U.S./World category, Page 686
Gates, French Gates top list of biggest U.S. charity donors
A handful of Americans donated at least $1 billion to charity last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual ranking of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity in 2021. Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates topped the list, pledging $15 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates...
Park outside: Hyundai, Kia recall vehicles due to fire risk
DETROIT — Hyundai and Kia are telling the owners of nearly 485,000 vehicles in the U.S. to park them outdoors because they can catch fire even if the engines have been turned off. The recalls from the two Korean automakers are another in a long string of fire and engine...
Police trainer testifies against officers in Floyd’s death
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minneapolis police officer who oversaw medical training for two of the three former officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights was scheduled to resume testifying in their federal trial Tuesday about what they were taught. Officer Nicole Mackenzie, the department’s medical support coordinator, testified...
Report: U.S. fight against opioid abuse needs new strategy
WASHINGTON — The U.S. needs a nimble, multipronged strategy and Cabinet-level leadership to counter its festering overdose epidemic, a bipartisan congressional commission advises. With vastly powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl driving record overdose deaths, the scourge of opioids awaits after the covid-19 pandemic finally recedes, a shift that public health...
Iran nuclear talks resume amid pressure for results
VIENNA — Diplomats from Iran and world powers reconvened in Vienna on Tuesday to seek a deal reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear accord, with pressure mounting for results soon. Negotiators from Iran and the remaining parties to the agreement — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — got back to work...
Retired pope asks pardon for abuse, but admits no wrongdoing
ROME — Retired Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness Tuesday for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but admitted to no personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich, Germany. “I have had great...
Justice Department signals it may allow safe injection sites
NEW YORK — A year after winning a major court battle against the opening of so-called safe injection sites — safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses — the Justice Department is signaling it might be open to allowing them. In response...
U.S. warns midterms could spark calls for extremist violence
WASHINGTON — The upcoming midterm elections are emerging as a rallying point for domestic extremists and foreign adversaries seeking to disrupt the U.S. and incite violence, the Department of Homeland Security warned Monday. Unsubstantiated fraud claims, which have haunted the country since the 2020 presidential election, may be used to...
Police: 1 killed in shooting at Washington state grocery store
RICHLAND, Wash. — Police say one person was killed and another injured Monday morning in a shooting at a Fred Meyer store in Richland, Wash. Police said the suspect is a white man with a handgun who is believed to have fled the store after the 11:04 a.m. shooting. Richland...
Muscogee dismayed by nearly naked statue of Georgia ancestor
ATLANTA — There’s a problem with putting someone on a pedestal: Exposed on all sides, a hero to some can be seen as a traitor to others. Atlanta plans to install a statue of a Native American man atop a 110-foot column in its new Peace Park, where it will...
Black colleges alarmed by bomb threats, but undeterred
From her office in Birmingham, Alabama, DeJuana Thompson looks across the street and sees a daily reminder of terror. Her window overlooks the 16th Street Baptist Church, where a bomb in 1963 killed four young Black girls. “Living in the era of bomb threats is not new to people of...
Ukraine crisis talks move to Moscow and Washington
MOSCOW — International efforts to defuse the standoff over Ukraine intensified Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron holding talks in Moscow and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington to coordinate policies as fears of a Russian invasion mounted. The buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fueled...
Bicyclist falls to her death from rising Florida drawbridge
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A bicyclist fell to her death when a drawbridge connecting Palm Beach to the Florida mainland began rising before she could reach the other side. A bystander tried to pull her to safety but lost his grip, officials said. The woman was walking her bicycle...
Cyclone kills 20 in Madagascar but quickly weakens on land
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Cyclone Batsirai is blamed for the deaths of 20 people in Madagascar and for making more than 55,000 people homeless victims after slamming into the island’s eastern coast, officials said Monday. The tropical storm weakened quickly as it moved southwest across the island, missing the capital Antananarivo...
Iraqi lawmakers fail to elect new president amid boycott
BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers failed to elect a new head of state Monday, as key factions foiled the attempt by boycotting the parliament session. A two-thirds quorum of the legislature’s 329 members is required for an electoral session. Monday’s vote could not be held as lawmakers, many of them allied...
White House: Top scientist resigns over treatment of staff
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s top science adviser Dr. Eric Lander resigned Monday, hours after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff. An internal review last year, prompted by a workplace complaint, found evidence that Lander, the director of the Office...
Biden task force releasing report to strengthen labor unions
A Biden administration task force on organized labor is issuing a set of recommendations that could make it easier for federal workers and contractors to unionize. The report submitted to President Joe Biden included 70 distinct policy proposals, according to a release by the White House. Biden created the task...
Navy identifies SEAL trainee who died after ‘Hell Week’
SAN DIEGO — A Navy SEAL candidate who died just hours after completing the grueling Hell Week test was identified Sunday as a 24-year-old sailor who joined the military last year. Seaman Kyle Mullen died at a San Diego area hospital on Friday after he and another SEAL trainee reported...
18 rescued after being stranded on ice floe in Lake Erie
PORT CLINTON, Ohio — Coast Guard authorities say 18 people were rescued from an ice floe that broke away in Lake Erie over the weekend. Officials said a helicopter from Air Station Detroit noticed a group of people on the floe near Ohio’s Catawba Island at about 1 p.m. Sunday...
Top Biden aide says Ukraine invasion could come ‘any day’
WILMINGTON, Del. — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” launching a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost.” The senior adviser to President Joe Biden offered another stark warning the day after U.S. officials confirmed that Russia has...
Ottawa declares state of emergency over covid-19 protestsVideo
TORONTO — The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency Sunday and a former U.S. ambassador to Canada said groups in the United States must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of America’s neighbor as protesters opposed to covid-19 restrictions continued to paralyze Ottawa’s downtown. Mayor Jim Watson...
AP investigation: Women’s prison fostered culture of abuse
WASHINGTON — Inside one of the only federal women’s prisons in the United States, inmates say they have been subjected to rampant sexual abuse by correctional officers and even the warden, and were often threatened or punished when they tried to speak up. Prisoners and workers at the federal correctional...
Black worker at Confederate site raises race complaint
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama welcomes visitors at the “First White House of the Confederacy,” a historic home next to the state Capitol where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived with his family in the early months of the Civil War. The museum managed by the state’s Department of Finance says it...
Off-duty NYPD officer shot in Manhattan; 7th shot this year
NEW YORK — An off-duty New York City police officer was shot in the left foot Saturday as he was leaving a vigil at a Manhattan community center, police said. It was the seventh time an NYPD officer has been shot this year. The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. near...
Officials: Russia at 70% of Ukraine military buildup
WASHINGTON — Russia has assembled at least 70 percent of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials say. The officials, who discussed internal assessments of the Russian buildup on...
