U.S./World category, Page 757
Afghans protest Taliban in emerging challenge to their rule
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations that were met with renewed violence by the militants who are facing growing challenges to their rule. A U.N. official warned of dire food shortages in this nation of 38...
Authorities: Woman, granddaughter dead in shooting at Indiana automotive plant
FRANKFORT, Ind. — A woman and her granddaughter were fatally shot Wednesday when a gunman opened fire outside a central Indiana automotive plant where the women worked, the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office said. The shooting happened around 4:15 p.m. during a shift change in the parking lot of the NHK...
EPA bans pesticide linked to health problems in children
The Biden administration said Wednesday it was banning use of chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide long targeted by environmentalists, on food crops because it poses risks to children and farm workers. The Environmental Protection Agency acted after a federal appeals court ordered the government in April to determine quickly whether...
Big bird on water is mystery, but town calls it just ducky
BELFAST, Maine — The sudden appearance of a giant rubber duck in a Maine harbor is a whimsical whodunit that’s defied sleuths so far. The yellow waterfowl emblazoned with the word “joy” appeared in Belfast Harbor over the weekend, and it’s a mystery who put it there. Harbor Master Katherine...
Kushner pal Ken Kurson hit with state charges months after Trump pardon
NEW YORK — A newspaper editor friend of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was hit Wednesday with state cyberstalking charges in New York, seven months after Trump pardoned him in a similar federal case just before leaving office. Manhattan prosecutors accused Ken Kurson, the New York Observer’s editor...
Woman comes face-to-face with snake in Australia supermarket
CANBERRA, Australia — Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face-to-face with a huge snake. The head of the 10-foot-long non-venomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store. “I was in the spice...
Official: 1 killed, 6 wounded as Taliban break up protest
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan health official says at least one person was killed and six were wounded Wednesday when the Taliban violently dispersed a protest in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Dozens of people raised the national flag Wednesday and lowered the Taliban’s own flag the day before Afghanistan’s...
Belgium: Teenager seeks to break women’s solo flight record
KORTRIJK, Belgium — A Belgian-British teenager took to the skies Wednesday in her quest to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo. With her parents looking on, 19-year-old Zara Rutherford took off from an airstrip in Kortrijk, western Belgium in gusty, overcast conditions. Rutherford is aiming to...
EU holds migrant talks, accuses Belarus of ‘hybrid warfare’
BRUSSELS — European Union ministers are holding emergency talks on Wednesday in response to allegations that Belarus is deliberately sending migrants to Lithuania as part of a “hybrid warfare” campaign to destabilize the Baltic EU member country. The ministers are holding a videoconference in a so-called “integrated political crisis response”...
R. Kelly due back in court for opening of sex abuse trial
NEW YORK — R&B star R. Kelly will be back in a criminal court on Wednesday, this time for opening statements in his long-anticipated federal trial arising from years of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls while pursuing fame and fortune. More than a decade has passed since...
Mustang roundups fuel deepening debate as drought grips West
TOOELE, Utah — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine’s approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into the dry air. That helicopter roundup in the mountains of western...
Heir: Sackler family won’t settle unless freed from opioid suits
Members of the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma won’t contribute billions of dollars to a legal settlement unless they get off the hook for all current and future lawsuits over the company’s activities, one of them told a court Tuesday in a rare public appearance. David Sackler, grandson...
George Bush watches Afghan pullout with ‘deep sadness’ after warning of ‘unbelievably bad’ consequences
WASHINGTON — George W. Bush, who ordered the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to dislodge the Taliban and hunt down al-Qaida terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks, has watched the religious fundamentalists’ abrupt return to power with “deep sadness.” And with the Taliban back in control, he wistfully lauded a generation...
Fueled by wind, largest wildfire moves near California cityVideo
SUSANVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters faced dangerously windy weather Tuesday as they struggled to keep the nation’s largest wildfire from moving toward a Northern California city and other small mountain communities. Forecasters issued red flag warnings of critical fire weather conditions including gusts up to 40 mph from late morning to...
Death toll from Haiti’s weekend earthquake rises to 1,941Video
LES CAYES, Haiti — Haitian officials raised the death toll from a deadly weekend earthquake by more than 500 on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Grace forced a temporary halt to search and rescue efforts, a delay that fed growing anger and frustration among thousands who were left homeless. Grace battered...
Judge won’t close hearings in Florida school shooting case
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida judge refused Tuesday to close pretrial hearings to the media and public in the case of the man accused of killing 17 people in a 2018 high school mass shooting. Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer rejected a motion by defendant Nikolas Cruz’s lawyers...
NYC begins requiring proof of vaccination at eateries, gyms
NEW YORK — Notices taped to the windows and front door of the Stop Inn, a diner in Queens, made it clear the eatery would comply with the city’s new edict against the coronavirus: All patrons dining indoors at restaurants, browsing works of art at museums or sweating it out...
Pentagon: U.S., Taliban coordinate as Kabul evacuation speeds
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is coordinating with the Taliban while accelerating the airlift of Americans and Afghan allies from the Kabul airport, and also bringing in additional U.S. troops in a scramble to complete the evacuation in two weeks, Pentagon officials said Tuesday. The disclosure by Pentagon spokesman John...
Taliban announce ‘amnesty,’ urge women to join government
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee their rule. Following a blitz across Afghanistan...
Germany: 1 dead, 1 missing after flood brings down bridge
BERLIN — German rescue teams have recovered the body of a woman who was swept off a bridge by floods in Bavaria, the German news agency dpa reported Tuesday. They are still searching for a second person person who was also swept off the bridge by sudden floods in southern...
Sudoku maker Maki Kaji, who saw life’s joy in puzzles, dies
TOKYO — Maki Kaji, the creator of the popular numbers puzzle Sudoku whose life’s work was spreading the joy of puzzles, has died, his Japanese company said Tuesday. He was 69 and had bile duct cancer. Known as the “Godfather of Sudoku,” Kaji created the puzzle to be easy for...
3 shot dead outside San Antonio sports bar; suspect arrested
SAN ANTONIO — A man was arrested Monday on a capital murder warrant in the shooting of five people, three fatally, outside a San Antonio sports bar following an argument, police said. The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the Boom Boom Sports Bar parking lot, Police Chief William...
Fred drenches U.S. Southeast; Grace again a tropical stormVideo
Fred weakened from a tropical storm to a depression early Tuesday as it trekked inland, spreading heavy rains over the U.S. Southeast. The National Weather Service said it spawned several tornadoes in Georgia, and flash flooding and mudslides were possible in mountainous areas as it moves toward the mid-Atlantic states....
Haiti quake death toll rises to 1,419, injured now at 6,000Video
LES CAYES, Haiti — Rescuers and scrap metal scavengers dug into the floors of a collapsed hotel Monday in this quake-ravaged coastal town, where 15 bodies had already been extracted. Jean Moise Fortunè, whose brother, the hotel owner, was killed in the quake, believed there were more people trapped in...
7 killed in Kabul airport chaos as Taliban patrols capital
KABUL, Afghanistan — Thousands of Afghans rushed into Kabul’s main airport Monday, some so desperate to escape the Taliban that they held onto a military jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths. At least seven people died in the chaos, U.S. officials said, as America’s longest war...
