U.S./World category, Page 454
What to know about Hunter Biden’s plea deal in federal tax and gun case
The announcement that federal prosecutors have reached a plea deal with President Joe Biden’s son Hunter over tax and gun charges marks the likely end of a five-year Justice Department investigation that has dogged the Biden family. It doesn’t, however, mean that congressional Republicans are done with their own wide-ranging...
Why haven’t China and the U.S. agreed to restore military contacts?
TAIPEI, Taiwan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up a closely watched visit to Beijing during which he and President Xi Jinping pledged to stabilize plunging U.S-China ties. But China refused the biggest U.S. request: restoring military-to-military contacts. Blinken said he raised the issue of military communications...
Supreme Court turns away veterans who seek disability benefits over 1966 hydrogen bomb accident
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal on behalf of some U.S. veterans who want disability benefits because they were exposed to radiation while responding to a Cold War-era hydrogen bomb accident in Spain. The justices did not comment in turning away an appeal from Victor Skaar,...
Hunter Biden will plead guilty in a deal that likely averts time behind bars in a tax and gun case
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offenses but avoid a full prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars. Hunter Biden, 53, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as...
Trump adviser faces possible disbarment over his efforts to overturn 2020 election
LOS ANGELES — Attorney John Eastman, the architect of a legal strategy aimed at keeping former President Donald Trump in power, concocted a baseless theory and made false claims of fraud in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, a prosecutor said Tuesday in arguing that Eastman be disbarred. Eastman’s...
Who gets a break? Clashing ideas on tax relief are teed up for the 2024 campaign
WASHINGTON — Just six days after the bipartisan deal on the debt limit became law, House Republicans proposed a slew of tax cuts, leading to charges of hypocrisy by Democrats in a squabble that shows two clashing visions for the U.S. economy. GOP lawmakers are pushing deep tax cuts for...
The U.S. Coast Guard says debris field has been found near the Titanic during search for submersible
The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday that an underwater vessel has located a debris field near the Titanic in the search for a missing submersible with five people aboard, a potential breakthrough in an increasingly urgent around-the-clock effort. The Coast Guard’s post on Twitter gave no details, such as whether...
Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming not controlled, study finds
BENGALURU, India — Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges and could lose up to 80% of their current volume this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t sharply reduced, according to a new report. The report Tuesday from Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain...
Trump gives reason for hoarding Mar-a-Lago classified documents: ‘Didn’t want to hand them over’Video
Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he didn’t “want to hand over” boxes of classified government documents despite getting a subpoena because he hoped to keep personal items that he believed belong to him. Doubling down on his “my boxes” defense, Trump admitted in an interview with Fox News’...
U.N. members adopt first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas
UNITED NATIONS — Members of the United Nations adopted the first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas on Monday, with the U.N.’s chief hailing the historic agreement as giving the ocean “a fighting chance.” Delegates from the 193 member nations burst into applause and then stood up...
Tropical Storm Bret forms in Atlantic, with possible hurricane threat to Caribbean islands
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Bret formed in the central Atlantic Ocean on Monday, with forecasters saying it could pose a hurricane threat to the eastern Caribbean by Thursday and the Dominican Republic and Haiti by the weekend. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Bret had maximum...
More than 1 million people are dropped from Medicaid as states start a post-pandemic purge of rolls
More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork. Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government,...
1 dead, nearly 2 dozen injured after multiple tornadoes sweep through MississippiVideo
LOUIN, Miss. — Multiple tornadoes swept through Mississippi overnight, killing one and injuring nearly two dozen, officials said Monday. State emergency workers were still working with counties to assess the damage from storms in which high temperatures and hail in some areas accompanied tornadoes. The death and injuries were reported...
Father admits to fatally shooting 3 young sons at Ohio home, prosecutors say
MONROE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — An Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his three young sons admitted to planning the killings and lined them up before executing them with a rifle, prosecutors said Friday. Chad Doerman, 32, who is also accused of wounding the boys’ mother at the family’s home, has...
Deep-sea craft carrying 5 people to Titanic wreckage reported missing, search underwayVideo
A rescue operation was underway deep in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Monday in search of a technologically advanced submersible vessel carrying five people to document the wreckage of the Titanic, the iconic ocean liner that sank more than a century ago. The vessel was reported overdue Sunday...
UN complains Russia won’t let aid workers into area of Ukraine dam collapse, Moscow says it’s unsafe
KYIV, Ukraine — The Kremlin’s spokesman said Monday that U.N. aid workers who want to visit areas ravaged by the recent Kakhova dam collapse in southern Ukraine can’t go there because fighting in the war makes it unsafe. The United Nations rebuked Moscow on Sunday for allegedly denying aid workers...
Europe defense ministers are holding talks in Paris on how to defend the continent’s airspace better
PARIS — Defense ministers and other representatives of 20 European countries will hold a conference in Paris on Monday on how to better defend Europe’s airspace, a long-divisive issue that takes on new urgency because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The talks will include anti-drone combat and ballistic missile defense,...
U.K. lawmakers likely to back a scathing report that slammed Boris Johnson over ‘partygate’
LONDON — Britain’s House of Commons is likely Monday to endorse a report that found Boris Johnson lied to lawmakers about lockdown-flouting parties in his office, a humiliating censure that would strip the former prime minister of his lifetime access to Parliament. Lawmakers will debate a report by the Privileges...
Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize deteriorating ties between U.S., China
BEIJING — The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi pronounced himself satisfied with progress made during talks in Beijing. But, Blinken told...
Weekend mass shootings leave 6 people dead and dozens injured across the U.S.
Mass shootings and violence across the U.S. killed at least six people this weekend, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, and wounded dozens of people. Multiple people with guns fired shots at a holiday crowd in Missouri and bullets flew among teenagers partying in Illinois. The shootings follow a surge in...
Blinken opens 2nd day of talks in Beijing on mission to ease soaring U.S.-China tensions
BEIJING — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has opened a second and final day of critical meetings with senior Chinese officials as the two sides expressed willingness to talk but showed little inclination to bend on hardened positions that have sent tensions soaring. Blinken was meeting Monday morning with...
Trump’s former attorney general says indictment is his own faultVideo
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said the U.S. has a “very strong” criminal case against Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents and said the former president has himself to blame. “He had no right to those documents,” Barr, who served as U.S. attorney general under Trump, said Sunday on...
Heat wave triggers big storms, power outages in the Southeast, raises wildfire concerns in SouthwestVideo
Forecasters warned people celebrating Father’s Day outdoors to take precautions as triple-digit temperatures prompted heat advisories across much of the southern U.S., triggered thunderstorms that knocked out power from Oklahoma to Mississippi and whipped up winds that raised wildfire threats in Arizona and New Mexico. A suspected tornado struck early...
Stalled contract jeopardizes relations between new Disney governing body, firefighters
ORLANDO, Fla. — After appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took over Walt Disney World’s governing district earlier this year, its firefighters were among the few employees who publicly welcomed them with open arms. But that warm relationship is in jeopardy as a new district administrator has reopened negotiations on...
A Utah city violated the First Amendment in denying a drag show permit, judge rules
SALT LAKE CITY — The city of St. George must issue a permit for a Utah-based group that organizes drag performances to host an all-ages drag show in a public park, a federal judge ruled, calling the city’s attempt to stop the show unconstitutional discrimination. “Public spaces are public spaces....
