U.S./World category, Page 842
Governors applaud Biden’s vaccine timeline, but need supply
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Governors largely cheered President Joe Biden’s declaration that all adults should be eligible for coronavirus vaccinations by May 1, but the goal will require a shift for states that have been methodical in how they roll out the shots. The top health official in California said the...
IRS says new round of covid relief payments on the way
WASHINGTON — Along with daylight saving time, this weekend could bring Americans fatter bank balances. Officials at the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service said Friday that processing of the new round of stimulus payments has already begun, with the aim of having the first payments start showing up in...
Dutch inventor of audio cassette tape, Lou Ottens, dies at age 94
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lou Ottens, the Dutch inventor of the cassette tape, the medium of choice for millions of bedroom mix tapes, has died, said Philips, the company where he also helped develop the compact disc. Ottens died Saturday at age 94, Philips confirmed. A structural engineer who trained...
Brazil reaches deal for 10 million shots of Russian vaccine
Brazil’s federal government said Friday it has reached a deal to purchase 10 million doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against covid-19, though the shot is yet to be approved by the South American nation’s health agency. The Brazilian Health Ministry said on Twitter that the jabs will be...
Minneapolis reaches historic $27M settlement with George Floyd’s family
The city of Minneapolis on Friday agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over the Black man’s death in police custody, as jury selection continued in a former officer’s murder trial. Council members met privately to discuss the settlement, then returned to public...
UN says Ebola in Guinea may be linked to 2014 outbreak
A top official at the World Health Organization said that a genetic analysis of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Guinea suggests it may have been sparked by a survivor of the devastating West Africa epidemic that ended five years ago. At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO emergencies chief Dr....
Maskless, boozing JetBlue passenger faces $14,500 FAA fine
An airline passenger could wind up paying $14,500 for refusing to wear a face mask and drinking alcohol that he had brought on board. The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it proposed the civil penalty against a passenger on a Dec. 23 JetBlue Airways flight that left New York’s John...
Biden moves to relieve strain of child border crossings
The Biden administration hopes to relieve the strain of thousands of unaccompanied children coming to the southern border by ending a Trump-era order that discouraged potential family sponsors from coming forward to care for them. The 2018 policy called on Health and Human Services to share information about family sponsors...
Conflict grows between U.S. and allies over vaccine supply
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration is stockpiling tens of millions of doses of a covid-19 vaccine whose authorization in the U.S. remains uncertain, frustrating U.S. allies who say those doses should be used now to save lives overseas. The standoff is part of a growing global debate over who...
4 people in Michigan won January $1.05B Mega Millions prize
DETROIT — A four-member suburban Detroit lottery club won a $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot and will receive $557 million after taxes, officials said Friday. The winners claimed their prize weeks after the Jan. 22 drawing and chose the immediate lump sum option. After taxes, the $776 million payment was...
Memo banning Afghan girls singing prompts #IAmMySong protest
KABUL, Afghanistan — A memo from Afghanistan’s education ministry banning girls age 12 and older from singing at school functions has been causing a stir on social media, prompting the authorities to say it was a mistake and that its authors had misunderstood the objective. Still, #IAmMySong is gaining traction...
Federal look into Breonna Taylor’s death casts a wider net
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Their numbers have dwindled since protesters first flooded Louisville’s streets after police fatally shot Breonna Taylor in her home a year ago, but their push for justice has never waned. A federal investigation of the shooting that has been quietly proceeding could be their last chance. “We...
Probe started after Ohio zoo worker attacked by cheetah
POWELL, Ohio — Authorities were investigating Friday after a cheetah attacked a worker at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The incident happened Thursday when two animal program staff members were walking the harnassed 4-year-old cheetah, Isabelle, when a worker from the Heart of Africa region approached, the zoo said. “At...
Gunmen abduct 39 students from school in northwest Nigeria
Gunmen have attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped 39 students just weeks after a similar mass abduction in the region, authorities said Friday. The latest kidnapping took place late Thursday night at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, in the Igabi local government area of Kaduna state,...
Biden aims for quicker shots, virus ‘independence’ by July 4
WASHINGTON — One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address Thursday night to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the prospect of “independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July....
Carlson, Times tussle over online harassment of journalist
NEW YORK — Tucker Carlson’s belittling of a reporter for The New York Times this week for publicly discussing how she had been harassed reveals both a toxic online culture and bad blood between the newspaper and Fox News Channel and its most popular personality. The targeting of reporter Taylor...
Ex-officer MacDonald in Fort Bragg murders seeks release
RALEIGH, N.C. — A former Army physician serving life prison sentences for the brutal murders of his wife and two young daughters more than 50 years ago should be released because of his deteriorating health, his attorneys told a judge on Thursday. Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 in the...
As climate fight shifts to oil, Biden faces a formidable foe
CASPER, Wyo. — President Joe Biden’s bid to tackle climate change is running straight through the heart of the U.S. oil and gas industry — a much bigger, more influential foe than Democrats faced when they took on the coal industry during the Obama years. Coal dominated U.S. power generation...
International evangelical pastor Luis Palau dies at 86
PORTLAND, Ore. — Luis Palau, an evangelical pastor who was born in Argentina and went on to work with Billy Graham before establishing his own powerhouse international ministry, died Thursday. He was 86. The Luis Palau Association said he died at his home in Portland, Oregon. He had announced in...
Portland pays $2.1 million in police shooting of Black teen
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland, Oregon, will pay more than $2 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit arising from the police killing of a Black teenager in 2017, but family members of Quanice Hayes say they are still upset that the officer who pulled the trigger was not disciplined. City...
Appeal by former Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice dismissed
CLEVELAND — An appeals court in Cleveland ruled Thursday that the white Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black child playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center, should not get his job back. The 8th District Court of Appeals in its ruling dismissed an appeal...
Biden signs $1.9T relief bill before speech to nation
WASHINGTON — Marking a year of loss and disruption, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help the U.S. defeat the coronavirus and nurse the economy back to health. The signing came hours before Biden delivers his first prime-time address...
Mississippi governor signs bill limiting transgender athletes
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. Mississippi is the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked an Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536...
Uber, Lyft team up on database to expose abusive drivers
SAN RAMON, Calif. — Uber and Lyft have teamed up to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints about sexual assault and other crimes that have raised passenger-safety concerns for years. The clearinghouse unveiled Thursday will initially list drivers expelled by the ride-hailing rivals in...
Greek protesters attack police with firebombs at rally
THESSALONIKI, Greece — Extensive clashes broke out between police and protesters Thursday in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, after authorities ended an occupation by students and other demonstrators at the city’s main university building. Protesters threw firebombs at police after street clashes erupted near the city center. Police responded with tear...
