U.S./World category, Page 107
Turmoil, worry swirl over cuts to key federal agencies as hurricane season begins
WASHINGTON — With predictions for a busy hurricane season beginning Sunday, experts in storms and disasters are worried about something potentially as chaotic as the swirling winds: Massive cuts to the federal system that forecasts, tracks and responds to hurricanes. Experts are alarmed over the large-scale staff reductions, travel and...
Statue of Stalin unveiled in Moscow subway as Russia tries to revive the dictator’s legacy
MOSCOW — A monument to Josef Stalin has been unveiled at one of Moscow’s busiest subway stations, the latest attempt by Russian authorities to revive the legacy of the brutal Soviet dictator. The sculpture shows Stalin surrounded by beaming workers and children with flowers. It was installed at the Taganskaya...
Dozens sickened in expanding salmonella outbreak linked to recalled cucumbers
Nearly four dozen people in 18 states have been sickened in an expanding outbreak of salmonella food poisoning tied to recalled cucumbers sent to restaurants, hospitals, cruise ships and grocery stores, including Target stores, federal health officials said Friday. At least 16 people have been hospitalized after eating cucumbers produced...
A Palestinian describes 15 minutes of terror trying to get food in the new Gaza distribution system
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Shehada Hijazi woke at dawn. It was his best chance, he thought, to get his hands on a package of food at a new distribution site run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed foundation in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of others, equally desperate to feed their...
Supreme Court lets Trump end humanitarian parole for 500,000 people from 4 countries
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday again cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip temporary legal protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants for now, pushing the total number of people who could be newly exposed to deportation to nearly 1 million. The justices lifted a lower-court...
Japan’s palace confirms former princess Mako has 1st baby
TOKYO — Former Japanese princess Mako Komuro has given birth to her first child, palace officials confirmed Friday, though they gave no details, saying she is no longer a royal member. The Imperial Household Agency said both the mother and child are in good health, but did not disclose the...
Teen arrested in South Carolina party boat shooting that injured 11
LITTLE RIVER, S.C. — A 19-year-old has been taken into custody in Illinois, and authorities said they plan to charge him in a shooting that hurt 11 people after a party boat cruise in South Carolina. The shooting happened Sunday night on a dock in Little River after a fight...
Driver charged with Liverpool soccer parade tragedy appears in court
LONDON — A driver charged with multiple counts of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm for ramming into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team’s Premier League championship was ordered held in custody Friday at his first court appearance. Paul Doyle, wearing a black suit, white shirt and gray...
U.S. inflation gauge cools with little sign of tariff impact
WASHINGTON — A key U.S. inflation gauge slowed last month as President Donald Trump’s tariffs have yet to noticeably push up prices, while American incomes jumped. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose just 2.1% in April compared with a year earlier, down from 2.3% in...
Russell Brand pleads not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault in London court
LONDON — Actor and comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty in a London court Friday to rape and sexual assault charges involving four women dating back more than 25 years. Brand, who turns 50 next week, denied two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of...
Faizan Zaki overcomes a shocking, self-inflicted flub and wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee
OXON HILL, Md. — Faizan Zaki’s enthusiasm for spelling nearly got the better of him. Ultimately, his joyful approach made him the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. The favorite entering the bee after his runner-up finish last year — during which he never misspelled a word in a conventional spelling...
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill at least 14, medics say
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 people in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Friday, while Hamas was reviewing a new Israeli-approved ceasefire proposal after giving it an initial cool response. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy had expressed optimism this week about brokering an agreement that could halt the Israel-Hamas...
Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud, dies at 69
NEW YORK — Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City’s police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned, has died. He was 69. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed his death on Thursday on social media, saying it came “after a private battle with...
Man who says far-right content led him to threaten election officials is sentenced to 3 years
DENVER — A man who blamed exposure to far-right extremist content for his online threats to kill Democratic election officials in Colorado and Arizona was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday. U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews said the penalty for such “keyboard terrorism” needed to be serious enough...
Trump administration cancels $766 million Moderna contract to fight pandemic flu
The Trump administration has canceled $766 million awarded to drugmaker Moderna Inc. to develop a vaccine against potential pandemic influenza viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu. The company said it was notified Wednesday that the Health and Human Services Department had withdrawn funds awarded in July 2024 and in January...
Supreme Court backs Utah oil railroad expansion and scales back a key environmental law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah Thursday in a ruling that scales back a key environmental law for projects around the country. The 8-0 decision comes after an appeal to the high court from backers of the project, which is aimed at quadrupling...
Federal judge extends order blocking Trump administration ban on foreign students at Harvard
BOSTON — A federal judge on Thursday extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to bar Harvard University from enrolling foreign students. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs extended the block she imposed last week with a temporary restraining order, which allows the Ivy League school to continue enrolling international...
Judge considers whether Florida’s attorney general should be held in contempt over immigration law
MIAMI — A federal judge was considering Thursday whether Florida’s attorney general disobeyed her order prohibiting the enforcement of a new state law making it a misdemeanor for people in the U.S. illegally to enter Florida, and whether he should be held in contempt and sanctioned. U.S. District Judge Kathleen...
Hit by Trump trade wars, U.S. economy falls 0.2% in 1st quarter, an upgrade from initial estimate
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.2% annual pace from January through March, the first drop in three years, as President Donald Trump’s trade wars disrupted business, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its initial estimate. First-quarter growth was brought down by a surge in...
Israel authorizes more settlements in the occupied West Bank. Strikes on Gaza kill 13, officials say
JERUSALEM — Israel said Thursday it would establish 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalization of outposts already built without government authorization. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip meanwhile killed at least 13 people overnight, local health officials said. Israel captured the West Bank, along with...
U.S. academic partnership with China, under strain for years, faces its biggest threat
HONG KONG — Frayed by tariff wars and political battles, the academic ties between the U.S. and China are now facing their greatest threat yet as the Trump administration promises to revoke visas for an unknown number of Chinese students and tighten future visa screening. In a brief statement Wednesday,...
Federal trade court blocks Trump from imposing tariffs under emergency powers law
WASHINGTON — A federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy...
Ex-Trump defense lawyer Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official, picked to be federal judge
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is nominating his former criminal defense lawyer Emil Bove, who as a high-ranking Justice Department official was behind the controversial move to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, to become a federal appeals court judge. As acting...
Caves, other hideouts in mountains are part of hunt for fugitive known as ‘Devil in the Ozarks’Video
There are plenty of hideouts in the rugged terrain of the Ozark Mountains, from abandoned cabins and campsites in vast forests where searchers are hunting for an ex-lawman known as the “Devil in the Ozarks.” Others are not only off the grid but beneath it, in the hundreds of caves...
Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE
A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. Colleagues and academics also testified on Kseniia Petrova’s behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance...
