U.S./World category, Page 720
Prosecutor: Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein were ‘partners in crime’
NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were “partners in crime” in the sexual abuse of teenage girls, a prosecutor said Monday, while Maxwell’s lawyers said she was being made a scapegoat for a man’s bad behavior as the British socialite’s sex trafficking trial got underway in New York....
New details on CNN’s Chris Cuomo’s role advising brother Andrew
NEW YORK — Transcripts released Monday shed new light on CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s behind-the-scenes role advising his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the face of sexual harassment allegations that forced him from office. Chris Cuomo told investigators he spoke regularly with his brother, exchanged text messages...
Bill Cosby prosecutors ask U.S. Supreme Court to review case
PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling that overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction, arguing in a petition Monday that a dangerous precedent could be set if press releases are treated as immunity agreements. Cosby’s lawyers have long argued that he relied on a promise...
Jan. 6 panel sets contempt vote for former DOJ official Jeffrey ClarkVideo
WASHINGTON — A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection will vote Wednesday to hold a former Justice Department official in contempt, seeking criminal charges against a defiant witness for a second time after holding former White House aide Steve Bannon in contempt last month. The committee on Monday...
Alabama inmate who survived execution attempt dies of cancer
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama inmate whose lethal injection was halted because medical staff couldn’t find a suitable vein for the execution has died of natural causes almost four years later, his lawyer said Monday. Doyle Lee Hamm, who was convicted in the slaying of a motel clerk in 1987,...
Lock in: Dozens stuck in England’s highest pub after storm
LONDON — Dozens of customers who stopped for a drink at Britain’s highest altitude pub got a longer stay than they bargained for, after the building was cut off by a blizzard. Sixty-one people woke up Monday after their third night at the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales,...
Supreme Court set to take up all-or-nothing abortion fight
WASHINGTON — Both sides are telling the Supreme Court there’s no middle ground in Wednesday’s showdown over abortion. The justices can either reaffirm the constitutional right to an abortion or wipe it away altogether. Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that declared a nationwide right to abortion, is facing...
Belarusian leader accuses Lithuania of dumping dead migrants
MOSCOW — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday accused Lithuanian authorities of dumping the bodies of migrants on the border between the two countries — a claim rejected by Lithuania amid soaring tensions over migration. Lukashenko also warned that his country with stand squarely behind its ally Russia if the...
Embattled Kansas lawmaker arrested for 2nd time in month
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A 21-year-old embattled Kansas lawmaker was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving — his second arrest in less than a month — and is facing fresh calls for his resignation or removal from office. A Kansas trooper arrested Aaron Coleman around 1 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 70...
Russian navy test-fires hypersonic missile
MOSCOW — Russia’s navy successfully test-fired a prospective hypersonic missile, the military said Monday. The Defense Ministry said that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea launched the Zircon cruise missile, hitting a practice target 215 nautical miles away. The launch was the latest in a series of tests...
Swedes elect 1st female PM — for the 2nd time in a week
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Magdalena Andersson, who last week was Sweden’s first female prime minister for a few hours before resigning because a budget defeat made a coalition partner quit, was on elected again Monday as the Nordic nation’s head of government. In a 101-173 vote with 75 abstentions, the 349-seat...
Israel to allow 3,000 Ethiopian Jews to immigrate
JERUSALEM — Israel’s government on Sunday approved the immigration of several thousand Jews from war-torn Ethiopia, some of whom have waited for decades to join their relatives in Israel. The decision took a step toward resolving an issue that has long complicated the government’s relations with the country’s Ethiopian community....
What we know — and don’t know — about omicron, the new covid variant
LONDON — South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus that they say is behind a recent spike in covid-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province. It’s unclear where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa alerted the World Health Organization in recent...
Tens of thousands without power in U.K. in storm’s wake
LONDON — Tens of thousands of people in Scotland and northern England remained without power Sunday after a storm brought sleet, subzero temperatures and disruptions across much of the U.K. Icy gusts caused power cuts around the border between Scotland and England, with Northern Powergrid saying it recorded 1,100 instances...
Train derails in suburban Atlanta, blocking streets
HIRAM, Ga. — A freight train derailed late Saturday in Atlanta’s northwest suburbs, blocking roads and slightly injuring two crew members. Local news outlets report a Norfolk Southern Railway locomotive and seven freight cars overturned in Hiram, part of a 88-car train. Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern said two crew members were...
Dutch, Australians find omicron variant; others curb travel
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands confirmed 13 cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus on Sunday and Australia found two as the countries half a world apart became the latest to detect it in travelers arriving from southern Africa. Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners and...
Biden: Gas prices will drop, but it’ll take time
WASHINGTON — Americans will see prices at the pump fall “before long,” President Biden said after tapping U.S. oil reserves to ease price pressures and risk a feud with OPEC. In a tweet Saturday while the president was in Nantucket, he said the U.S. effort to ease gasoline prices spans...
500 vigilantes gather in Mexico town, pledge to aid police
NUEVO URECHO, Mexico — Extortion of avocado growers in western Mexico has gotten so bad that 500 vigilantes from a so-called “self-defense” group known as United Towns, or Pueblos Unidos, gathered Saturday and pledged to aid police. The vigilantes gathered for a rally in the town of Nuevo Urecho, in...
Italy, Germany report cases of omicron covid variant
LONDON — News reports in Italy and Germany say that both countries have confirmed cases of the omicron covid-19 variant. The Italian news agency LaPresse says an Italian who traveled to Mozambique has tested positive for the omicron variant. The business traveler landed in Rome on Nov. 11 and returned...
Nashville police: 3 dead, 4 wounded in apartment shooting
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A shooting in a Tennessee apartment left three people dead, including a suspect, police said Saturday. Four other people were wounded. Six members of a family were shot at the Nashville apartment Friday night, including a 15-year-old and 18-year-old who were both killed, police said in a...
Panel OKs bid to demolish Wright brothers’ 1st bike shop in Dayton
DAYTON, Ohio — The Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals has approved the city’s request to demolish a 129-year-old historic building that once was the site of the Wright brothers’ first bike shop. The city wants to tear down the site because the building has deteriorated to a point where it...
Afghan prime minister defends Taliban’s rule amid crisis
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban prime minister defended the group’s rule in a public address Saturday, saying it was not to blame for a worsening economic crisis and is working to repair the corruption of the ousted government. He also dismissed international pressure for the formation of a more inclusive...
News crew guard dies after being shot in attempted robbery
OAKLAND, Calif. — A security guard has died after he was shot while he protected a San Francisco Bay Area television news crew covering a smash-and-grab theft, part of a rash of organized retail crime in the region. “We are devastated by the loss of security guard and our friend,...
Russia jails 5 people over coal mine disaster that killed 51
MOSCOW — A Russian court on Saturday ordered five people to remain in pre-trial detention for two months pending an investigation into a devastating blast in a coal mine in Siberia that resulted in dozens of deaths. Russian authorities reported 51 deaths after a methane explosion rocked the Listvyazhnaya mine...
Anti-government protesters block bridges, roads in Serbia
BELGRADE, Serbia — Skirmishes on Saturday erupted in Serbia between police and anti-government demonstrators who blocked roads and bridges in the Balkan country in protest against new laws they say favor interests of foreign investors devastating the environment. Hundreds of people on Saturday appeared simultaneously in the capital Belgrade, the...
