U.S./World category, Page 773

ALBANY, N.Y. — The two top Democrats in New York’s legislature withdrew their support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment and undercounting covid-19 deaths in nursing homes. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the first senior Democrat in the state to say the three-term...

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis police officer was swiftly fired and charged with murder after bystander video showed him pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck, ignoring the Black man’s cries that he couldn’t breathe. But even with that powerful footage, legal experts say the case isn’t a slam dunk. Jury...

BILLINGS, Mont. — Payments for dead wolves. Unlimited hunting of the animals. Shooting wolves from the air. Wolf hunting policies in some states are taking an aggressive turn, as Republican lawmakers and conservative hunting groups push to curb their numbers and propose tactics shunned by many wildlife managers. In Montana,...

QARAQOSH, Iraq — Pope Francis urged Iraq’s Christians on Sunday to forgive the injustices committed against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community’s historic heartland, which was nearly erased by the Islamic State group’s horrific...

BOSTON — The SolarWinds hacking campaign blamed on Russian spies and the “grave threat” it poses to U.S. national security are widely known. A very different — and no less alarming — coordinated series of intrusions also detected in December has gotten considerably less public attention. Nimble, highly skilled criminal...

WASHINGTON — A new executive order from President Joe Biden directs federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access. His plan was being announced...

NEW YORK — Another woman who worked for Gov. Andrew Cuomo is describing conduct she felt was inappropriate for the workplace. Ana Liss, 35, told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Saturday that when she worked as a policy aide to the governor between 2013 and 2015, Cuomo...

MILAN — The Milan fashion house Dolce&Gabbana has filed a defamation suit in an Italian court seeking over $600 million in damages from two U.S. fashion bloggers who reposted anti-Asian comments attributed to one of the designers that led to a boycott by Asian consumers. The suit was filed in...

MEXICO CITY — In a camp at the U.S.-Mexico border, some asylum seekers were told by officials that the U.S. government may reopen their cases and they would eventually be able to enter the U.S. to wait out the asylum process. The new opening for people previously denied came as...

STOCKHOLM — Swedish police on Saturday dispersed hundreds of people who had gathered in central Stockholm to protest coronavirus restrictions set by the Swedish government. Swedish authorities said the demonstration — the first major protest against the country’s coronavirus restrictions — was illegal as it was held without permission. Stockholm...

PLAINS OF UR, Iraq — Pope Francis walked through a narrow alley in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf for a historic meeting with the country’s top Shiite cleric Saturday, and together they delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence in a country still reeling from back-to-back conflicts over the past...

NEW YORK — Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who captured hearts at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, posted to social media that she was followed home by a security guard who demanded to know where she lived because she “looked suspicious.” “I showed my keys & buzzed myself into...

WASHINGTON — An exhausted Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill Saturday as President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies notched a victory they called crucial for hoisting the country out of the pandemic and economic doldrums. After laboring all night on a mountain of amendments — nearly...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats came out with their version of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. A look at some of the major changes in the bill now being considered by the Senate versus what passed the House last week. Who gets a check? President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats...

WASHINGTON — Senate leaders and moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin struck a deal late Friday over emergency jobless benefits, breaking a nine-hour logjam that had stalled the party’s showpiece $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill. The compromise, announced by the West Virginia lawmaker and a Democratic aide, seemed to clear the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California on Friday lifted some coronavirus restrictions on outdoor sports and entertainment venues, clearing the way for fans to attend games on Major League Baseball’s opening day and for theme parks like Disneyland to reopen for the first time in more than a year. The rules take...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s newest Mars rover hit the dusty red road this week, putting 21 feet on the odometer in its first test drive. The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position Thursday, two weeks after setting down on the red planet to seek signs of past life....

BOISE, Idaho — Lawmakers in the Idaho House have passed legislation that would require parents to opt in two weeks in advance before their kids can receive some sex education lessons in school. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, passed 56-12 on a party-line vote Friday, and...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts completed the first round of prep work Friday for new solar panels, part of a major power upgrade at the International Space Station. NASA’s Kate Rubins and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi installed mounting brackets and struts for the improved solar wings due to arrive in...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nashville officials are seeking a $2.25 million settlement with the family of a Black man who was fatally shot by a white Nashville police officer from behind during a 2018 foot chase, Mayor John Cooper’s administration said in a news release Friday. The city says its metro...

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An Iowa journalist faces trial Monday on charges stemming from her coverage of a protest against racial injustice, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from free press advocates who say she was just doing her job. The case of Des Moines Register reporter...

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a judge to reconsider adding a third-degree murder charge against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, handing a potential victory to prosecutors. A three-judge panel said Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill erred last fall when...

WAUKESHA, Wis. — One of the teens convicted of stabbing a classmate to please the fictional internet horror character Slender Man is expected to ask for release from a Wisconsin mental health facility. Anissa Weier, 19, is scheduled to appear Wednesday before the Waukesha County Circuit Court judge who earlier...

NEW YORK — Some New York lawmakers are calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s impeachment after reports late Thursday that his top aides altered a state Health Department report to omit the true number of people killed by covid-19 in the state’s nursing homes. The Wall Street Journal and The New...

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden is enjoying an early presidential honeymoon, with 60% of Americans approving of his job performance thus far and even more backing his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. At a moment of deep...