Taliban reopen universities for Afghan women in 6 provinces
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban on Wednesday said they have reopened public universities for women students in six of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, a move marking a major concession to international demands by the country’s new rulers. Since they swept into power in mid-August, the international community has watched to see whether...
Jeff Zucker resigns from CNN because of relationship with colleagueVideo
In a stunning move, Jeff Zucker resigned as CNN president Wednesday, citing his failure to disclose a relationship with a longtime colleague. The prominent media executive’s sudden departure was announced in a memo sent to CNN employees, sending shock waves through the WarnerMedia unit. “As part of the investigation into...
Longest lightning bolt record: 477 miles over 3 states
A bolt of lightning that stretched nearly 500 miles across three U.S. states is the new world record holder for longest flash. The single flash extended 477.2 miles across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in April 2020, the World Meteorological Organization said Monday. That beat the old record set in 2018...
Biden sending more troops to Europe amid Ukraine tension
BRUSSELS — President Joe Biden is sending about 2,000 U.S.-based troops to Poland and Germany and shifting roughly 1,000 soldiers from Germany to Romania as demonstrations of American commitments to NATO allies amid fears of a possible Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon said Wednesday. In announcing the moves,...
Biden aims to reduce cancer deaths by 50% over next 25 years
President Joe Biden is committing to reduce the cancer death rate by 50% — a new goal for the “moonshot” initiative against the disease that was announced in 2016 when he was vice president. Biden has set a 25-year timeline for achieving that goal, part of his broader effort to...
Miami agrees to do something about its peacock problem
MIAMI — Peacocks could be on the outs in some South Florida neighborhoods after the Miami-Dade commission agreed to loosen a law protecting the birds. While the 20-year-old law still protects peacocks from harm, commissioners agreed Tuesday to allow cities to opt out if they present appropriate plans to humanely...
Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow: 6 more weeks of winter
Looks like it will be six more weeks of winter, as Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Wednesday morning. Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog made his appearance at sunrise to throngs of fans gathered at Gobbler’s Knob — the largest ever, according to the Inner Circle of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Legend has...
Turkey: 12 migrants freeze to death after Greece pushback
ANKARA, Turkey — The bodies of 12 migrants who froze to death were found near Turkey’s border with Greece, the Turkish interior minister said Wednesday, accusing Greek border guards of pushing them back over the frontier. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said tweeted that the 12 were among 22 migrants who...
Trump attacks spur Congress to bolster electoral count law
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s relentless, false claims about the 2020 presidential election have sparked fresh urgency in Congress — and in both parties — for changing the Electoral Count Act to ensure no one can undo a future presidential election. Lawmakers are working furiously to update the 135-year-old law that...
Virus enters Tonga along with disaster aid; lockdown planned
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Tonga will enter a lockdown Wednesday evening after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping distribute aid arriving in the Pacific nation after a volcanic eruption and tsunami. The urgent announcement by Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni appeared to confirm fears that accepting the aid following...
Report flags consultant error in Pennsylvania pension data
HARRISBURG — A report commissioned by the board of Pennsylvania’s largest public pension system shows a consultant took responsibility for an errant calculation about the fund’s investment performance. The discovery of the mistaken calculation forced the $72 billion Public School Employees’ Retirement System to take a second vote last year...
Former UCLA lecturer threatened to ‘hunt’ female professor, police say
LOS ANGELES — A former lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was arrested Tuesday after police say he emailed an 800-page document and posted videos threatening violence against the school had previously sent messages saying he would “hunt” and kill a professor, court documents show. Matthew Harris,...
Is New York safe? Violence, perception and a complicated reality
NEW YORK — A teenage fast-food cashier shot to death in Manhattan. A woman pushed to her death in front of a subway train in Times Square. An 11-month-old girl wounded by a stray bullet in the Bronx. Two police officers killed in Harlem. A string of headline-making violence in...
Pfizer asks FDA to allow covid-19 vaccine for kids under 5
WASHINGTON — Pfizer on Tuesday asked the U.S. to authorize extra-low doses of its covid-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March. In an extraordinary move, the Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and...
2 Virginia college officers killed; suspect in custody
BRIDGEWATER, Va. — A gunman shot and killed two campus officers at a private college Tuesday, prompting a protracted campus lockdown and search before the suspect was apprehended, state police and school officials said. The lockdown began in the early afternoon when Bridgewater College officials sent out a tweet in...
Airline says it will stop monkey shipments after Pennsylvania crash
The airline that carried monkeys part of the way to a U.S. research laboratory before they were involved in a highway crash in Pennsylvania says it will stop the shipments. Kenya Airways will not renew its contract with the shipper when it expires this month, airline CEO Allan Kilavuka said...
Pennsylvania judge says she’ll soon rule on congressional districts map
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania judge who recently conducted a hearing on more than a dozen competing proposals for a redrawn map of the state’s congressional districts told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday her decision will be ready in a few days — if they do not yank the case...
Joe Manchin: Build Back Better bill is ‘dead’
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin declared Tuesday that President Biden’s vast social and environment bill is “dead,” using his strongest language to date to underscore that any revival of Democrats’ top domestic priorities would have to arise from negotiations that are now moribund. The remarks by the West Virginia Democrat...
Police: 2 students shot, 1 fatally, outside Minnesota schoolVideo
RICHFIELD, Minn. — One student was killed and another critically injured in a shooting Tuesday near the front entrance to a suburban Minneapolis school, police said. Richfield Police Chief Jay Henthorne said the students were shot about 12:07 p.m. outside South Education Center. The surviving student was in critical condition...
Winter storm to bring snow, ice across wide swath of U.S.Video
AUSTIN, Texas — A huge swath of the United States braced Tuesday for a major winter storm that was expected to dump heavy snow in the Rockies, ice highways, disrupt travel across the Midwest and plunge temperatures below freezing in Texas. Airlines had canceled more than 800 flights in the...
Bensalem police investigating fight involving 40 people at Golden Corral caught on videoVideo
Police are actively investigating a brawl at a popular Bensalem buffet restaurant last week after the fight was captured on video that has since gone viral on social media. Bensalem Director of Public Safety William McVey confirmed the department is actively investigating what happened Friday around 4:30 p.m. at the...
Native American tribes reach $590M settlement over opioids
Native American tribes in the U.S. have reached settlements over the toll of opioids totaling $590 million with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and the country’s three largest drug distribution companies, according to a court filing made Tuesday. The filing in U.S. District Court in Cleveland lays out the details of...
U.S. road deaths rise at record pace as risky driving persists
WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. traffic deaths surged in the first nine months of 2021 to 31,720, the government reported Tuesday, keeping up a record pace of increased dangerous driving during the coronavirus pandemic. The estimated figure of people dying in motor vehicle crashes from January to September 2021...
Michigan plans 1st U.S. electric vehicle charging road by 2023
Electric vehicles driving in Detroit could increase their charge by using an in-road charging system by 2023, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office announced Tuesday. In 2021, Whitmer announced the state’s plan to build the first electric vehicle charging road in the U.S. The contract to build it was awarded to...
Pa. hunters turn in 5th-largest bear harvest, including 722-pounder in central Pa.
Hunters killed 3,659 Pennsylvania black bears in 2021, the fifth-best bear harvest ever and the second largest since 2011. That total included a 722-pound male, taken with a shotgun Dec. 4 during the extended season for bear, in Letterkenny Township, Franklin County, by Wade Glessner of Shippensburg. That was the...
