Baby whale found dead on beach south of Israel’s Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli officials said Thursday that a dead whale has washed up on a beach south of Tel Aviv. David Halfon of the Nature and Parks Authority said the animal was a fin whale calf about half the size of an adult, which can grow to more...
U.S. jobless claims rise to 861,000 as layoffs stay high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections. Applications from laid-off workers rose 13,000 from the previous week, which was revised sharply higher, the Labor Department...
Pennsylvania covid cases down over 50% in past month
Pennsylvania’s covid numbers continue to decline, as the state Department of Health’s latest report shows cases on average have dropped more than 50% since last month. The state reported 3,345 new cases Thursday, with 2,250 of those confirmed through 12,240 new PCR tests. Officials said 1,095 cases were listed as...
Myanmar protests focus on junta’s economic support
YANGON, Myanmar — State railway workers in Myanmar continued to strike Thursday despite a police rampage the previous night targeting them in a sign of the military junta’s concern over growing civil disobedience by public workers protesting the coup. Three-quarters of the country’s civil servants are on strike, all private...
German police crack down on Berlin organized crime families
BERLIN — Hundreds of German police and other investigators raided more than 20 buildings in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg early Thursday in a crackdown on two feuding organized crime families, authorities said. Two people, a 44-year-old and a 22-year-old, were arrested, police said. No names were given...
NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient lifeVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet Thursday, accomplishing the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
Even without listening, U.S. lives in Rush Limbaugh’s media world
NEW YORK — You didn’t have to like or even listen to Rush Limbaugh to be affected by what he did. Conservative talk radio wasn’t a genre before him. Without Limbaugh, it’s hard to imagine a Fox News Channel, or a President Donald Trump, or a media landscape defined by...
U.S. life expectancy drops a year in pandemic, most since WWII
Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting. Minorities suffered the biggest impact, with Black Americans losing nearly three years and Hispanics, nearly two years, according to...
Some power restored in Texas but water woes persist
AUSTIN, Texas — Power was restored to more homes and businesses in Texas on Thursday after a deadly blast of winter this week overwhelmed the electrical grid and left millions shivering in the cold. But the crisis was far from over, with many people still in need of safe drinking...
China defends use of Twitter, Facebook in virus campaign
BEIJING — The Chinese government defended its use of Twitter and Facebook on Thursday, following a report that it had used its growing social media presence to spread disinformation about the origins of the covid-19 pandemic. When asked about the report, the Foreign Ministry’s top spokesperson, Hua Chunying, didn’t directly...
2 Belarusian journalists sent to prison for covering protest
KYIV, Ukraine — A court in Belarus on Thursday sent two female journalists to prison on charges of violating public order after they covered a protest against the nation’s authoritarian president. The court in the Belarusian capital of Minsk handed two-year sentences to Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, who goes by the...
Spain: Dozens arrested in fresh riots over rapper’s jailing
MADRID — More than 50 people were arrested and dozens injured during a second night of protests that turned violent in several Spanish cities. The protests were sparked by the imprisonment of a rapper who had insulted the monarchy and praised terrorism. The protests began peacefully late Wednesday in dozens...
Indianapolis art museum chief quits amid ‘white audience’ job posting flap
INDIANAPOLIS — The president of the The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields resigned on Wednesday, days after the institution apologized for posting a job listing seeking a new director who would maintain the museum’s “traditional, core, white art audience.” The museum’s board of trustees and board of governors said...
Feds arrest UCLA student accused of sitting in Mike Pence’s chair
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles college student and self-described fascist was arrested after he sat in former Vice President Mike Pence’s chair in the Senate chambers during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, authorities said. Officials say Christian Secor — a 22-year-old student at the University of California, Los...
State university program would offer free education in exchange for staying in Pennsylvania
When Edinboro University senior Sam Bohen graduates in May, he’ll bring a wealth of knowledge, lifelong friendships and $40,000 in student debt. “Many students are working our way through college by spending our days in class and our nights on the job so that we can afford rent and books,”...
More deadly storms coming so prepare better, experts sayVideo
WASHINGTON — Deadly weather will be hitting the U.S. more often, and America had better get better at dealing with it, experts said Wednesday as Texas and other states battled winter storms that blew past the worst-case planning of utilities, governments and millions of shivering citizens. The storms this week...
Authorities: Florida men posed as U.S. marshals to avoid wearing masks
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — Two men are accused of pretending to be federal marshals and flashing phony credentials to get out of wearing facial coverings at a South Florida resort hotel. When the staff at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort asked Walter Wayne Brown Jr., 53, and Gary Brummett, 81,...
Ex-Texas mayor says residents should ‘fend for themselves’
DALLAS — The now former mayor of a West Texas town says he had already turned in his resignation when he wrote a Facebook post saying it was not the local government’s responsibility to help those suffering in the cold without power. In his typo-ridden post made Tuesday morning, Tim...
Florida governor threatens to pull coronavirus vaccine from communities that criticize distributionVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Wednesday that he would divert covid-19 vaccines from communities that criticize his distribution methods, sparking complaints that he is playing politics with lifesaving medicine. DeSantis is facing questions in Manatee County over a decision to give seniors living in two of...
Arizona woman charged in Capitol melee says Proud Boys recruited her
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — An Arizona woman charged in the Jan. 6 onslaught of the U.S. Capitol bragged in a Snapchat video that she was recently recruited by a Kansas City chapter of the Proud Boys, a neofascist organization that describes itself as “Western chauvinists” and has long forbidden female...
Thousands of service members saying no to covid-19 vaccine
By the thousands, U.S. service members are refusing or putting off the covid-19 vaccine as frustrated commanders scramble to knock down internet rumors and find the right pitch that will persuade troops to get the shot. Some Army units are seeing as few as one-third agree to the vaccine. Military...
Police: 7 shot near transit station in north Philadelphia
At least seven people have been wounded by gunfire near a transit station in north Philadelphia, police said. Police said two people were shot in the back shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday near the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority station in the Olney neighborhood. Three other people were hit in an...
Son of conservative activist Brent Bozell charged in Capitol riot
HARRISBURG — The son of a prominent conservative activist is accused of being inside the U.S. Capitol during the deadly riot on Jan. 6. Leo Brent Bozell IV, of Palmyra, Lebanon County, was charged with obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct in a newly unsealed...
Thousands of cold-stunned sea turtles being rescued in Texas
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — Residents, some of whom lack heat or basic amenities in their own homes due to the unusually chilly weather, have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles and taking them to a convention center in a South Texas resort town. “Every 15 minutes or less there’s another...
Sicilian village cleans up ash, stones from Mt. Etna eruption
PEDARA, Sicily — Residents and municipal teams worked Wednesday to clean up a Sicilian village near Mount Etna after Europe’s most active volcano spewed lava, ashes and volcanic stones. The eruption, which featured spectacular displays of gushing lava, forced the temporary closure of Sicily’s Catania Airport, a frequent occurrence when...
