U.S./World category, Page 562
Crisis-stricken Cuba torn between ally Russia, neighbor U.S.
HAVANA — When Hurricane Ian tore through western Cuba in late September, causing an island-wide blackout, it left the government grappling with a deepening energy crisis and simmering discontent among Cubans. It also once again thrust the Caribbean island into the middle of an escalating tug-of-war between its seaside neighbor,...
Battle of the Alps? Water woes loom amid climate change
BRIG, Switzerland — A battle is brewing around Europe’s rooftop over the planet’s most precious resource. The crystal-clear waters issuing from the Alps could become increasingly contested as the effects of climate change and glacier melt become more apparent. Italy wants them for crop irrigation in the spring and summer....
Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs
DETROIT — All summer long, Aleen Hudson kept looking for a new minivan or SUV for her growing passenger shuttle service. She had a good credit rating and enough cash for a down payment. Yet dealerships in the Detroit area didn’t have any suitable vehicles. Or they’d demand she pay...
U.N. weather agency: Greenhouse gases reach new record in 2021Video
GENEVA — The three main greenhouse gases hit record high levels in the atmosphere last year, the U.N. weather agency said Wednesday, calling it an “ominous” sign as war in Ukraine, rising costs of food and fuel, and other worries have elbowed in on longtime concerns about global warming in...
Judge considers stopping Arizona ballot drop box watchersVideo
PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona said he hopes to decide by Friday whether to order members of a group to stop monitoring outdoor ballot drop boxes in the state’s largest county in an effort that has sparked allegations of voter intimidation. The groups Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans...
Man gets death for killing Texas agency’s 1st Sikh deputy
HOUSTON — A man was sentenced to death Wednesday for the fatal 2019 shooting of a law enforcement officer who was the first Sikh deputy in his Texas agency. A Harris County jury deliberated for about 35 minutes before returning the death sentence for Robert Solis, 50, after convicting him...
Arizona GOP leader wins temporary halt to House Jan. 6 subpoena for phone records
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is temporarily blocking the turnover of phone records belonging to the leader of the Arizona Republican Party to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Kagan’s order Wednesday evening paused anything from happening while an emergency appeal...
South Carolina judge: Mark Meadows must testify before Georgia grand juryVideo
PICKENS, S.C. — A South Carolina judge ruled Wednesday that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows must testify before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election. Following a 45-minute hearing in this small city in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains,...
Sheriff: Autopsy will determine if dogs killed Amazon driver
EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — Investigators are trying to determine if two dogs caused the death of an Amazon driver whose body was found in the yard of a home in rural northwest Missouri. Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said deputies went to a home Monday evening in Excelsior Springs after...
Man convicted of killing 6 with SUV in Wisconsin Christmas parade
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man was convicted Wednesday of killing six people and injuring dozens of others when he drove his SUV through a Christmas parade, wrapping up a trial in which he defended himself with bizarre legal theories and erratic outbursts. It took the jury a little over...
Superstorm Sandy legacy: Recovery far from equal on New York shore
NEW YORK — Even before Superstorm Sandy’s floodwaters surged over New York City’s Rockaway Peninsula, there was an air of decay in Edgemere, a far-flung seaside neighborhood long pockmarked with boarded-up homes and vacant lots with waist-high weeds. When the water receded, even more of Edgemere’s homes lay in ruin....
French iconic painter of black Pierre Soulages dead at 102
PARIS — French painter Pierre Soulages, an icon of post-World War II European abstract art famed for his use of black, has died, according to the Soulages Museum in his hometown of Rodez. He was 102. Soulages became highly influential for his reflections of black, which he called “noir-lumiere,” or...
Gunmen attack major Shiite holy site in Iran, killing 15
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Gunmen attacked a major Shiite holy site in Iran on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. The attack came as protesters elsewhere in Iran marked a symbolic 40 days since a woman’s death in custody ignited the biggest anti-government movement in over...
3 men convicted of supporting plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer
Three men accused of supporting a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor were convicted of all charges Wednesday, a triumph for state prosecutors after months of mixed results in the main case in federal court. Joe Morrison, his father-in-law Pete Musico, and Paul Bellar were found guilty of providing “material support”...
Afraid of needles? China rolling out oral covid-19 vaccine
BEIJING — The Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday in what appears to be a world first. The vaccine, a mist that is sucked in through the mouth, is being offered for free as a booster dose for previously vaccinated people, according to an...
Ebola infects 6 schoolkids in Uganda as contagion fear grows
KAMPALA, Uganda — Six schoolchildren in Uganda’s capital have tested positive for Ebola, the health minister said Wednesday, marking a serious escalation of the outbreak declared just over a month ago. The children, who attend three different schools in Kampala, are among at least 15 people in the city confirmed...
Russia fires rockets at Ukraine, renews ‘dirty bomb’ claims
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia targeted more than 40 villages around Ukraine over the past day, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, killing at least two people and sustaining the terror that forces people into air raid shelters each night. Russian forces launched five rockets, 30 air strikes and more than 100 multiple-launch...
‘Kill everyone’: Russian violence in Ukraine was strategic
ZDVYZHIVKA, Ukraine — Even by the standards of the important military officers who came and went in this tiny village, the man walking behind the Kamaz truck stood out. Soldiers providing security peered from behind fences, their guns bristling in every direction. Two Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters circled overhead, providing...
Kia recalls SUVs again for risk of engine fire
Kia is telling owners of nearly 72,000 older Sportage small SUVs in the U.S. to park them outdoors and away from structures after getting reports of more engine fires. It’s the second time that Sportages from the 2008 and 2009 model years have been recalled due to fire risks that...
Boeing posts $3.3B loss on costs tied to defense programs
Boeing reported a surprising $3.3 billion loss for the third quarter Wednesday, as revenue fell short of expectations and it took huge losses for fixed-cost government programs including new Air Force One presidential jets. The company blamed higher manufacturing and supply-chain costs for driving the losses in government programs. CEO...
Low-wage workers bear financial brunt of denied abortions
A Texas mother of a toddler, scraping by on her husband’s income, was desperate to return to work but struggling to afford child care. A young Florida warehouse worker had barely left behind a turbulent past of homelessness and abuse only to be mired in debt. When both women learned...
Supreme Court’s Alito says abortion opinion leak made justices ‘assassination’ targets
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the leak of his draft opinion eliminating the constitutional right to abortion made members of the majority “targets for assassination.” Speaking in Washington at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Alito gave no indication the court has determined who gave the opinion to...
D.C. court sets expedited schedule for Trump defamation question in E. Jean Carroll case
WASHINGTON — An appellate court set an expedited schedule to consider whether Donald Trump was acting in his official duties as president in 2019 when he denied a claim by a woman that he sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room decades ago. The District of Columbia Court...
Ash Carter, defense chief who opened combat to women, dies at 68
WASHINGTON — Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who opened combat jobs to women and ended a ban on transgender people serving in the military, has died at age 68. Carter died Monday evening after suffering a heart attack in Boston, his family said in a statement Tuesday. Known as a...
Progressives retract Ukraine letter to Biden after uproar
WASHINGTON — A group of progressive Democrats in Congress said Tuesday it had retracted a letter to the White House urging President Joe Biden to engage in direct diplomatic talks with Russia after it triggered an uproar among Democrats and raised questions about the strength of the party’s support for...
