U.S./World category, Page 525
Study says warming may push more hurricanes toward U.S. coasts
Changes in air patterns as the world warms will likely push more and nastier hurricanes up against the United States’ east and Gulf coasts, especially in Florida, a new study said. While other studies have projected how human-caused climate change will probably alter the frequency, strength and moisture of tropical...
Russia hits illegally annexed Ukraine areas from ground, air
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces used ground- and air-fired missiles, rocket launchers and weaponized drones to bombard the provinces of Ukraine it has illegally annexed but doesn’t fully control, causing casualties, building damage and power outages Friday. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes and...
Report: Russia formally charges Wall Street Journal reporter
MOSCOW — Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been charged with espionage in Russia and has entered his official denial, Russian state news agency Tass reported Friday. Tass said a law enforcement source informed the news agency that Russia’s Federal Security Service officially charged the American journalist with...
20 hurt when inmate sets fire at N.Y.’s Rikers Island jail
NEW YORK — A fire set by an inmate at New York City’s troubled Rikers Island injured 20 people on a day that lawmakers visited the jail complex, authorities said. Fifteen staff members and five inmates were injured in the fire that started about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, the city Correction...
U.S. adds 236,000 jobs in March despite Fed’s rate hikes
WASHINGTON — America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, reflecting a resilient labor market and suggesting that the Federal Reserve may see the need to keep raising interest rates in the coming months. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, not far above the 53-year low of 3.4% set...
Suspect shoots 2 hostages after wounding California officer
ROSEVILLE, Calif. — A man fleeing police in Northern California took two hostages at a public park on Thursday, killing one of them and wounding a California Highway Patrol officer before surrendering, authorities said. The events played out in Roseville, a city of about 150,000 northeast of Sacramento, in the...
China sanctions Reagan library, others over Tsai’s U.S. trip
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China is imposing sanctions against the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and other U.S.- and Asian-based organizations in retaliation for the closely watched meeting this week between the U.S. House Speaker and Taiwan’s president. The Reagan library in Simi Valley, Calif., was the site of the rare high-level,...
Biden review of chaotic Afghan withdrawal blames Trump
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday laid the blame on his predecessor, President Donald Trump, for the deadly and chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that brought about some of the darkest moments of Biden’s presidency. The White House publicly released a 12-page summary of the...
Israel hits Gaza as Netanyahu vows to extract ‘heavy price’Video
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military struck targets in the Gaza Strip while Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets rockets into southern Israel early Friday, with the region edging closer toward war following two days of unrest at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site and a rare rocket attack from neighboring Lebanon....
EPA proposal takes on health risks near chemical plants
In what could prove a significant move for communities facing air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Thursday that chemical plants nationwide measure certain hazardous compounds that cross beyond their property lines and reduce them when they are too high. The proposed rules would reduce cancer risk and other...
Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina warned by Stormy Daniels’ attorney of ‘ethical breach’
Donald Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina may have a conflict of interest because Stormy Daniels shared “confidences” with him about her sexual encounter with the former president, a lawyer for the adult-film star said. Daniels is at the center of a hush-money case against Trump, who pleaded not guilty to 34...
House Republicans subpoena former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz in Trump case
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Thursday subpoenaed one of the former Manhattan prosecutors who had been leading a criminal investigation into Donald Trump before quitting last year in a clash over the direction of the probe. Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, ordered Mark Pomerantz to testify...
U.S. would bar full ban on trans athletes but allow exceptions
WASHINGTON — Schools and colleges across the U.S. would be forbidden from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes under a proposal released Thursday from the Biden administration, but teams could create some limits in certain cases — for example, to ensure fairness. The proposed rule sends a political counterpunch toward...
Civil rights probe launched as a result of fatal Park Police shootingVideo
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation after a U.S. Park Police officer fatally shot a 17-year-old who drove off with an officer in the back seat after the teenager was found asleep in a suspected stolen car. The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office...
Supreme Court: Trans girl can run girls track in West Virginia
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl in West Virginia to continue competing on her middle school’s girls sports teams while a lawsuit over a state ban continues. The justices refused to disturb an appeals court order that made it possible for the girl, Becky...
Ex-head of Michigan marijuana board admits he took bribes
The former head of a Michigan medical marijuana licensing board has agreed to plead guilty to accepting $110,000 in bribes when he led the panel over a two-year period, authorities said Thursday. Rick Johnson acknowledged in a signed court filing that he acted “corruptly” when he accepted cash and other...
Justice Clarence Thomas reportedly took undisclosed luxury trips
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips nearly every year from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, ProPublica reports. In a lengthy story published Thursday the nonprofit investigative journalism organization catalogs various trips Thomas has taken...
Authorities: Armed Ohio student planned to shoot classmates
CHESTERLAND, Ohio — A student who brought a gun and ammunition to a high school in northeastern Ohio and planned to shoot others there was arrested after a bullet was found in a bathroom and surveillance footage helped identify him, authorities said. The 18-year-old student was charged with attempted murder,...
Troubles shadow lingers as Northern Ireland marks 25 years of peace
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Peter Olphert was 14 when Irish Republican Army gunmen killed his father. Forty years later, he says it’s time to set aside the past. Mark Thompson lost his brother to British Army bullets, another victim of “the Troubles” that wracked Northern Ireland for three decades. He...
Panel affirms fines against coal mines owned by W.Va. governor
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal appeals panel has affirmed $2.5 million in penalties against Appalachian coal mines owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice over claims they violated a settlement meant to prevent pollution. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, made the...
China vows ‘forceful’ measures after U.S.-Taiwan meeting
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China vowed reprisals against Taiwan after a meeting between the United States House speaker and the island’s president, saying Thursday that the U.S. was on a “wrong and dangerous road.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in a show of U.S. support for...
China’s Xi calls for Ukraine peace talks to resume
BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping called Thursday for peace talks over Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to him to “bring Russia to its senses,” but Xi gave no indication Beijing would use its leverage as Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic partner to press for a settlement. Xi gave no...
Japanese army helicopter carrying 10 crew members missing
TOKYO — Japan’s coast guard says it is searching for an army helicopter carrying 10 crew members that went missing off a southern Japanese island. The coast guard said it received information that a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter disappeared from radar on a mission Thursday evening in...
Snake on a plane! South African pilot finds cobra under seat
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat. Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday’s flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced...
Jury in defamation suit against Fox won’t hear about Jan. 6
DOVER, Del. — The upcoming trial in a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News for airing false allegations of vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election will not include testimony about the Jan. 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol, a judge ruled Wednesday. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems claims...
