Explainer: Why is a Pelosi visit to Taiwan causing tension?
BEIJING — China is warning it will respond forcefully if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proceeds with a visit to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy it claims as its own territory. Pelosi is second in line to the presidency and would be the highest ranking U.S. politician to visit Taiwan...
New Russian airstrikes target Black Sea regions of Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with airstrikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. In...
South Carolina’s 6-week abortion ban can continue for now
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina can continue enforcing its six-week abortion ban after a state judge on Tuesday denied a request to temporarily block it amid a legal battle. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and other plaintiffs had asked the judge for an injunction while their lawsuit challenging the ban moves...
Trump returning to Washington to deliver speech on crime
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump will return to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office, delivering a speech on crime before an allied think tank that has been crafting an agenda for a possible second term. Trump will address the America First Policy Institute’s two-day America...
Russia to opt out of International Space Station after 2024
MOSCOW — Russia will opt out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country’s newly appointed space chief said Tuesday. Yuri Borisov, who was appointed earlier this month to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos, said during a meeting with Russian...
Pennsylvania man admits to Jan. 6 attacks on police, AP photographer
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Monday to attacking police officers and an Associated Press photographer during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol. In a deal with prosecutors, Alan Byerly, 55, admitted to wielding a stun gun while confronting officers who were trying to protect the Capitol...
Pennsylvania man admits to Jan. 6 attacks on police, AP photographer
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Monday to attacking police officers and an Associated Press photographer during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol. In a deal with prosecutors, Alan Byerly, 55, admitted to wielding a stun gun while confronting officers who were trying to protect the Capitol...
Doug Mastriano calls for arming school employees to protect kids
School employees with a license to carry a firearm would be permitted to carry a weapon at work under legislation introduced on late last week by state senator and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Doug Mastriano. The Franklin County senator stated in a memo to his Senate colleagues that his desire to...
After ruling, West Virginia lawmakers advance criminal abortion ban
CHARLESTON — A week after a Charleston judge barred West Virginia from enforcing an abortion ban law dating to the 19th century, lawmakers in the state’s Republican majority hurried to advance similar legislation that would criminalize abortion with few exceptions. The legislation, which breezed through the House health committee Monday,...
John Fetterman is getting a flood of national money as he faces Mehmet Oz
Winning was good for John Fetterman’s campaign accounts. The lieutenant governor had long raked in millions of campaign dollars in $10 and $20 increments, but after securing the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Fetterman saw a significant jump in his pace of fundraising, and in money coming in from outside...
Marc Short, top aide to Mike Pence, testifies before Jan. 6 grand juryVideo
WASHINGTON — The former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Marc Short, a close aide to Pence, was at the Capitol on...
Police: Woman opened fire in Dallas airport; cop shot herVideo
DALLAS — A 37-year-old woman fired several gunshots, apparently at the ceiling, inside of Dallas’ Love Field Airport on Monday before an officer shot and wounded her, authorities said. The woman was dropped off at the airport at about 11 a.m., walked inside near the ticketing counters and entered a...
Chess-playing robot breaks child’s finger at Moscow eventVideo
MOSCOW — A chess-playing robot grabbed the finger of its 7-year-old opponent and broke it during last week’s Moscow Chess Open tournament, Russian media reported Monday. “The robot broke the child’s finger,” Sergei Lazarev, President of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the Russian TASS agency. “Of course, this is bad.”...
NYPD: Preacher, wife robbed of $1M in jewelry during Sunday serviceVideo
NEW YORK — A flashy preacher pal of New York City’s mayor was robbed of more than $1 million worth of jewelry Sunday by armed bandits who crashed his Brooklyn church service, just as he was sermonizing about keeping faith in the face of grave adversity, police said. Bishop Lamor...
Judge blocks Fulton DA Fani Willis from questioning Georgia GOP senator in Trump probe
ATLANTA — A Fulton County judge is disqualifying District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from questioning state Sen. Burt Jones as part of their investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law as they sought to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections. In a surprise decision...
The tough words Trump never spoke: Jan. 6 panel’s new videoVideo
WASHINGTON — An original script for Donald Trump’s speech the day after the Capitol insurrection included tough talk ordering the Justice Department to “ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” and stating the rioters “do not represent me.” But those words were crossed out with...
5 things to know about monkeypox as WHO declares global emergency
While monkeypox has historically been limited to about a half-dozen African nations, the head of the World Health Organization over the weekend declared the spreading viral disease a “public health emergency of international concern.” The monkeypox outbreak has spread to more than 70 countries and cases now total about 16,800,...
Co-defendant in Central Park jogger case is exonerated
NEW YORK — A co-defendant of the so-called Central Park Five, whose convictions in a notorious 1989 rape of a jogger were thrown out more than a decade later, had his conviction on a related charge overturned Monday. Steven Lopez was exonerated in response to requests by both Lopez’s attorney...
U.S. to plant more trees as climate change kills off forests
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration on Monday announced plans to replant trees on millions of acres of burned and dead woodlands as officials struggle to counter the increasing toll on the nation’s forests from wildfires, insects and other manifestations of climate change. Destructive fires in recent years that burned...
Trump vs. DeSantis: Young conservatives debate GOP’s future
TAMPA, Fla. — When former President Donald Trump took the stage before a crowd of more than 5,000 young conservative activists in Tampa this weekend, he received the rock star’s welcome he’s grown accustomed to over the seven years in which he’s reshaped the Republican Party. One night earlier, it...
From ‘an attempted coup’ to chaos, searing moments of Jan. 6
Through eight hearings, 20 live witnesses and dozens of hours of recorded testimony, the House Jan. 6 committee has focused its case squarely on former President Donald Trump. The committee has disclosed stunning evidence about the Capitol insurrection over six weeks of hearings, laying out in vivid detail what it...
Is $810 million worth a $2 Mega Millions ticket? It depends
DES MOINES, Iowa — Is $810 million worth $2? That’s a good question, given it costs $2 to buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket that could pay off with an estimated $810 million prize, the nation’s fourth-largest jackpot, after the game’s next drawing Tuesday night. Isn’t it an obvious question?...
Feds suing poultry producers over unfair worker practices
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit against some of the largest poultry producers in the U.S. along with a proposed settlement seeking to end what it claims have been longstanding deceptive and abusive practices for workers. The suit is being filed in federal court in...
‘The money is gone’: Evacuated Ukrainians forced to return
POKROVSK, Ukraine — The missile’s impact flung the young woman against the fence so hard it splintered. Her mother found her dying on the bench beneath the pear tree where she’d enjoyed the afternoon. By the time her father arrived, she was gone. Anna Protsenko was killed two days after...
Police: 2 killed, 5 injured in shooting at Los Angeles park
LOS ANGELES — Two people were killed and at least five others were injured after gunfire erupted Sunday at a Los Angeles park where a car show was being held. The LA Police Department said the shooting occurred around 3:50 p.m. at Peck Park in LA’s San Pedro neighborhood. The...