U.S./World category, Page 932
Former Canadian Prime Minister John Turner has died at 91
TORONTO — John Turner, a Liberal party politician who served stints as Canada’s justice and finance ministers before a very brief turn as the country’s 17th prime minister, has died at age 91, his family reported Saturday. Marc Kealey, a former aide speaking on behalf of Turner’s relatives as a...
Virginia Commonwealth to remove Confederate names, symbols
RICHMOND, Va. — A university in the former capital of the Confederacy will remove building names, plaques and other symbols that honor several Confederate supporters. The board of visitors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond voted unanimously on Friday to remove 16 different references on campus. While the decision marks...
What’s next with the Supreme Court vacancy?Video
WASHINGTON — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is putting the Senate in unchartered political terrain. There’s no recent precedent for a confirmation vote so close to a presidential election. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider “without delay” his upcoming nomination, even...
AP source: Envelope addressed to White House contained ricin
WASHINGTON — Federal officials intercepted an envelope addressed to the White House that contained the poison ricin, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Saturday. The letter was intercepted at a government facility that screens mail addressed to the White House and President Donald Trump, the official said....
Tropical Storm Beta spurs hurricane worries for TexasVideo
MIAMI — An exceptionally busy Atlantic hurricane season was churning along Saturday as the Texas coast prepared for a tropical storm that’s forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before breaching its shores in the week ahead. Both the city of Galveston and Galveston County on Saturday issued voluntary evacuation orders...
Maine blueberry industry reels from drought, frost, virus
PORTLAND, Maine — A late spring frost, a devastating drought and labor troubles wrought by the coronavirus pandemic conspired to make 2020 a difficult year for the wild blueberry producers who harvest the fruit in the nation’s northeastern corner. America’s producers of wild blueberries are largely located in Maine, where...
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87. Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said. Her death just over six weeks before...
Democrats set to unveil stopgap bill to prevent shutdown
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Friday prepared a temporary spending bill that is needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month — and that would allow lawmakers to leave Washington to campaign. It’s a lowest-common-denominator, bare-minimum measure that befits a deeply polarized Congress. Even so, it...
Running out of storm names, Atlantic season goes Greek
The Atlantic’s record-breaking “crazy” hurricane season got a bizarre European remake Friday as forecasters ran out of traditional names and trotted out the Greek alphabet for subtropical storm Alpha. And the geographically misplaced storm promptly sloshed ashore in Portugal. But wait there’s more. The busy Atlantic is beta testing the...
Captain says he knowingly risked career with virus warning
SAN FRANCISCO — The dismissed captain of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier knew he was jeopardizing his military career when he broke protocol and sent a now-famous email warning of possible sailor deaths due to a coronavirus breakout on board, But Brett Crozier says in a witness statement obtained by...
U.S. bans WeChat, TikTok from app stores, threatens shutdowns
The Commerce Department said Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores Sunday and will bar the apps from accessing essential internet services in the U.S. — a move that could effectively wreck the operation of both Chinese services for U.S. users. TikTok won’t face the...
NYC tries $50 fines to get scofflaws to don masks on subway
The young man slouched against the inside of the subway doors as the No. 3 train headed south along Broadway. Across the aisle, another young man lay asleep, sprawled across three seats. In ordinary times, it would be the snoozing seat hog who got angry glares. But in the age...
Firefighter dies battling wildfire sparked by gender reveal
A firefighter died battling a wildfire in California that officials said was sparked by a device used to reveal a baby’s gender. The death happened Thursday in the San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement. The fire erupted...
Trump gives award to Kuwait’s ruling emir
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has bestowed a top U.S. honor on Kuwait’s ruling emir, who has played a central role in resolving a yearslong four-nation boycott of Qatar and is now ill and receiving treatment in the U.S., the White House said Friday. Trump awarded the Legion of Merit...
Flooding affects more than 1 million across East AfricaVideo
JOHANNESBURG — Flooding has affected well over a million people across East Africa, another calamity threatening food security on top of a historic locust outbreak and the coronavirus pandemic. The Nile River has hit its highest levels in a half-century under heavy seasonal rainfall, and large parts of Sudan, Ethiopia...
Libya’s east-based commander promises end of oil blockadeVideo
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Libya’s commander who rules the eastern half of the country and who was behind a year-long military attempt to capture the capital, Tripoli, said Friday that oil production would restart soon, ending a months-long blockade of the nation’s vital oil fields. The Tripoli-based National Oil...
Man serving life requests death for Indiana prison slaying
ANDERSON, Ind. — A man serving two life sentences at an Indiana prison asked for the death penalty for a slaying of a fellow inmate, but a prosecutor said he is reluctant to pursue it. Tommy P. Holland, 45, of Indianapolis is charged with murder in the stabbing of Clifford...
Assange lawyer says Trump offered indirect offer of pardon
LONDON — A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a London court that her client was indirectly offered a “win-win” deal by President Donald Trump that would see him avoid extradition to the U.S. if he revealed the source of a leak of documents from the Democratic Party...
U.S. curbs WeChat transfers, freezes TikTok as deadline loomsVideo
The U.S. will ban some transactions over the Chinese-owned WeChat app while freezing TikTok’s app starting Sunday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said. Ross said Friday that the U.S. will prohibit U.S.-to-U.S. transactions related to WeChat and its parent company Tencent Holdings Ltd. but that will not impact activity in China....
U.S. judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mailVideo
SEATTLE — A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Wash., said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by...
Rescuers reach people cut off by Gulf Coast hurricaneVideo
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Rescuers on the Gulf Coast used high-water vehicles Thursday to reach people cut off by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally, even as a second round of flooding began taking shape along rivers and creeks swollen by the storm’s heavy rains. Across southern Alabama and the...
ICE detainees complained about ‘rough’ treatment from Georgia doctor
ATLANTA — For years, women at a South Georgia immigration jail talked about Dr. Mahendra Amin. The gynecologist was “rough,” they said. His examinations could leave a bruise. And he had a way of turning a routine visit into surgical procedures that the women weren’t sure they needed. “They didn’t...
Report: Feds considered using ‘heat ray’ on D.C. protesters in Lafayette ParkVideo
WASHINGTON — A military whistleblower says federal officials sought some unusual crowd control devices — including one that’s been called a “heat ray” — to deal with protesters outside the White House on the June day that law enforcement forcibly cleared Lafayette Square. In written responses to questions from a...
New York City again delays in-person learning for most students
NEW YORK — New York City’s ambitious attempt to be among the first big cities to bring students back into classrooms closed by the coronavirus suffered another setback Thursday, as the mayor announced he was again delaying the start of in-person instruction for most students due to a shortage of...
Petalo, not Charmin: Pandemic brings Mexican toilet paper to U.S.
NEW YORK — Toilet paper is back on store shelves. But you may not recognize some of the brands. Demand for toilet paper has been so high during the pandemic that in order to keep their shelves stocked, retailers are buying up foreign toilet paper brands, mostly from Mexico. Major...
