U.S./World category, Page 416
Amazon launches test satellites for its planned internet service to compete with SpaceX
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Amazon launched the first test satellites for its planned internet service on Friday as a rival to SpaceX’s broadband network. United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket blasted off with the pair of test satellites, kicking off a program that aims to improve global internet coverage with...
Georgia will be 1st state with medical marijuana in pharmacies
ATLANTA — Georgia soon will become the first state in the nation to offer medical marijuana products at independent pharmacies, state officials said. The Georgia Board of Pharmacy began accepting applications this week, and nearly 120 pharmacies have agreed to provide medication from Botanical Sciences, one of the state’s two...
NY appeals court declines to halt Trump’s civil fraud trial while he contests a pretrial ruling
NEW YORK — A New York appeals judge declined Friday to halt Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, rebuffing the former president’s request to postpone it while he fights a pretrial ruling that could strip him of control of such assets as Trump Tower. The appellate judge agreed that control over...
Police find at least 115 bodies at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home under investigation
CAÑON CITY, Colo. — Police said Friday they have found at least 115 bodies at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home under investigation for improper handling of remains. Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said they are coordinating with other agencies to determine if there is any wrongdoing. The Return to Nature Funeral...
A Texas killer says a prison fire damaged injection drugs. He wants a judge to stop his execution
HOUSTON — Attorneys for a condemned Texas killer have asked a federal judge to stop his execution, alleging the drugs he is to be injected with next week were exposed to extreme heat and smoke during a recent fire, making them unsafe. The Texas Attorney General’s Office says testing done...
Police bodycam video shows arrest of suspect in 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur
LAS VEGAS — Newly released police body camera video shows officers arresting Duane “Keffe D” Davis on suspicion of murder in the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur off the Las Vegas Strip. Davis, 60, was walking near his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson on Sept. 29 when...
After apparent shark attack, stunned friends mourn ‘full of life’ kiteboarder
Friends and family identified the man missing in a possible shark attack off Point Reyes National Seashore as Felix Louis Syl N’jai, a native of Gambia who grew to call California home and became an avid kiteboarder. N’jai, 52, hasn’t been seen since friends saw him pulled underwater at Wildcat...
Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting women’s oppression
Imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of her tireless campaigning for women’s rights and democracy and against the death penalty. Mohammadi, 51, has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. “This prize is first...
Russian strike on cafe kills 51, Ukrainian officials say, as Zelenskyy seeks more Western supportVideo
HROZA, Ukraine — A Russian rocket blast turned a village cafe and store in eastern Ukraine into rubble Thursday, killing at least 51 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top officials in Kyiv. Rescuers searched for survivors...
Trump ‘temporarily’ drops lawsuit against former lawyer-turned-witness Michael Cohen
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has dropped his $500 million lawsuit against Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer who is now a key witness in a criminal case against him, Cohen and a Trump spokesperson said Thursday night. But the former president did not waive his right to sue...
Ex-treasurer for Rep. George Santos pleads guilty to conspiracy, tells of bogus loan and fake donorsVideo
NEW YORK — The ex-treasurer for U.S. Rep. George Santos pleaded guilty Thursday to a fraud conspiracy charge and implicated the indicted New York Republican in a scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports with a fake loan and fake donors. Nancy Marks, who was a close aide to Santos...
Report of fatal New Jersey car crash fills in key gap in Menendez federal bribery investigation
BOGOTA, N.J. — The then-future wife of powerful U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, Nadine Menendez, killed a man with her car in December 2018 and was sent from the scene without being charged, according to new details that match an auto “accident” that prosecutors cite in their sweeping federal indictment of...
Israel is perennially swept up in religious conflict, yet many of its citizens are secular
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Israel is a nation perennially swept up in religious fervor and conflict. And yet, strikingly, a large portion of its population is secular, and even its insular ultra-Orthodox community loses a steady stream of members who tire of its strict religious rules. The country is home...
The Biden administration says it is using executive power to allow border wall construction in TexasVideo
McALLEN, Texas — The Biden administration announced they waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration’s first use of sweeping executive power to pave the way for building more border barriers — a tactic used often during the Trump presidency. The...
September sizzled to records and was so much warmer than average scientists call it ‘mind-blowing’
After a summer of record-smashing heat, warming somehow got even worse in September as Earth set a new mark for how far above normal temperatures were, the European climate agency reported Thursday. Last month’s average temperature was 0.93 degrees Celsius (1.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1991-2020 average for September. That’s...
Powerball jackpot up to $1.4 billion after no one matches all the numbers
PINEVILLE, N.C. — The Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.4 billion after no players matched all six numbers and hit it rich Wednesday night. The winning numbers announced were: 9, 35, 54, 63, 64 and the Powerball 1. Players will next have a shot at the Powerball jackpot Saturday...
Capitol rioter who attacked Reuters cameraman and police officer gets more than 4 years in prison
A man who attacked a police officer and a Reuters cameraman during the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Wednesday to more than four years in prison. Shane Jason Woods, 45, was the first person charged with assaulting a member of the news media during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection....
A building collapse in Havana leaves 1 person dead and at least 2 injured
HAVANA — A building in the historic center of Havana that housed 13 families partially collapsed, leaving one person dead and at least two injured, Cuban authorities said Wednesday. Rescue teams were trying to access the building where two people remained trapped after Tuesday night’s collapse. While the reason for...
Suspect charged in rapper Tupac Shakur’s fatal shooting makes 1st court appearance in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — A self-described gangster who police and prosecutors say masterminded the shooting death of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996 made his first court appearance Wednesday on a murder charge. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, stood shackled, wearing a dark-blue jail uniform and plastic orange slippers. He...
San Francisco will say goodbye to Dianne Feinstein as her body lies in state at City Hall
SAN FRANCISCO — Mourners will pay their respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in San Francisco City Hall, where she launched her groundbreaking political career and where she spent a decade as the city’s first female mayor. Feinstein’s body will lie in state in the City Hall...
Thousands of U.S. health care workers go on strike in multiple states over wages and staff shortages
LOS ANGELES — Picketing began Wednesday morning at Kaiser Permanente hospitals as some 75,000 health care workers go on strike in Virginia, California and three other states over wages and staffing shortages, marking the latest major labor unrest in the United States. Kaiser Permanente is one of the country’s larger...
Former Russian state TV journalist gets 8½-year sentence in absentia for Ukraine war criticism
A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced a former state TV journalist 8½ years in prison in absentia for protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine, the latest in a crackdown on dissent that has intensified since the invasion began nearly 20 months ago. Marina Ovsyannikova was charged with spreading false information about...
The U.S. is forgiving more federal student loans in a bid to tackle ‘unsustainable debt’ for borrowers
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden outlined a new round of federal student loan forgiveness on Wednesday to address the “unsustainable debt” that borrowers accumulate to complete their college education. The announcement comes as borrowers brace for payments to restart after a three-year pause that began during the covid-19 pandemic and...
Bus plummets 50 feet from elevated road in Venice, killing 21 in fiery crash
VENICE — A bus carrying dozens of people plummeted 50 feet from an elevated road in Venice, causing a fiery crash that killed 21 people and injured at least 15, mostly foreign tourists returning to a nearby campsite. Those who died in the Tuesday night crash included at least four...
Trio wins Nobel Prize in chemistry for work on quantum dots, used in electronics and medical imaging
STOCKHOLM — Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their work on quantum dots — tiny particles that can release very bright colored light and are used in electronics and medical imaging. Moungi Bawendi, of MIT; Louis Brus, of Columbia University; and Alexei Ekimov, of Nanocrystals Technology...
