Soldiers unleash tear gas amid tension on Venezuela’s border
CUCUTA, Colombia — Venezuela’s National Guard fired tear gas on residents clearing a barricaded border bridge to Colombia on Saturday, heightening tensions over blocked humanitarian aid that opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to bring into the country despite President Nicolas Maduro’s defiant refusal to accept assistance. The opposition is...
Actor brothers take center stage in Serbia’s street protests
BELGRADE, Serbia — Taking center stage in the weekly protests against Serbia’s autocratic president was a role that actors Sergej and Branislav Trifunovic felt compelled to play. The two brothers are among the main public faces of the demonstrations against populist leader Aleksandar Vucic’s firm grip on power that started...
California parents of 13 plead guilty to torture, abuse – Feb. 23, 2019
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — As prosecutors brought charges of cruelty and torture against a California couple who had shackled and starved their children for years, they had two goals in mind: Punish the perpetrators and ensure they could never victimize those 13 children in any way again. On Friday they appeared...
Man takes stand to deny flipping woman to her death in a Pennsylvania river
SCRANTON, Pa. — A man accused of hurling a woman to her death in a northeastern Pennsylvania river two years ago took the stand to deny that he was responsible and accuse police of lying about an alleged confession. Ryan Taylor, 26, said Friday he blacked out after smoking synthetic...
Vietnamese catfish recalled after missed inspection
A California company is recalling nearly 30,000 pounds of catfish imported from Vietnam that wasn’t presented for import re-inspection into the United States. The recall, announced by federal officials Friday , applies to Yellow Hito catfish shipped to a distributor in Chicago and to other locations nationwide by TV Food...
Judge grants citizenship to twin son of gay couple
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California ruled Thursday that a twin son of a gay married couple has been an American citizen since birth, handing a defeat to the U.S. government, which had only granted the status to his brother. The State Department was wrong to deny citizenship...
San Francisco authorities search for woman in landslide
SAN FRANCISCO — Rescue workers switched from search to recovery mode Friday night in their efforts to find a woman believed to be buried by a landslide near a San Francisco beach. One woman was rescued after the landside above a beach popular with dog walkers. Dozens of search-and-rescue workers...
Chicago police: Singer R. Kelly arrested at precinct
CHICAGO — R&B star R. Kelly was taken into custody after arriving Friday night at a Chicago police precinct, hours after authorities announced multiple charges of aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17. The 52-year-old singer, whose real name is...
Pittsburgh doctor receives family medicine teaching honor
A Pittsburgh doctor who serves as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh and as an administrator with the UPMC McKeesport Family Medicine Residency Program has been honored for his contributions as a teacher in his field. The Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians has named Dr. Gordon Liu its...
Trump vows veto as Democrats try to block emergency order
WASHINGTON — Democrats controlling the House have teed up a vote next week to block President Donald Trump from using a national emergency declaration to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, accelerating a showdown in Congress that could divide Republicans and lead to Trump’s first veto. The Democrats introduced...
Pentagon sending another 1,000 troops to the Mexico border
The Pentagon will increase the number of active-duty troops along the U.S.-Mexico border to about 6,000 by the start of next month, a return to the peak force size deployed shortly after the mission began last fall, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday. About 1,000 additional personnel will join...
Judge dismisses charges over boy’s death on waterslide
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A judge dismissed criminal charges Friday against a Kansas water park owner and the designer of a 17-story slide on which a 10-year-old boy was decapitated in 2016. Wyandotte County Judge Robert Burns cited improper evidence in dropping second-degree murder charges against Schlitterbahn owner Jeff Henry,...
Sutersville woman remembered for love of family
Yolanda Orsini would do anything for her family, even if it meant dropping out of school while in eighth grade. The oldest of six kids, Ms. Orsini dropped out to help her mother cook, clean and take care of her brothers and sisters while her mom worked cleaning other people’s...
Giraffe dies in accident at Kansas City Zoo barn
KANSAS CITY, Mo.— Kansas City Zoo officials say an adult male giraffe died after suffering a spinal cord injury in a zoo barn. The zoo says that on Wednesday the 9-year-old male, named Hamisi, caught his head in an area of the barn that allows keepers to reach the animals....
Deal near in civil rights lawsuits over Pennsylvania prison mail policy
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania prison officials said Friday they were close to settling two federal lawsuits over how the system processes mail sent to inmates by their lawyers. The Department of Corrections and civil rights groups involved in the lawsuits announced a settlement was being finalized after a trial was stopped...
California parents of 13 plead guilty to torture, abuse – Feb. 22, 2019
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California couple pleaded guilty Friday to torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 children to beds and starving them to the point it stunted their growth. David and Louise Turpin will spend at least 25 years in prison after entering the...
Where pro- and anti-Brexit forces collide
LONDON (AP) — Few issues in recent years have generated the passion in Britain that the Brexit situation has, and the colorful debate has spilled over from Parliament to the grounds outside, traditionally a marketplace for ideas, protests and rallies. It is here that the true believers gather each day...
Southwest hit by computer outage, adding to its problems
DALLAS — Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights have been delayed as the carrier deals with winter weather and a computer outage. The outage occurred early Friday and grounded Southwest flights around the country for nearly an hour. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration says Southwest had a problem with...
EU says it’s ready to hit back if U.S. imposes car tariffs
BUCHAREST, Romania — A European Union official says “there is full support” from member states to hit back if President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on cars and car parts. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said EU trade ministers had discussed the bloc’s trading relationship with Washington during an informal meeting...
Church of England says Sunday services no longer mandatory
LONDON — The Church of England has acknowledged the reality of shrinking congregations and overworked priests and lifted a 400-year-old rule requiring that all churches hold services every Sunday. Canon law dating from 1603 required priests to hold morning and evening prayers and a communion service each Sunday in every...
Landslide closes section of Freeport Road in Springdale Township
A section of Freeport Road in Springdale Township closed Friday because of a landslide could potentially stay shut down until Monday as officials worry more debris could fall. PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said the slide, reported to PennDOT about 7 a.m., closed Freeport Road between the New Kensington Bridge and...
Swede gets 4½ years for royal jewels heist
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A 22-year-old Swede was sentenced Friday to four and a half years in prison after he was convicted of stealing 17th-century Swedish royal treasures estimated to be worth $7 million from a cathedral last year. The Eskiltuna District Court said Johan Nicklas Backstrom stole two crowns and...
Powerful 7.5-magnitude quake hits eastern Ecuador
LONDON — A very powerful magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck southern Ecuador in the early hours of Friday close to the country’s border with Peru, although no immediate reports of possible casualties or damage were available. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake happened at 5:17 a.m. (EST) 71 miles southeast...
Ex-Lackawanna County prison guard gets probation for sex with inmate
SCRANTON — A former guard at a Pennsylvania prison has been sentenced to nine months of probation for having sex with an inmate while she was out on work release nearly a decade ago. Jeffrey Staff was one of seven guards to be charged with sexually abusing inmates at Lackawanna...
Police: Stolen rare coins ended up in change machines
NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. — Authorities say a Florida man stole collectible coins worth tens of thousands of dollars, then ran them through grocery store change machines that returned just a fraction of their value. The Palm Beach Post report s 20-year-old Shane Anthony Mele of Riviera Beach told investigators...
