Sorrow turns to tension over Turkey earthquake response
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Six days after a massive earthquake killed more than 28,000 in Syria and Turkey, sorrow and disbelief are turning to anger and tension over a sense that there has been an ineffective, unfair and disproportionate response to the historic disaster. Many in Turkey express frustration that rescue...
Turkey detains building contractors as quake deaths pass 33K
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Turkish justice officials targeted more than 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods as rescuers extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings. The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude...
‘College Now’ program gives high school students a chance to earn early associate’s degree
When Jacinda Floyd first heard about the “College Now” program at Westmoreland County Community College during her freshman year at Franklin Regional Senior High School, she said she “kind of overlooked it.” “I was thinking, ‘I’m a freshman and have a lot of time to go before college,’” Floyd said....
Trudeau: Warplane shot down object over northern Canada
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that on his order a U.S. warplane shot down an unidentified object that was flying high over northern Canada, acting a day after U.S. planes took similar action over Alaska. Shortly before Trueau’s tweet, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said it...
State approves first Black-owned pre-apprenticeship program in Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute has been approved as the city’s first Black-owned, state-certified pre-apprentice program for the skilled trades. The APRI’s “Breaking the Chains of Poverty” program is designed to help people build the skills necessary to earn a career in the building and construction...
1st infant in Kentucky surrendered anonymously at ‘baby box’
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Kentucky has seen its first infant anonymously dropped off at one of its “baby box” safe surrender locations. At a news conference Friday, Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder and CEO Monica Kelsey said the child was dropped off within the last seven days at a Bowling...
Jill Biden not shy about her ‘Philly girl’ sports fandom
WASHINGTON — Jill Biden won’t let even a White House gala get between her and the Philadelphia Eagles. After a late night entertaining governors with President Joe Biden at a black-tie dinner on Saturday, the first lady was heading for the Super Bowl in Arizona on Sunday with hopes of...
Wagner owner says war in Ukraine could drag on for years
KYIV, Ukraine — The owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military contractor actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine has predicted that the war could drag on for years. Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview released late Friday that it could take 18 months to two years for...
Protest outside U.K. asylum-seeker hotel ends in 15 arrests
LONDON— An anti-migration protest outside a hotel housing asylum-seekers in northwest England turned violent and resulted in the arrests of 15 people, local police said Saturday. The Merseyside Police department said a police officer and two civilians sustained minor injuries during the disturbance on Friday night in Knowsley, a village...
Tracking Josh Shapiro’s biggest campaign promises
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro made a lot of promises on the campaign trail. Now, he faces the new challenge of...
Schools become flashpoint for Republicans eyeing White House
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has called for parents to elect and fire school principals. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. And Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador who is expected to announce her White House...
Survivors still being found as quake death toll tops 28,000
LATAKIA, Syria — Ibrahim Zakaria lost track of time drifting into and out of consciousness while trapped for nearly five days in the rubble of his home following the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this week. The 23-year-old cellphone shop worker from the Syrian town of Jableh survived...
Migrants seeking U.S. sponsors find questionable offers online
Pedro Yudel Bruzon was looking for someone in the U.S. to support his effort to seek asylum when he landed on a Facebook page filled with posts demanding up to $10,000 for a financial sponsor. It’s part of an underground market that’s emerged since the Biden administration announced it would...
U.S. blacklists 6 Chinese entities over balloon program
BEIJING — The United States has blacklisted six Chinese entities it said were linked to Beijing’s aerospace programs as part of its retaliation over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed U.S. airspace. The economic restrictions announced Friday followed the Biden administration’s pledge to consider broader efforts to address Chinese...
Toronto mayor steps down after affair with ex-staffer
TORONTO — The mayor of Canada’s largest city has stepped down after acknowledging he had an affair with a former staffer. Toronto Mayor John Tory said at a late Friday night news conference that he developed a relationship with an employee in his office. The 68-year-old was known as a...
AP source: Trump team turns over items marked as classified
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have in recent months voluntarily turned over to federal investigators additional papers marked as classified as well as a laptop belonging to a Trump aide, a person familiar with the situation said Friday night. The legal team also provided an empty folder...
Trump lawyer in Mar-a-Lago search appeared before grand jury
WASHINGTON — Evan Corcoran, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, appeared before a federal grand jury last month as part of the special counsel investigation into whether classified information and other government records were mishandled at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, according to people familiar with the matter. Corcoran has been...
Ousted election clerk hit with ethics lawsuit in New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. — A local elections regulator in rural New Mexico who was recently declared missing from work and replaced is now facing possible sanctions from a commission that oversees ethics and conduct by government officials. The civil lawsuit against Yvonne Otero was filed Tuesday by the State Ethics...
New AI voice-cloning tools ‘add fuel’ to misinformation fire
NEW YORK — In a video from a Jan. 25 news report, President Joe Biden talks about tanks. But a doctored version of the video has amassed hundred of thousands of views this week on social media, making it appear he gave a speech that attacks transgender people. Digital forensics...
Lawyer: Trump conditionally offers DNA to compare against accuser’s dress
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump is willing to provide a DNA sample to be compared against stains on the dress of a woman who accused him of rape, though only under certain conditions, his lawyer said Friday. Attorney Joseph Tacopina told a Manhattan federal court judge in a...
Sen. John Fetterman discharged from hospital, will return to Senate Monday
PHILADELPHIA — Sen. John Fetterman was released from the hospital late Friday afternoon after checking himself in Wednesday with lightheadedness. Fetterman’s office said doctors ruled out another stroke and he was expected to return to the Senate when the chamber is back in session Monday. “A few minutes ago, Senator...
Pitt withdraws from participating in U.S. News & World Report law school rankings
The University of Pittsburgh said Friday it will withdraw from participating in the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, joining a revolt now spreading nationally among public and private schools over the rankings’ methodology. The U.S. News Best Law Schools ranking system “is systematically flawed and harmful to...
Florida doctors’ board tightens ban on gender-affirming care
ORLANDO, Fla. — A prohibition against puberty blocking hormones and gender-affirming surgeries for minors in Florida was tightened further after a board overseeing doctors eliminated an exception for research Friday at the request of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration. Some members of the public attending the meeting in Tallahassee shouted...
Lawsuit seeks white woman’s arrest in Emmett Till kidnapping
JACKSON, Miss. — A relative of Emmett Till is suing to try to make a Mississippi sheriff serve a 1955 arrest warrant on a white woman in the kidnapping that led to the Black teenager’s brutal lynching. The torture and killing of Till in the Mississippi Delta became a catalyst...
Biden to visit Poland for anniversary of Ukraine war
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will travel to Poland this month to rally allies one year after Russia’s assault on Ukraine, the White House announced, as he aims to sustain a coalition that has supported Kyiv’s defenses. The visit, scheduled for Feb. 20-22, comes as signs point to waning support...
