U.S./World category, Page 188
Strong earthquake kills at least 126 people in western China near Mount Everest
BEIJING — A strong earthquake shook a high-altitude region of western China and areas of Nepal on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of houses, littering streets with rubble and killing at least 126 people in Tibet. Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the remote region. Rescue workers climbed mounds...
Why more frequent cold blasts could be coming from global warming
Frigid air that normally stays trapped in the Arctic has escaped, plunging deep into the United States for an extended visit that is expected to provoke teeth-chattering but not be record-shattering. It’s a cold air outbreak that some experts say is happening more frequently, and paradoxically, because of a warming...
Jean-Marie Le Pen, French far-right leader, dies at 96
PARIS — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation, has died. He was 96. Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally as the party is now known, confirmed...
U.S. transfers 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman after more than 2 decades without charge
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Monday it had transferred 11 Yemeni men to Oman this week after holding them for more than two decades without charge at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The transfer was the latest and biggest push by the Biden administration in its final...
Biden tells New Orleans mourners they are not alone as he honors victims of attack
NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden told mourners in New Orleans on Monday that they are not alone as he paid tribute to victims of the deadly New Year’s attack and channeled the pain felt by their loved ones. Biden made the remarks at St. Louis Cathedral in the city’s...
Pope names like-minded ally Cardinal McElroy as Washington archbishop
ROME — Pope Francis on Monday named Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego as the archbishop of Washington, tapping one of his most progressively like-minded allies to head the Catholic Church in the U.S. capital at the start of Donald Trump’s second administration. At a press conference, McElroy said he...
Minneapolis OKs police reform deal in wake of George Floyd’s murder
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Monday approved an agreement with the federal government in response to the murder of George Floyd that would require reforms within the city’s police department under long-term court supervision. The agreement, known as a consent decree, has been under negotiation since the Department...
Louisiana person is 1st U.S. bird flu death, health officials say
NEW YORK — The first U.S. bird flu death has been reported — a person in Louisiana who had been hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms. Louisiana health officials announced the death on Monday. Health officials have said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been...
Capture of escaped monkey in tutu called ‘bananas’
A monkey in a pink tutu that slipped out of a Missouri home was captured just before a winter storm slammed the state. “Bananas” is how the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office described the apprehension of the primate in a Facebook post. The spider monkey was spotted Friday afternoon at the...
Rudy Giuliani is in contempt of court in $148 million defamation case
NEW YORK — Rudy Giuliani was found in contempt of court Monday for failing to properly respond to requests for information as he turned over assets to satisfy a $148 million defamation judgment granted to two Georgia election workers. Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled after hearing Giuliani testify for a...
Polar vortex keeps a huge swath of the U.S. in its icy grip
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A huge swath of the U.S. was blasted with ice, snow and wind on Monday as the polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend kept much of the country east of the Rockies in its frigid grip, making many roads treacherous, forcing school closures, and causing...
Trump’s sentencing still on for Friday after judge rebuffs push for delay
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump remains on track to be sentenced this week in his hush money case after a judge on Monday denied his request to halt proceedings while he appeals a ruling that upheld the historic verdict. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan ordered sentencing to proceed as...
Canada’s Trudeau resigns as Liberal Party leader, spelling end to time in power
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation Monday in the face of rising discontent over his leadership, and after the abrupt departure of his finance minister signaled growing turmoil within his government. Trudeau said it had become clear to him that he cannot “be the leader during the next...
Venezuelan opposition leader who claims to have defeated Maduro to meet Biden at White House
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan opposition leader who claims to have defeated President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday at the White House, a senior administration official confirmed to The Associated Press. The meeting comes as Edmundo González, a retired...
Residents and officials say rebels have seized 2 key towns in eastern Congo
GOMA, Congo — Rebels with the M23 group have seized two key towns in eastern Congo as they advance in the volatile region, civil society and a local politician said Monday, as the security and humanitarian crisis deepened. The rebels over the past week took Katale and Masisi towns, the...
Nippon, U.S. Steel file 2 suits after Biden administration blocks $15 billion deal
U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel are suing to challenge the Biden administration’s decision to block a proposed deal for the Japanese company to acquire the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker for nearly $15 billion. At the same time, the companies also filed suit Monday in Pittsburgh against Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the company’s CEO and...
Biden, in 11th hour action, bans new offshore oil and gas drilling in most federal waters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is moving to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters, a last-minute effort to block possible action by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling. Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, said he is using authority under the...
FBI found 150 homemade bombs at Virginia home during search in December, prosecutors sayVideo
NORFOLK, Va. — Federal agents found one of the largest stockpiles of homemade explosives they have ever seized when they arrested a Virginia man on a firearms charge last month, according to a court filing by federal prosecutors. Investigators seized more than 150 pipe bombs and other homemade devices when...
Trump weighs Jan. 6 clemency with Congress set to ratify his win
Four years after a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol to support Donald Trump’s last-gasp effort to overturn his election loss, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, have evolved into a political and cultural flashpoint — with little lasting damage to the president-elect. The attack faced bipartisan condemnation in the immediate...
South Korean protesters brave cold to demand Yoon’s ouster as detention deadline looms
SEOUL, South Korea — Hundreds of South Koreans, bundled up against freezing temperatures and snow, rallied overnight into Sunday near the residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, calling for his ouster and arrest, as authorities prepared to renew their efforts to detain him over his short-lived martial law decree....
Ukraine presses attacks in Russia’s Kursk region
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will urge allies to boost Ukraine’s air defenses at a meeting this week in Germany, while both sides said Kyiv’s forces pressed new attacks Sunday in Russia’s Kursk region. Russian shelling, meanwhile, killed at least one person and wounded another in Ukraine’s...
No Jan. 6 disruptions are expected as Trump’s win boosts Republicans’ faith in elections — for now
This Jan. 6 won’t be the same. Four years ago, then-President Donald Trump urged supporters to head to the Capitol to protest Congress’ certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. “Will be wild!” Trump promised on Twitter a few weeks before Jan. 6, 2021. And it was....
Higher Social Security payments coming for millions of people from bill that Biden signed
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Sunday signed into law a measure that boosts Social Security payments for current and former public employees, affecting nearly 3 million people who receive pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and in other public service jobs. Advocates say the Social Security...
Driving into Manhattan? That’ll cost you, as new congestion toll starts Sunday
NEW YORK — New York’s new toll for drivers entering the center of Manhattan debuted Sunday, meaning many people will pay $9 to access the busiest part of the Big Apple during peak hours. The toll, known as congestion pricing, is meant to reduce traffic gridlock in the densely packed...
Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor, who devoted his life for peace, dies at 93
TOKYO — Shigemi Fukahori, a survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing, who devoted his life to advocating for peace and campaigning against nuclear weapons, has died. He was 93. Fukahori died at a hospital in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 3, the Urakami Catholic Church, where he prayed almost...
