U.S./World category, Page 780

RICHMOND, Va. — State lawmakers gave final approval Monday to a bill that will end capital punishment in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people in its history than any other. The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday it will take up challenges to controversial Trump administration policies affecting family-planning clinics and immigrants, even though the Biden administration has announced it is reviewing them. The justices agreed to hear appeals over the Trump policy that keeps taxpayer-funded clinics from referring women...

CINCINNATI, Ohio — Customs authorities in Ohio say they intercepted a shipment of cereal earlier this month with a special frosting — cocaine. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati reported finding 44 pounds of cocaine-coated cornflakes that had been shipped from South America to a Hong Kong home....

After beating bone cancer, Hayley Arceneaux figures rocketing into orbit on SpaceX’s first private flight should be a piece of cosmic cake. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced Monday that the 29-year-old physician assistant — a former patient hired last spring — will launch later this year alongside a billionaire...

After 139 years at 807 Franklin St. in San Francisco, a two-story Victorian house has a new address. The green home with large windows and a brown front door was loaded onto giant dollies and moved Sunday to a location six blocks away. Onlookers lined the sidewalks to snap photos...

An Alaska woman had the scare of a lifetime when using an outhouse in the backcountry and she was attacked by a bear, from below. “I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt right as I sat down,” Shannon Stevens told The...

Boeing has recommended that airlines ground all 777s with the type of engine that blew apart after takeoff from Denver this weekend, and most carriers that fly those planes said they would temporarily pull them from service. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered United Airlines to step up inspections of...

Scotland’s covid-19 vaccination program has led to a sharp drop in hospitalizations, researchers said Monday, boosting hopes that the shots will work as well in the real world as they have in carefully controlled studies. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced hospital admissions by up to 94% four weeks after people received...

The Scripps National Spelling Bee will return this year in a mostly virtual format, with the in-person competition limited to a dozen finalists who will gather on an ESPN campus at Walt Disney World in Florida, Scripps announced Monday. Last year’s bee was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the...

LONDON — Prince William said Monday that his grandfather, Prince Philip, is “OK” as the 99-year-old royal consort remains under in a hospital for rest and observation. William was asked about Philip when he visited a coronavirus vaccination center in eastern England. “Yes, he’s OK, they’re keeping an eye on...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is targeting federal pandemic assistance to the nation’s smallest businesses and taking steps to further equity in what is known as the Paycheck Protection Program. The administration is establishing a two-week window, starting on Wednesday, in which only businesses with fewer than 20 employees —...

BEIJING — China’s top diplomat called Monday for new U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to lift restrictions on trade and people-to-people contacts while ceasing what Beijing considers unwarranted interference in the areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s comments at a Foreign Ministry forum on...

KINSHASA, Congo — The Italian ambassador to Congo and an Italian carabineri police officer were killed Monday during an attack on a U.N. convoy in an area that is home to myriad rebel groups, the Foreign Ministry and local people said. The ambush on the World Food Program convoy that...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Rochester man identified as a member of the Proud Boys who allegedly smashed a window at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to allow rioters inside is considering a guilty plea, according to a recent court filing. A recent filing by Dominic Pezzola’s attorney said Pezzola accepts...

LONOKE, Ark. — An Arkansas police officer was hospitalized in stable condition Sunday after being shot during a confrontation at a McDonald’s restaurant with a Pennsylvania man who was kidnapping a 14-year-old North Carolina girl, authorities said. The suspect died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after fleeing from authorities,...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some residents in Kentucky and West Virginia could be spending several more days without power as crews work to fix broken utility poles and downed lines from an ice storm. Appalachian Power said about 39,000 customers in southern West Virginia were without electricity Sunday. Some homes have...

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers charged with rioting at the U.S. Capitol met with Secret Service agents before the siege and received a VIP pass to the rally where then-President Donald Trump spoke, according to a court filing. A defense attorney for Jessica Watkins said in Saturday’s filing...

KENNETT, Mo. — One person died and four others were wounded in an overnight shooting at an American Legion club in southeast Missouri, police said Sunday. KAIT-TV reported that officers found the five victims at the American Legion building in Kennett following the report of the shooting before 12:30 a.m....

HOUSTON — Two days before the storm began, Houston’s chief elected official warned her constituents to prepare as they would for a major hurricane. Many took heed: Texans who could stocked up on food and water, while nonprofits and government agencies set out to help those who couldn’t. But few...

METAIRIE, La. — A person went into a gun store and shooting range in a New Orleans suburb and fatally shot two people Saturday, causing customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, said a sheriff. The shooter also died. The shooting happened at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in...

ROME — The artist who sculpted Charging Bull, the bronze statue in New York which became an iconic symbol of Wall Street, has died in his hometown in Sicily at age 80. Arturo Di Modica died at his home in Vittoria on Friday evening, the town said in a statement...

MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Saturday rejected Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s appeal of his prison sentence, even as the country faced an order from a top European rights court to free the Kremlin’s most prominent foe. A few hours later, a judge in a separate case ordered Navalny...

BARCELONA, Spain — A fifth night of peaceful protests to denounce the imprisonment of a Spanish rap artist once more devolved into clashes between police and the members of fringe groups who set up street barricades and smashed storefront windows Saturday night in downtown Barcelona. Small groups made up mostly...

DALLAS — Warmer temperatures spread across the southern United States on Saturday, bringing some relief to a winter weary region that faces a challenging clean-up and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages. In hard-hit Texas, where millions were warned to boil tap water before drinking...