U.S./World category, Page 489
Authorities: Armed Ohio student planned to shoot classmates
CHESTERLAND, Ohio — A student who brought a gun and ammunition to a high school in northeastern Ohio and planned to shoot others there was arrested after a bullet was found in a bathroom and surveillance footage helped identify him, authorities said. The 18-year-old student was charged with attempted murder,...
Troubles shadow lingers as Northern Ireland marks 25 years of peace
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Peter Olphert was 14 when Irish Republican Army gunmen killed his father. Forty years later, he says it’s time to set aside the past. Mark Thompson lost his brother to British Army bullets, another victim of “the Troubles” that wracked Northern Ireland for three decades. He...
Panel affirms fines against coal mines owned by W.Va. governor
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal appeals panel has affirmed $2.5 million in penalties against Appalachian coal mines owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice over claims they violated a settlement meant to prevent pollution. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, made the...
China vows ‘forceful’ measures after U.S.-Taiwan meeting
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China vowed reprisals against Taiwan after a meeting between the United States House speaker and the island’s president, saying Thursday that the U.S. was on a “wrong and dangerous road.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in a show of U.S. support for...
China’s Xi calls for Ukraine peace talks to resume
BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping called Thursday for peace talks over Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to him to “bring Russia to its senses,” but Xi gave no indication Beijing would use its leverage as Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic partner to press for a settlement. Xi gave no...
Japanese army helicopter carrying 10 crew members missing
TOKYO — Japan’s coast guard says it is searching for an army helicopter carrying 10 crew members that went missing off a southern Japanese island. The coast guard said it received information that a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter disappeared from radar on a mission Thursday evening in...
Snake on a plane! South African pilot finds cobra under seat
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat. Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday’s flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced...
Jury in defamation suit against Fox won’t hear about Jan. 6
DOVER, Del. — The upcoming trial in a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News for airing false allegations of vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election will not include testimony about the Jan. 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol, a judge ruled Wednesday. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems claims...
Mike Pence won’t appeal order compelling grand jury testimonyVideo
WASHINGTON — A spokesman for Mike Pence said Wednesday that the former vice president will not appeal a judge’s order compelling him to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The decision sets up a...
Maryland AG releases report on Catholic Church sex abuse
BALTIMORE — More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused more than 600 children over the past 80 years, according to a state report released Wednesday that accused church officials of decades of cover-ups. The report, issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office,...
Trump’s bravado tested as legal woes overlap with campaign
NEW YORK — When Donald Trump stepped into a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday afternoon, his usual bravado was replaced with palpable anger and notable silence as the former president was reduced to a criminal defendant in custody. By the time he returned to his Mar-a-Lago club hours later, he was ready...
Man kills 4 children with hatchet at daycare center in BrazilVideo
RIO DE JANEIRO — A man with a hatchet jumped over a wall and invaded a daycare center Wednesday in Brazil, killing four children and wounding at least five others, authorities said. The assailant turned himself in at a police station and did not appear to have any connection with...
DOJ tentatively settles over Texas church shooting for $144M
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department announced Wednesday a tentative $144 million settlement with families and victims of a 2017 mass shooting at a Texas church that was carried out by a former U.S. airman who was able to purchase firearms despite a criminal history. More than two dozen people...
Patrol: Missouri tornado kills at least 4, sows destruction
ST. LOUIS — A large tornado tore through southeastern Missouri before dawn on Wednesday, causing widespread destruction and killing at least four people as a broad swath of the Midwest and South braced for further storm s that could spawn additional twisters and hail. A twister in Illinois also caused...
Blinken says Wall Street Journal reporter ‘wrongfully detained’ by Russia
BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he has “no doubt” that Russia has wrongfully detained an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was arrested last week on spying allegations. However, Blinken said a formal determination of Evan Gershkovich’s wrongful detention has not yet been...
ITF resumes tennis in China with no word on Peng Shuai
TOKYO — The International Tennis Federation will play tournaments this year in China with no word of a resolution to the case of Chinese doubles player Peng Shuai. Peng disappeared from public view shortly after accusing a former high-ranking Communist Party official — in a web posting in November of...
Violence at Jerusalem holy site raises fears of escalation
JERUSALEM — Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled stones and firecrackers in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Palestinian militants in Gaza responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes. The...
Italian ex-leader Berlusconi hospitalized in ICU, but alert
ROME — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized Wednesday in intensive care because of a problem related to a previous infection, but was alert and speaking, Italy’s foreign minister said. The 86-year-old three-time premier was in the ICU at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, the clinic where he routinely receives...
Zelenskyy visit tightens bonds with Poland amid Russian war
WARSAW, Poland — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won new pledges of deeper military and economic cooperation on a state visit to Poland on Wednesday as the neighbors sought to forge a tighter relationship in defiance of Russia’s full-scale war against Kyiv that has reshaped international alliances. Polish President Andrzej Duda...
UBS confident about Credit Suisse deal despite ‘huge’ risk
GENEVA — The UBS chairman voiced confidence Wednesday that the Swiss bank will succeed in a government-engineered takeover of hobbled rival Credit Suisse, pledging the deal will reduce costs, benefit shareholders and buttress Swiss finance despite “huge” risks in knitting the global lenders together. Speaking to UBS shareholders, Colm Kelleher...
French prime minister, unions meeting fails ahead of pension protests
PARIS — French trade union leaders walked out of talks with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Wednesday after failing to find a compromise on the contentious plan to raise the country’s legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years. The heads of France’s major unions, who want the withdrawal of...
To counter China, U.S. trade rep seeks closer ties to allies
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is pressing its case for a new approach to global trade, arguing that America’s traditional reliance on promoting free trade pacts failed to anticipate China’s brass-knuckled brand of capitalism and the possibility a major power like Russia would go to war against one of its...
Stormy Daniels must pay $122,000 in Trump legal bills
LOS ANGELES — Stormy Daniels must pay nearly $122,000 of Donald Trump’s legal fees that were racked up in connection with the porn actor’s failed defamation lawsuit, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The decision in California came at about the same time that that Trump became the only ex-president to...
Paying for paradise? Hawaii mulls fees for ecotourism crush
HONOLULU — Repairing coral reefs after boats run aground. Shielding native forest trees from a killer fungus outbreak. Patrolling waters for swimmers harassing dolphins and turtles. Taking care of Hawaii’s unique natural environment takes time, people and money. Now Hawaii wants tourists to help pay for it, especially because growing...
Cities will get nearly $200M in grants for pipeline upgrades
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Federal officials announced the first $196 million of grants Wednesday in a $1 billion program to repair and replace aging and sometimes leaking natural gas pipelines across the country. The Transportation Department and its Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced that the city of Las...
