U.S./World category, Page 456

Kentucky’s governor said it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 25 people when torrential rains swamped towns across Appalachia. Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday that the numbers of victims would likely rise significantly as a result of record flash flooding over...

MANILA, Philippines — China blasted a top U.S. Navy official Friday after he criticized Beijing’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea, saying it’s America’s military deployments in the disputed waters — which it called “navigation bullying” — that could spark confrontations. The Chinese Embassy in Manila said it...

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland will headline a White House event Friday that will bring together pro bono lawyers, bar associations and public interest groups to discuss how best to offer legal services and protections for women seeking abortions. The effort is part of an executive order signed by...

West Virginia lawmakers passed up the chance Friday to become the first state to approve new legislation restricting access to abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last month removing its protected status as a constitutional right. The Republican-dominated Senate adopted its version of a bill along with amendments, one...

HONOLULU — A U.S. defense contractor and his wife charged with fraudulently living for decades under the stolen identities of two dead infants told family they were going into the witness protection program before abruptly abandoning their house and leaving Texas about 40 years ago, a federal prosecutor said Thursday....

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are exploring meeting in person, a senior administration official said after the leaders spent more than two hours Thursday talking through the future of their complicated relationship, with tension over Taiwan once again emerging as a flashpoint. Biden conducted the phone...

DES MOINES, Iowa — At over $1 billion, the Mega Millions jackpot is among the largest lottery prizes ever up for grabs, making it the latest focus of lotteries that have been conducted in the U.S. and around the world for centuries. Only two prizes have grown larger than the...

BAGHDAD — The followers of the influential populist Shiite cleric came by the thousands to storm Iraq’s parliament. Just as quickly, the protesters dispersed at his command. Mass mobilization and control is a well-worn strategy of Muqtada al-Sadr, a mercurial figure who has emerged as a powerful force in Iraq’s...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — At least five migrants drowned and another 66 were rescued on Thursday after a suspected human smuggling boat dropped the group off in waters near an uninhabited island west of Puerto Rico, officials said. Federal and local authorities were still on the scene searching for...

BAMAKO, Mali — At least three civilians and 15 soldiers have been killed in separate attacks in central Mali, the army said, the latest round of attacks as insecurity worsens in the West African nation. Two attacks Wednesday targeted Mali army positions in the center of the country, and the...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession. The decline that the Commerce Department reported Thursday in the gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of...

JetBlue has agreed to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion in a deal that would create the nation’s fifth largest airline if approved by U.S. regulators. The agreement Thursday comes a day after Spirit’s attempt to merge with Frontier Airlines fell apart. Spirit had recommended its shareholders approve a lower...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits against five media companies brought by a Kentucky student involved in a 2019 widely viewed encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Nicholas Sandmann, then a 16-year-old student at Covington Catholic High...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A 15-year-old boy shot and killed three siblings at a home near Fairbanks and was found with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Alaska State Troopers said. The troopers, in a statement, said they received a report of shots being fired on Tuesday afternoon at a Fairbanks home....

CHICAGO — The man accused of opening fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago has been indicted by a grand jury on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack...

A West Virginia man initially charged with assaulting a police officer who died after defending the U.S. Capitol from a mob pleaded guilty on Wednesday to misdemeanor offenses that could allow him to avoid more jail time. Another man accused of attacking the officer with bear spray is weighing a...

DENVER — A wealthy dentist accused of shooting and killing his wife in their cabin at the end of an African safari trip testified Wednesday that an unfamiliar shotgun they brought with them to hunt a leopard accidentally went off, wounding her as she hurried to pack early in the...

MIAMI — When Mike Satz stood up and approached the jury, he did not raise his voice, bellow about justice or dramatically point his finger at the mass murderer seated a few feet away. Instead, the career prosecutor calmly delivered an exhaustive account of Nikolas Cruz’s 2018 rampage through a...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken also said he expects to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for...

LOS ANGELES — A woman who claimed to be Charles Manson’s sister has backed out of a dispute over the estate of the cult leader who was responsible for a string of murders across Los Angeles in 1969. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Ruben Garcia granted the withdrawal of the...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced two former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights to lighter terms than recommended in sentencing guidelines, calling one “truly a rookie officer” and describing the other as “a good police officer, father and husband.”...

BAGHDAD — Hundreds of Iraqi protesters breached Baghdad’s parliament Wednesday chanting anti-Iran curses in a protest against the selection of a nominee for prime minister by Iran-backed parties. The majority of the protesters were followers of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The demonstrators, all of them men, were seen walking...

JOHANNESBURG — A big pink diamond of 170 carats has been discovered in Angola and is claimed to be the largest such gemstone found in 300 years. Called the “Lulo Rose,” the diamond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine, the mine’s owner, the Lucapa Diamond Company, announced Wednesday...

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops used American-supplied precision rocket launchers to knock out a vital bridge used by Russia to supply its forces in an occupied region of southern Ukraine, officials said Wednesday. The Antonivskyi Bridge over the Dnieper River was attacked late Tuesday, according to Kirill Stremousov, deputy head...