U.S./World category, Page 1075
Iraq’s PM announces he’ll resign amid worsening crisisVideo
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister said Friday he would submit his resignation to parliament, a day after more than 40 people were killed by security forces and following calls by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric for lawmakers to withdraw support. The move by Adel Abdul-Mahdi 13 months after he took over...
Trump in Afghanistan for surprise Thanksgiving visit
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — President Donald Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the United States and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban wants a ceasefire. In his first trip to the site of America’s longest war,...
New Mexico utility stands by plan to close coal-fired plant
FARMINGTON, N.M. — New Mexico’s largest electric provider says continued operation of a coal-fired power plant using carbon-capture technology wouldn’t be in the best interest of utility customers. Public Service Co. of New Mexico made the declaration in testimony filed with state regulators who are weighing the pending closure of...
Dutch prosecutors charge isolated farm father with sex abuse
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch father accused of holding six of his children against their will on an isolated farm for nine years is now also suspected of sexually abusing two of his other children, prosecutors said Thursday. The abuse allegations add a grim new element to a case...
27 Iraqi protesters shot dead in 24 hours, violence spiralsVideo
BAGHDAD — Security forces in Iraq shot dead 27 anti-government protesters in a 24-hour period, amid spiraling violence in the capital and the country’s south, as Iran condemned the burning of its consulate. Security forces Thursday fired live ammunition, killing four protesters and wounding 22 on the strategic Ahrar Bridge...
Fired Navy Secretary Spencer criticizes Trump in SEAL caseVideo
WASHINGTON — Richard Spencer, who was fired as Navy secretary for his handling of a SEAL war crimes case championed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the commander in chief “has very little understanding” of how the American military works. The extraordinary accusation came in an opinion piece published on...
Man pleads guilty to scam that cost victims more than $550K
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — A northwest Iowa man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud, admitting that his scheme caused about 30 people to lose more than $550,000. Authorities say 61-year-old Lon Friedrichsen entered the plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. His sentencing has not been scheduled. Court...
U.S. to pay less into NATO budget as Macron urges deep talks
PARIS — NATO leaders must stop bickering over defense spending and have a deep discussion about the future of the military alliance and how ties with Russia can be improved at a summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday. Macron’s call for intensive talks on how to shore up security...
Facebook, Instagram go down on Thanksgiving morning
Facebook and Instagram went down for several hours Thursday morning. Service to both appeared to have been restored just before noon. As of noon, there was no word on the company’s Twitter feed as to what the issue might have been. According to Down Detector, the social media platforms’ blackout...
Balloons fly as a breezy Macy’s Thanksgiving parade startsVideo
NEW YORK — The beloved balloons were flying, if lower than usual, as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began after an anxious weather watch Thursday morning. Astronaut Snoopy, a new version of a longtime parade favorite, was among the giant inflated characters leading the lineup. Parade officials and the New...
Winter storm threatens to scramble Thanksgiving travel plansVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — A day after bringing havoc to the Rocky Mountains, a powerful winter storm rolled across the Midwest on Wednesday, threatening to scramble Thanksgiving plans for millions of people during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. The storm, which was blamed for one death and hundreds...
Evacuation orders ended as rain douses California wildfire
GOLETA, Calif. — A strong storm moved into Southern California on Wednesday, almost completely dousing a wildfire that had threatened thousands of homes but briefly raising the threat of debris flows from barren slopes. Residents in and below the fire area on the south Santa Barbara County coast were issued...
Utah hearing for Hawaii suspect in extreme cyberstalking
HONOLULU — A man arrested in Hawaii will be sent to Utah, where he’s accused of tormenting a family for more than year by sending more than 500 people to their house for unwanted services including food deliveries, repairs, tow trucks, locksmiths, plumbers and prostitutes. Loren Okamura was in Honolulu’s...
Wind could ground big balloons at NYC’s Thanksgiving parade
NEW YORK — Smokey Bear might feel like he’s battling Santa Ana winds — if he even gets a chance to fly. New York City’s big Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will take place Thursday amid strong winds that could potentially ground the giant character balloons, which have caused mishaps and...
Apache man moving ‘home’ to protest copper mine in Arizona
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Wendsler Nosie Sr. is drawn to a mountainous area in central Arizona where he and other Apaches have harvested medicinal plants, held coming-of-age ceremonies and gathered acorns for generations. On Thursday, he’ll start a three-day journey to make a permanent home in the area known as Chi’chil...
Utah banning ‘conversion therapy’ with Mormon church backing
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is on its way to becoming the 19th state to ban the discredited practice of conversion therapy in January after state officials formed a proposal that has the support of the influential Church of a Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Republican Gov. Gary Herbert announced...
Navy cancels review for SEALs after firing of Navy secretary
SAN DIEGO — The Navy on Wednesday cancelled a peer-review process that would have determined if three Navy SEAL officers who supervised an enlisted SEAL convicted of posing with a dead teenage captive in Iraq should remain on the elite force. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the case was...
Chemical weapons watchdog adds Novichok to banned list
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog agreed Wednesday to update their list of banned substances for the first time by adding the nerve agent used in the attempted assassination last year of a former Russian double agent. The decision to add Novichok nerve agents...
5 dead, 3 hurt in ‘devastating’ Minneapolis high-rise fire
MINNEAPOLIS — A fire swept through a Minneapolis high-rise apartment building early Wednesday, killing five people and sending three others to the hospital, officials said. There was no immediate indication what caused the blaze in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, located in a part of Minneapolis called Little Mogadishu for the many...
Jimmy Carter out of hospital after treatment for brain bleed
ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter has been released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after recovering from surgery to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding from a fall. Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said Wednesday that the Carters “look forward to enjoying Thanksgiving at home in Plains,...
U.S. Marshals: Marine deserter charged in murder case captured
ROANOKE, Va. — A Marine deserter wanted in the fatal shooting of his mother’s boyfriend was captured Wednesday after a weekslong, multistate search that had schools and neighborhoods on alert in Roanoke, Virginia. Michael Alexander Brown, 22, was safely taken into custody Wednesday morning in Franklin County, U.S. Marshals Service...
Plant explosion in Texas blows windows from homes miles away
PORT NECHES, Texas — Two massive explosions 13 hours apart tore through a Texas chemical plant Wednesday, and one left three workers injured. The blasts blew out windows and doors of nearby homes and prompted a mandatory evacuation of a 4-mile (seven-kilometer) radius from the plant in Port Neches in...
Spanish police tow cocaine-filled submarine to port
MADRID — Spanish police Tuesday managed to tow a sunken submarine believed to be carrying tons of cocaine into a northwestern port and began preparations to extract its cargo. Police were hoping to crane-lift the 65-foot submarine onto the dock at Port of Aldán so that they could get inside...
Miami man shoots, kills robber who pointed AK-47 in his faceVideo
Donovan Stewart said he didn’t like it when a would-be robber shoved an AK-47 rifle in his face. The 60-year-old Miami man said he had to think quickly after someone broke into his van while he was sleeping. His 11-year-old son and girlfriend were also in the van at the...
New Jersey hospital gives patient wrong kidney during transplantVideo
Classic mixup. A hospital in New Jersey gave a kidney to the wrong patient during a transplant last week. Luckily, it appears that the mistake didn’t have tragic results. According to Philadelphia’s ABC-affiliate WPVI-TV, officials at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital said the 51-year-old patient’s kidney transplant was successful...
