U.S./World category, Page 622

WASHINGTON — Americans hoping to travel abroad this summer may have to delay their plans if they need new or renewed passports. The State Department said Wednesday that the wait for a passport is now between 12 weeks and 18 weeks, even if you pay for expedited processing. That’s because...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Sunshine City and its sparkling waterfront parks have become the center of Tampa Bay’s Red Tide crisis. Rafts of dead fish are washing ashore more quickly than crews can gather the carcasses. Workers have picked up 477 tons of dead marine life from the coastline...

Just because Pfizer wants to offer covid-19 vaccine boosters doesn’t mean people will be lining up anytime soon — U.S. and international health authorities say that for now, the fully vaccinated seem well protected. Globally, experts are watching closely to determine if and when people might need another shot. At...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A week after the state enacted an anti-hazing law in honor of an Ohio University student who died in 2018, the university suspended another fraternity for allegedly violating hazing rules. The Athens-based school sent the fraternity a notice Tuesday that it will be suspended for four years...

The family of an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina says he died because of the officers’ “intentional and reckless disregard of his life,” according to a $30 million civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday. Andrew Brown Jr. was killed April 21 by Pasquotank...

LOS ANGELES — This year’s Fourth of July fireworks created the second-highest air pollution levels from the holiday in the last decade and were the highest since the Bobcat wildfire in September, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said Tuesday. The agency said that although last week’s fireworks-related air...

ATLANTA — Two Georgians have filed a lawsuit saying their constitutional rights were violated when the state Medicaid program declined to cover the gender-affirming surgeries they say they need to live a full life. At issue is whether the reconstructive or plastic surgeries sought by Shon Thomas and Gwendolyn Cheney...

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Republicans are advancing legislation to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom, according to the state’s most powerful senator. GOP Senate leader Phil Berger will move forward with legislation as Republicans across the country seek to counter their understanding of “critical...

ATLANTA — Two recent high-profile faculty appointments could be a fundraising and enrollment bonanza for Howard University, one of the nation’s most prestigious Black colleges. Many other Black schools are not so fortunate; in fact, many are struggling. Some, especially smaller private colleges, have been fighting for their survival for...

BANGKOK — After 24 years of heartache and searching, a Chinese couple was reunited with their son who was abducted as a toddler outside their front gate. Guo Gangtang and his wife, Zhang Wenge, hugged their 26-year-old son with tears in their eyes Sunday at a reunion organized by police...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A federal law that for more than 50 years has banned licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults between age 18 and 21 is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In a 2-1 opinion, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond...

CLEVELAND — An Ohio hospital has acknowledged that a patient received a new kidney meant for someone else. Officials at University Hospitals in Cleveland on Monday apologized for the mistake and said two employees have been placed on administrative leave. The kidney given to the wrong patient is compatible and...

NEW YORK — A Manhattan jury on Tuesday convicted a Chicago banker of criminal charges for enabling Paul Manafort to get $16 million in loans before the former campaign manager for ex-President Donald Trump helped him get an interview for a job in the Trump administration. The jury returned its...

SURFSIDE, Fla. — Exhausted crews neared the end of their search for victims of a Miami-area condominium tower collapse Tuesday as the death toll reached 95 with just a handful of people still unaccounted for. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference that the number of...

BAGHDAD — The death toll from a fire that swept through a hospital coronavirus ward in Iraq has climbed to at least 92, the Iraqi state news agency reported Tuesday. The announcement came as anguished family members buried their loved ones and lashed out at the government over the tragedy....

MOSCOW — Russia has strongly warned the United States against deploying its troops in the former Soviet Central Asian nations following their withdrawal from Afghanistan, a senior diplomat said in remarks published on Tuesday. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow conveyed the message to Washington last month...

BERLIN — The German military on Tuesday launched a “space command” tasked with overseeing satellites, watching for dangerous space junk and analyzing other countries’ activities. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer launched the new operation during a visit to its base at Uedem in western Germany. The military is “responding to the...

NEW YORK — The finance chief of former President Donald Trump’s business empire has been removed as an officer at some of the company’s subsidiaries amid charges accusing him and the corporation of a long-running tax fraud scheme. Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was indicted last week by...

DETROIT — A federal judge considering whether to order sanctions against some of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers spent hours Monday drilling deeply into details about an unsuccessful lawsuit that challenged Michigan’s 2020 election results. The lawsuit alleging widespread fraud was dropped after the judge found nothing but “speculation and...

A Florida man who was part of a white supremacist prison gang when he served time for attempted murder pleaded guilty Monday to joining the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, and will be released from jail this week after serving six months for his role in the Jan. 6...

NORTON SHORES, Mich. — A Michigan man made a striking discovery under his house when he went to demolish his back stairs: about 160 bowling balls. David Olson, 33, said he found one ball buried in the sand behind cinder blocks this month and continued finding more over the following...