Yaakov High School. “We’ll get through it,” Rabbi Levi Notik told WFLD-TV. “I want...
Georgia DA investigating Trump asks FBI for security help
ATLANTA — The prosecutor who’s investigating whether Donald Trump and others broke the law by trying to pressure Georgia officials to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election victory is asking the FBI for security help after the former president railed against prosecutors investigating him. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on...
WHO says it’s probing alleged racism, abuse by top director
GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization says an investigation is underway into alleged reports that the U.N. health agency’s top official in the Western Pacific engaged in racist, unethical and abusive behavior, following a report last week by The Associated Press. At a meeting of the WHO’s...
Judge rejects plea deal for man who killed Ahmaud Arbery
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A federal judge rejected a plea agreement Monday that would have averted a hate crimes trial for the man convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery’s parents denounced the proposed deal for Travis McMichael, with mother Wanda Cooper-Jones and father Marcus Arbery emotionally asking the judge to reject...
Myanmar authorities arrest dozens ahead of planned protests
BANGKOK — Security forces in Myanmar have arrested dozens of people in a preemptive move to suppress plans for a nationwide strike on the one-year anniversary of the army’s seizure of power. Opponents of military rule in the country have called for a “Silent Strike” on Tuesday that is intended...
Source of carbon monoxide at Ohio hotel sought; 11 go to hospital
MARYSVILLE, Ohio — Authorities are trying to find the source of carbon monoxide at an Ohio hotel that sent at least 11 people, more than half of them children, to a hospital. Marysville Fire Chief Jay Riley told the Columbus Dispatch that everyone who was hospitalized had been in the...
Senators move closer to deal on Russian sanctions billVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators are close to agreeing on a Russia sanctions bill that could include penalties even if President Vladimir Putin doesn’t send troops into Ukraine, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez said. Lawmakers will be briefed this week by Biden administration officials, including military leaders, on the standoff...
Miss USA winner Cheslie Kryst jumps to her death from Midtown Manhattan luxury high-rise
NEW YORK — A former Miss USA beauty pageant winner jumped to her death from her luxury Midtown high-rise apartment building Sunday, police said. Cheslie Kryst, who was crowned Miss USA in 2019, jumped from a common area on the 29th floor of the 60-floor building at 350 W. 42nd...
Ottawa police investigating some anti-vaccine protesters
OTTAWA, Ontario — Police in Canada’s capital said Sunday they are investigating possible criminal charges after anti-vaccine protesters urinated on the National War Memorial, danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and used the statue of Canadian hero Terry Fox to display an anti-vaccine statement. Thousands of protesters gathered...
It got so cold in Florida, iguanas fell from trees
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A cold snap in Florida is different than in other places. We put on heavy coats when it’s 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). No blizzard conditions here in the Sunshine State, but we have our issues as well when the thermometer drops. The National Weather...
After the blizzard, the East Coast digs out under sunny skyVideo
BOSTON — The sun shone down on much of the East Coast on Sunday, a day after a vicious nor’easter brought blizzard conditions to many areas, and left more than 100,000 customers without power for a stretch that could last into Monday. Winds that had gusted to more than 80...
Northern Ireland marks 50 years since Bloody Sunday
LONDON — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in Northern Ireland to mark 50 years since “Bloody Sunday,” one of the deadliest days in the conflict known as The Troubles. Thirteen people were killed and 15 others injured when British soldiers fired on civil rights protesters on Jan. 30, 1972, in...
Housework or sleep? Study says it depends when you were born
When Gen Xer Amy Rottier went shopping for her young children two decades ago, she drove to a mall and browsed for what she needed. Her millennial daughter, Helen, who is studying for a doctorate and doesn’t have children, buys anything she needs with a click on her iPad. The...
$426 million Mega Millions lottery ticket sold in California
LOS ANGELES — A single ticket sold in Southern California matched all six numbers and was the lucky winner of the $426 million Mega Millions jackpot prize. The winning numbers drawn Friday night were 3, 16, 25, 44 and 55. The Mega ball was 13, the California State Lottery said....
Virginia Republicans push for changes in marijuana law
RICHMOND, Va. — Newly empowered Republican lawmakers in Virginia who opposed legalizing simple possession of marijuana say they don’t want to scrap the law, but they do want to make significant changes. Those changes could include moving up the start date for retail sales and getting rid of a provision...
Italy’s 80-year-old president wins vote to stay for 2nd term
ROME — Italian President Sergio Mattarella has been elected to a second seven-year term as the country’s head of state, ending days of political impasse as party leaders struggled to pick his successor. Earlier on Saturday, lawmakers entreated Mattarella, 80, who had said he didn’t want a second mandate, to...
At fraud trial, Avenatti asks Stormy Daniels about ghosts
NEW YORK — Michael Avenatti sought Friday at his fraud trial to portray his former client Stormy Daniels as someone who might be delusional as he questioned the porn actor about her belief that her house was once haunted by ghosts. Avenatti, who is acting as his own lawyer, got...
