U.S./World category, Page 741
Tornadoes cause damage in Oklahoma; storms rock central U.S.
COWETA, Okla. — Several reported tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma late Sunday into early Monday morning, causing damage but no immediate word of deaths or injuries. The severe weather system also brought heavy rain, lightning and wind to parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Texas, and more stormy weather is predicted...
Pittsburgh-raised researcher wins Nobel Prize in economics with 2 others
STOCKHOLM — Three U.S-based economists — including one raised in Pittsburgh — won the 2021 Nobel prize for economics on Monday for pioneering research on the labor market impacts of minimum wage, immigration and education, and for creating the scientific framework to allow conclusions to be drawn from such studies...
Merck asks FDA to authorize promising anti-covid pill
WASHINGTON — Drugmaker Merck asked U.S. regulators Monday to authorize its pill against covid-19 in what would add an entirely new and easy-to-use weapon to the world’s arsenal against the pandemic. If cleared by the Food and Drug Administration — a decision that could come in a matter of weeks...
Actor dies in accident at Bolshoi Theater
MOSCOW — Russian news reports say an actor has died in an accident during a scene change at Moscow’s Bolshoi theater. The reports cited witnesses as saying that the actor appeared to have exited the stage on the wrong side during a Saturday evening performance of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “Sadko”...
1 killed, 14 wounded in shooting inside St. Paul bar; 3 men arrested
MINNEAPOLIS — DJ Peter Parker knows how to read the room from a bird’s-eye view on stage to anticipate any trouble from crowds, after two decades of shows spanning Baltimore, D.C., Boston and beyond. But the former GO 95.3 radio host could have never anticipated a show in St. Paul...
Navy nuclear engineer charged with trying to pass secrets
WASHINGTON — An engineer who worked at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin faces federal espionage-related charges for allegedly trying to sell U.S. military secrets to an undercover agent posing as a foreign government representative, the Justice Department said Sunday. In a criminal complaint detailing espionage-related charges against Jonathan...
Tensions persist between legacy of Columbus, native people
Monday’s federal holiday dedicated to Christopher Columbus is highlighting the ongoing divide between those who view the explorer as a representative of Italian American history and others horrified by an annual tribute that ignores native people whose lives and culture were forever changed by colonialism. Spurred by national calls for...
Advocates, lawmakers push hospitals to help more with bills
Swamped with medical bills? The hospital that treated you may be able to help. Whether you learn about this before those bills wind up in debt collections is another matter. Medical bills often represent large, unexpected shocks that can crash personal budgets. Roughly 1 in 7 U.S. residents with a...
How U.S. states help rich foreigners shield assets
DOVER, Del. — A mention of “tax havens” typically conjures images of sun-soaked Caribbean escapes like the Cayman Islands or the buttoned-down banks of Switzerland. Not South Dakota. But a report detailing how world leaders and some of the planet’s wealthiest people hide their riches has drawn new scrutiny to...
Georgia police officer gunned down during 1st shift
ALAMO, Ga. — A Georgia police officer was gunned down outside a police station during his first shift with the department early Saturday, authorities said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Officer Dylan Harrison, 26, was fatally shot outside the Alamo Police Department by Damien Anthony Ferguson. Ferguson, 43, remained...
UK eyes ‘walk me home’ phone-tracker to protect lone women
A top British government official is backing a phone company’s proposal for a new tracking service to help protect women walking alone, an idea pitched amid ongoing outrage over the slayings of two young women who were targeted near their homes in London. The chief executive of Britain’s biggest phone...
Taliban say they won’t work with U.S. to contain Islamic State
The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August. Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives...
McConnell seizes on debt standoff to undermine Biden agenda
In the frantic bid to avert a default on the nation’s debt, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell held a position of unusual power — as the one who orchestrated both the problem and the solution. McConnell is no longer the majority leader, but he is exerting his minority status in...
Chopin portrait bought at flea market is from 19th century
A peeling portrait of Frederic Chopin purchased at a flea market in Poland hung modestly in a private house for almost three decades before an expert dated the painting to the 19th century, when the Polish piano composer lived. Now restored and in a gilded frame, the small painting resides...
Biden won’t invoke executive privilege on Trump Jan. 6 docs
The White House said Friday that President Joe Biden will not block the handover of documents sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump, who wants to shield those White House records from investigators. The...
Boosters, employer mandates drive increase in U.S. vaccines
The number of Americans getting covid-19 vaccines has steadily increased to a three-month high as seniors and people with medical conditions seek boosters, and government and employer mandates push more workers to take their first doses. Demand is expected to spike in a few weeks if regulators authorize the Pfizer...
2 parents convicted in 1st trial of college bribery scandal
Two wealthy parents were convicted Friday of buying their kids’ way into school as athletic recruits in the first case to go to trial in the college admissions cheating scandal that embroiled prestigious universities across the country. Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, and John Wilson, a former Staples executive,...
Bannon won’t comply with subpoena from House Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Steve Bannon said Friday that Bannon won’t comply with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol because former President Donald Trump is asserting executive privilege to block demands for testimony and documents. “As such, until these issues are resolved, we are...
Biden restores Utah’s national monuments after Trump rescinded protections
President Joe Biden on Friday restored the protected Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments after former President Donald Trump dramatically slashed them in an effort to open more sensitive public lands to ranching, mining and oil drilling. The president also reestablished a marine conservation area off the New England...
Police detail cultish beliefs of mom charged in kids’ deaths
BOISE, Idaho — Newly released documents from the complex investigation of a woman accused of conspiring to kill her children and husband reveal sordid details of a cult-like belief system of “zombies” and “vibrations” plus a disintegrating marriage and an affair. Documents from the Chandler Police Department in Arizona offer...
Former Ga. state lawmaker, regent pleads guilty to racketeering
CONYERS, Ga. — A former Georgia state lawmaker and university regent was sentenced to eight years in prison for racketeering, the state attorney general’s office announced. Dean Alford was indicted in May in Rockdale County on charges of racketeering, fraud and forgery relating to allegations that he faked contracts while...
Americans agree misinformation is a problem, poll shows
WASHINGTON — Nearly all Americans agree that the rampant spread of misinformation is a problem. Most also think social media companies, and the people that use them, bear a good deal of blame for the situation. But few are very concerned that they themselves might be responsible, according to a...
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to journalists Ressa and Muratov
MANILA, Philippines — Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder. “Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against...
U.S., Pakistani officials in strained talks on Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD — U.S. and Pakistani officials are meeting Friday amid a worsening relationship between the two countries as each nation searches for a way forward in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Pakistan has been pressing for greater engagement with the all-male, all-Taliban Cabinet in Kabul even as it shies away from...
Taliban official: At least 100 dead, wounded in Afghan blast
KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion at a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday that targeted Shiite Muslim worshippers left at least 100 people killed or wounded, a Taliban police official said. The official, Dost Mohammad Obaida, the deputy police chief for Kunduz province, said that the “majority of them have...
