U.S./World category, Page 697
Twitter, Meta among tech giants subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — Months after requesting documents from more than a dozen social platforms, the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas targeting Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube after lawmakers said the companies’ initial responses were inadequate. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, demanded records Thursday from the companies...
U.S. vows ‘decisive’ response if Russia pursues threatened deployments to Cuba, Venezuela
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration responded Thursday to threats from Russian officials that Moscow could begin military deployments in Cuba and Venezuela if tensions continue to rise with the United States, vowing a “decisive” response if it sees any evidence that the threat is real. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei...
Supreme Court blocks vaccine-or-test rule for U.S. businesses
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against covid-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate...
Oath Keepers head charged with Jan. 6 seditious conspiracyVideo
WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and 10 other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday. Despite hundreds of charges already brought in the year since pro-Trump rioters...
Iraqi officials: 4 rockets target U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
BAGHDAD — At least four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, two Iraqi security officials said. The area is home to diplomatic missions and the seat of Iraq’s government, Three of the missiles struck within the perimeter of the American Embassy, the officials...
Iowa man arrested after hundreds of pigs die from neglect
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — An Iowa man has been arrested after hundreds of pigs died at his farm last month when they went without adequate food and were kept in conditions so cold that some of their ears froze off. Black Hawk County sheriff’s deputies arrested the 38-year-old man Monday...
Polish church says it’s wrong to ask if abuse victim is gay
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Catholic bishops have strongly criticized a local diocese for asking a court to determine whether a man who was sexually abused as a child by a priest is gay, and whether the sexual contact may have consequently been pleasurable for him. The victim, Janusz Szymik, who...
Train derails in India’s West Bengal state; at least 5 dead
NEW DELHI — At least five people died and more than 45 were injured when a train derailed Thursday in India’s West Bengal state, officials said. Twelve coaches of the train went off the rails and three capsized. Images from the scene showed passengers stuck in twisted metal and debris...
Reports: Rep. Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testifying before grand jury in FloridaVideo
ORLANDO, Fla. — An ex-girlfriend of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz appeared Wednesday at the federal courthouse in downtown Orlando, reportedly in order to testify before a grand jury that is weighing potential sex trafficking charges against him. Reports by CNN and NBC News indicated the grand jury has been meeting...
Jan. 6 panel requests interview from GOP leader Kevin McCarthyVideo
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday, as it continues to seek first-hand details from members of Congress on former President Donald Trump’s actions on the day hundreds of his supporters brutally beat police,...
Army ups bonuses for recruits to $50K, as covid takes toll
The U.S. Army, for the first time, is offering a maximum enlistment bonus of $50,000 to highly skilled recruits who join for six years, The Associated Press has learned, as the service struggles to lure soldiers into certain critical jobs amid the continuing pandemic. Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, head of...
Germany: 65 children freed from abusers as part of probe
BERLIN — Authorities in Germany say they have rescued 65 children from their abusers over the past two years as part of an investigating into a large-scale sexual abuse network. Police in Cologne said at a news conference Wednesday that the victims ranged from three months to 17 years. Investigators...
U.S. hits North Korean officials with sanctions after missile test
The Biden administration on Wednesday slapped sanctions on five North Korean officials in its first response to Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile test. The Treasury Department announced it was imposing penalties on the officials over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North’s missile programs. In addition, the State...
Giuffre’s Prince Andrew suit goes ahead despite Epstein deal
A judge gave the green light Wednesday to a lawsuit against Prince Andrew by an American woman who says he sexually abused her when she was 17. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in an opinion that Andrew’s lawyers failed to successfully challenge the constitutionality of the lawsuit Virginia...
Biden is sending more covid tests to schools to keep them open
The Biden administration is increasing federal support for covid-19 testing for schools in a bid to keep them open amid the omicron surge. The White House announced Wednesday that a dedicated stream of 5 million rapid tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests will be made available to schools starting...
Car bomb hits outside Mogadishu airport in Somalia; 8 killed
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A car bomb exploded Wednesday outside the international airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, killing at least eight people and wounding nine others, a local doctor said. The al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeting “white officials” passing by. Dr. Abdulkadir Adam with...
NATO, Russia in high-level talks as Ukraine tensions simmer
BRUSSELS — Senior NATO and Russian officials were meeting Wednesday to try to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences over the future of Ukraine, amid deep skepticism that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security proposals for easing tensions are genuine. The talks come during a week of high-stakes diplomacy and a U.S.-led effort...
Edmunds: Shopping for a car this year will not be the same
2021 was an unusual year for the automotive industry. While customer demand for new cars rebounded from the economic uncertainty of 2020, automakers found themselves unable to meet that demand because of semiconductor chip shortages and supply chain problems. So what should car shoppers expect for 2022? Much of the...
Man arrested for damaging American jet in Honduras released
A passenger arrested in Honduras for damaging the cockpit of an American Airlines jet during boarding was released by authorities hours later. The flight scheduled to depart for Miami on Tuesday afternoon was delayed for hours until a replacement plane could be arranged. The flight arrived in Florida early Wednesday,...
Medicare limits coverage of $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug
WASHINGTON — Medicare said Tuesday it will limit coverage of a $28,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug whose benefits have been widely questioned, a major development in the nation’s tug-of-war over the fair value of new medicines that offer tantalizing possibilities but come with prohibitive prices. The initial determination from the Centers for...
Planners of Jan. 6 Trump rally subpoenaed by House panel
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection issued subpoenas on Tuesday to two Republican strategists and a Trump administration official regarding their involvement in the planning and preparation of one of the rallies that preceded the attack. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, issued...
North Carolina deputy made frantic 911 call after shooting
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — An off-duty sheriff’s deputy had a frantic conversation with a 911 operator after fatally shooting a Black man last weekend in North Carolina, saying the pedestrian did “jump on my vehicle and broke my windshield,” according to an audio recording released Tuesday. Deputy Jeffrey Hash can then...
Oklahoma death row inmates offer firing squad as alternative
OKLAHOMA CITY — Two men on Oklahoma’s death row — at the prodding of a federal judge — agreed to choose execution by firing squad as a way to delay their upcoming lethal injections, one of their attorneys told the judge. The two inmates, Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle, want...
Justice Department creating unit focused on domestic terrorism
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism, the department’s top national security official told lawmakers Tuesday as he described an “elevated” threat from violent extremists in the United States. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, testifying just days after the nation observed the one-year...
How fleeting choices, circumstances doomed 17 in Bronx fire
NEW YORK — It started as just another January morning, the damp chill prompting a family on the third floor of a drafty Bronx apartment tower to run a space heater for extra warmth, as residents had done countless times before. In the moment, that decision hardly deserved a second...
