U.S./World category, Page 1033
Angry protests in Mexico after woman’s gruesome killing
MEXICO CITY — Angry demonstrations broke out in Mexico City on Friday as hundreds of women protested the gruesome slaying and mutilation of a young woman, a case that has come to personify outrage over the rising incidence of gender-related killings, or femicides. In the morning, dozens of protesters spray-painted...
Ohio wants to put Lake Erie on a new, strict pollution diet
TOLEDO, Ohio — Ohio wants to put Lake Erie on a new, stricter pollution diet to fight back against the toxic algae blooms that have flourished for more than a decade, environmental regulators said Thursday. The state intends to establish a plan to reduce runoff that’s feeding the outbreaks by...
Feds: Florida doctor stole $26M to fund political ambition
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida vascular surgeon bilked the government and health insurers of more than $26 million to possibly finance his political ambitions in his native country of Ghana, federal authorities said. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury unsealed a 58-count indictment alleging that Dr. Moses deGraft-Johnson falsely...
ICE plans to deploy more resources in sanctuary cities
LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration officials confirmed Friday that border agents and officers, including those in tactical units, will be deployed in Los Angeles and other so-called sanctuary cities to assist in the arrests of immigrants in the country illegally. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed details of...
Official says U.S., Taliban reach Afghanistan truce agreement
MUNICH — The United States and the Taliban have reached agreement on a temporary truce that will take effect in the coming days and, if successfully completed, will lead to a formal cease-fire, the start of peace negotiations between all Afghan sides next month and the ultimate withdrawal of American...
Florida ‘red flag’ gun law used 3,500 times since Parkland
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A 23-year-old man who posted on Facebook, “I don’t know why I don’t go on a killing spree.” A West Palm Beach couple who shot up their home while high on cocaine. A 31-year-old Gulf Coast man who pointed a semiautomatic rifle at a motorcyclist. All...
New Banksy piece appears on birthday of house owner where artwork appeared
That Banksy is at it again. A new work from the anonymous artist showed up on the side of house in Bristol, United Kingdom, on Feb. 13. It was confirmed Feb. 14 as a Banksy piece on his website and Instagram. The new work depicts a girl with a slingshot...
Chicago teacher removed during probe of ‘go back’ anthem row
CHICAGO — A Chicago teacher accused of telling a Hispanic student she should go back to her own country after she refused to stand for the national anthem has been removed from the classroom while district officials investigate, the school’s principal said. Students at Senn High School on the city’s...
U.S. murder suspect went undetected in Italy for 2 weeks
ROME — An American woman wanted over her husband’s 2002 murder was able to stay at the Rome hotel where she was arrested for nearly two weeks before an international arrest warrant turned up in the system identifying her as a murder suspect, Italian police said Friday. Beverly McCallum, 59,...
Evidence in trash can links dead neighbor to missing S.C. girlVideo
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Investigators found a man dead inside his South Carolina home shortly after finding an item from a missing 6-year-old girl inside his trash can, authorities said. Faye Marie Swetlik disappeared Monday while playing in her front yard after getting off the school bus, investigators said. Her death...
Man forced woman to be getaway driver after he robbed a bank on their 1st date
A Massachusetts woman will have to wait five years on the off chance she wants a second date. Christopher Castillo, 33, was sentenced this week to three years in state prison and two years in county corrections after pleading guilty to robbery and tangling with police during a 2016 first...
Warren Buffett’s son helps Colombia kick cocaine curse
TIBU, Colombia — With Colombian military snipers in position, Howard Buffett descends from a helicopter and trudges through the wet grass in steel-toe boots chewed through by his dog’s teeth. Waiting under a tin-roofed shack is a small group of coca farmers. They’ve never heard of multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett,...
U.S. scientists: Earth just had its hottest January in recorded historyVideo
Last month was the hottest January since scientists began keeping temperature records in 1880, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. Global land and ocean temperatures exceeded all temperatures recorded in the past 141 years of data at 2.05 degrees above the 20th century average. Of the...
Brrrr! Arctic front brings dangerous wind chills to Midwest
MINNEAPOLIS — Students stayed home from school Thursday and several businesses were closed in parts of the upper Midwest as arctic air pushed wind chill readings to dangerously low temperatures. A wind chill warning was in effect for northeastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota, with wind chill readings plunging to...
In win for Amazon, judge freezes work on Pentagon contract
NEW YORK — A federal judge on Thursday ordered a temporary halt of Microsoft’s work on a $10 billion military cloud contract, a win for Amazon, which sued the U.S. government last year for awarding the contract to its rival. Amazon’s lawsuit, filed in November, alleged that President Donald Trump’s...
Los Angeles County moves to dismiss 66,000 marijuana convictions
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey on Thursday announced the dismissal of 66,000 marijuana convictions in the county, a move to undo decades of drug enforcement that disproportionately targeted people of color years after California voters legalized weed. The top prosecutor this week filed a motion...
New Jersey teacher investigated for telling students to act as slaves
TOMS RIVER, N.J. — A New Jersey school district is investigating a teacher’s history lesson that had students pretend to be slaves, officials said. According to social media posts by a student in the class, 8th-grade social studies teacher Lawrence Cuneo forced Toms River Intermediate School students to act as...
Virus cases surge after China revises way count is tallied
BEIJING — China reported a surge in deaths and infections from a new virus Thursday after changing the way the count is tallied, further clouding an epidemic that has stirred fear as it spread to more than two dozen countries. The spike came after two days in which the number...
Court halts Pentagon work with Microsoft on cloud contract
NEW YORK — A federal court has ordered the Pentagon to temporarily halt work with Microsoft on a $10 billion military cloud contract that Amazon was initially favored to win. Amazon subsequently sued, alleging that President Donald Trump’s bias against the company hurt its chances to win the project. Amazon...
Amsterdam bans tour groups from sex workers’ windows
AMSTERDAM — The local government in Amsterdam has banned guided tours that take groups past the famed windows in the city’s red-light district where visitors watch semi-naked sex workers pose. The move announced Thursday is the city government’s latest attempt to address over-tourism and to clean up and to protect...
Longest-serving federal judge, named by LBJ, retires at 98
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York City who was nominated by President Lyndon Johnson and who contributed to the landmark case that struck down racial segregation in public schools is retiring at age 98. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein was known for favoring lenient sentences and rehabilitation....
Fiery train derailment in Kentucky spills ethanol into river
PIKEVILLE, Ky. — A fiery train derailment Thursday morning in eastern Kentucky trapped two crew members and caused a chemical leak into a river, authorities said. Two crew members of the CSX train were initially trapped before getting out and a flammable liquid was leaking into a river, said Charles...
U.K. Treasury chief quits as Johnson shakes up Cabinet
LONDON — U.K. Treasury chief Sajid Javid unexpectedly resigned on Thursday after resisting a reduction in his power, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to tighten his grip on the government with a Cabinet shake-up. Javid had been widely expected to keep his job — the second most powerful in...
Part of the ceiling collapses at Atlanta airport restaurant
ATLANTA — Part of a restaurant ceiling collapsed inside Atlanta’s airport, and one person asked to be treated by emergency crews, airport officials said. The collapse happened shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday in Concourse A, one of the closest concourses to the main domestic terminal, the airport said in a...
Flooding forces Alabama school system to shut downVideo
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An Alabama school system called off classes Thursday because flooding affected its public water supply, and officials asked residents to conserve water. Hartselle schools canceled for the day because water from a rising creek flooded a water pumping station, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said in a...
