U.S./World category, Page 670
U.S., China officials to meet as tensions mount over RussiaVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States and China are sending top aides to Rome on Monday as tensions between the two countries mount over the Russia-Ukraine war and worries spread that the conflict will take even darker turns. In advance of the talks, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan bluntly...
Russian airstrike escalates offensive in western Ukraine
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles pounded a military base in western Ukraine on Sunday, killing 35 people in an attack on a facility that served as a crucial hub for cooperation between Ukraine and the NATO countries supporting its defense. The barrage marked an escalation of Moscow’s offensive and moved...
W.Va. lawmakers rush to advance abortion bills as session ends
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Lawmakers rushed to advance legislation restricting abortion access in West Virginia on Saturday as the Legislature convened for the last scheduled day of the 2022 session. The Republican-majority House of Delegates overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill barring parents from seeking abortion care because they believe...
Man wanted after child’s body found in California home
MERCED, Calif. — A manhunt was under way Saturday for a man wanted in the death of a child whose body was found inside a central California home during the search for a missing 8-year-old girl. The body was discovered at a home in Merced on Friday, several days after...
Police: Candidate for Idaho governor arrested in trespassing case
MERIDIAN, Idaho — Far-right activist Ammon Bundy, who’s running for governor in Idaho, has been arrested after refusing to leave a hospital in connection with a child-welfare case, police said Saturday. Bundy was arrested at about 1:15 a.m. on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center in...
Saudi Arabia puts 81 to death in its largest mass execution
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. The number of executed surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass...
Libya coast guard: Migrant boat capsizes; 19 presumed dead
CAIRO — A boat carrying around two dozen migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya on Saturday, with at least 19 people missing and presumed dead, authorities said. Libya’s coast guard said that a group of 23 migrants — both Egyptians and Syrians — set off...
Russia strikes near Ukraine’s capital; mosque reported hit
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces pounded the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, shelling its downtown as residents hid in its iconic mosque and elsewhere to avoid the explosions. Fighting also raged in the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, as Russia kept up its bombardment of several resisting cities....
W.Va. lawmakers OK bill barring ‘brainwashing’ race teaching
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers advanced legislation on Friday that would restrict the way public school teachers can talk about race, a bill one Republican delegate said is meant to protect kids from “brainwashing.” During more than two hours of tense, back-and-forth debate, Del. Todd Longanacre said he doesn’t...
Texas clinics’ lawsuit over abortion ban ‘effectively over’
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dealt essentially a final blow to abortion clinics’ best hopes of stopping a restrictive law that has sharply curtailed the number of abortions in the state since September and will now fully stay in place for the foreseeable future. The ruling...
Texas judge blocks investigations of trans youth parents
A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state from investigating as child abuse gender confirming care for transgender youth. District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to compel the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate reports...
Florida Gov. DeSantis, Disney butting heads on LGBTQ issue
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Disney World is suspending its political donations in Florida after the company’s CEO received huge blowback for not using Disney’s vast influence in the state to try to quash a recently passed Republican bill that would prevent teachers from instructing early grades on LGBTQ issues. Shortly after,...
Ex-student protest leader becomes Chile’s youngest president
SANTIAGO, Chile — Left-leaning former student leader Gabriel Boric vowed to improve the lives of all Chileans and attack deep inequality that has sparked massive protests, hours after being inaugurated Friday as the youngest president in the country’s history. At 36, Boric was only 4 years old when democracy returned...
Russia widens social media crackdown by blocking Instagram
Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national...
Russia’s bioweapon conspiracy theory finds support in U.S.
Russia’s baseless claims about secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine are taking root in the U.S. too, uniting covid-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of ex-President Donald Trump. Despite rebuttals from independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon, the online popularity of...
U.S. slashes Russia trade status, bans alcohol and seafood
President Joe Biden announced Friday the U.S. will dramatically downgrade its trade status with Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine and also ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The broad trade shift, which revokes the “most favored nation” status for Russia, is being taken in coordination...
Russian warplanes, artillery widen attack, hit industry hub
LVIV, Ukraine — Russia’s airplanes and artillery widened their assault on Ukraine on Friday, striking airfields in the west and a major industrial hub in the east, as Moscow’s forces tried to regroup from recent losses and their onslaught fast reduced crowded cities to rubble. American intelligence officials offered an...
EU foreign policy chief says ‘pause’ needed in Iran talks
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Friday that “a pause” was needed in ongoing talks over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers, blaming “external factors” for the delay. The comments by Josep Borrell come as a roadmap appeared imminent for the U.S. to...
N. Korea may fire big missile to put spy satellite in space
North Korea has tested parts of its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile in two recent launches, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, a suggestion it is likely to fire that weapon soon to put a spy satellite into orbit in what would be its most significant provocation in years. Separately,...
EPA plan would limit downwind pollution from power plants
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a federal plan that would restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can’t control. The plan announced Friday is intended to help more than two dozen states meet “good neighbor” obligations under the...
Senate gives final approval to Ukraine aid, huge budget bill
WASHINGTON — A $13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for besieged Ukraine and its European allies easily won final congressional approval Thursday, hitching a ride on a government-wide spending bill that’s five months late but loaded with political prizes for both parties. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s...
IRS plans to hire 10,000 workers to relieve massive backlog
WASHINGTON — The IRS said Thursday it plans to hire 10,000 new workers to help reduce a massive backlog that the government says will make this tax season the most challenging in history. The agency released a plan to work down the tens of millions of filings that includes speeding...
AP photos: Ukrainians fleeing war ‘can’t leave’ pets behind
Mounds of abandoned clothes and other personal items lie strewn along corridors leading out of Ukraine. The farther people carry their things, the harder it is, so they leave them behind, said Ludmila Sokol, a gym teacher fleeing Zaporizhzhia in the south. But their pets, they keep alongside them. Everywhere...
EU united on Ukraine, but won’t offer fast-track membership
European Union leaders meeting in France Thursday ruled out fulfilling Ukraine’s demand for a fast-track integration with the bloc, as they discussed ways to help the eastern country that’s been invaded by neighboring Russia. EU nations have been fully united in backing Ukraine’s resistance, adopting unprecedented economic sanctions against Russia,...
U.S. misjudged Ukraine’s will to fight Russia, officials admit
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. intelligence officials admitted Thursday that they underestimated Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s invasion, a mistake for intelligence agencies that have otherwise been lauded for accurately predicting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention to launch a war. “My view was that, based on a variety of...
