U.S./World category, Page 766
Can Biden’s efforts lead to more American factory jobs?
MACUNGIE, Pa. — President Joe Biden hoped to connect with blue-collar workers Wednesday at a truck factory in Pennsylvania during a visit to push new “buy American” efforts and advocate for government investments and clean energy as ways to strengthen U.S. manufacturing. Biden was touring the Lehigh Valley operations facility...
Racism of rioters takes center stage in Jan. 6 hearing
It had only been hinted at in previous public examinations of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection: Scores of rioters attacked police officers not just with makeshift weapons, stun guns and fists, but with racist slurs and accusations of treason. Four officers, two from the U.S. Capitol Police and two from...
Blinken decries swastika vandalism in State Department elevator
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday condemned an incident in which a swastika was carved into an elevator wall at the State Department’s main headquarters. Blinken said in a message sent to all department employees that the vandalism is a painful reminder that antisemitism remains an issue...
Audit: Military personnel unprotected from toxic chemicals
The Defense Department has dragged its feet on protecting service personnel from “forever chemicals” at military installations and isn’t doing enough to track health effects from exposure to the toxic compounds, according to an internal audit. Officials have taken steps to find and clean groundwater contaminated with firefighting foam containing...
Ex-airman sentenced to 45 months for leaking drone information
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former Air Force intelligence analyst who once helped find targets for deadly U.S. drone strikes was sentenced to 45 months in prison for leaking top-secret details about the program. Daniel Hale, 33, told a federal judge he felt compelled to leak information to a journalist out...
Man pleads guilty to 4 Asian spa killings, sentenced to life
CANTON, Ga. — A man accused of killing eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, at Atlanta-area massage businesses pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in four of the killings and was handed four sentences of life without parole. Robert Aaron Long, 22, still faces the death penalty in...
South Carolina man convicted of killing Uber rider in 2019Video
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina man was convicted Tuesday of the 2019 abduction and murder of a 21-year-old college student who mistook his car for her Uber ride. The jury took a little more than an hour to find Nathaniel Rowland guilty of the charges in the death of...
Man honors 9/11 crews with Boston-New York drink cart push
A former flight attendant who lost several colleagues when United Flight 175 was flown into the World Trade Center’s south tower in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, is honoring his friends on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks by pushing an airline beverage cart from Boston to ground...
At least 14 interested in statues removed in Charlottesville
At least 13 organizations and one municipality have expressed interest in acquiring two statues of Confederate generals removed from downtown Charlottesville parks, including one monument that was the focus of a violent white nationalist rally in 2017, according to city documents. Museums, battlefields and historical sites in Virginia and beyond...
Georgia man gets life sentence in 4 of 8 Asian spa killings
CANTON, Ga. — A Georgia man accused of killing eight people at three Asian massage businesses was sentenced Tuesday to life without parole after a prosecutor said investigators saw no evidence of racial bias. Robert Aaron Long was given four life sentences after pleading guilty to all charges in the...
Tokyo reports record virus cases days after Olympics begin
TOKYO — Japan’s capital, Tokyo, reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, days after the Olympics began. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to avoid non-essential outings but said there was no need to consider a suspension of the Games. Tokyo reported 2,848 new covid-19 cases, exceeding...
‘This is how I’m going to die’: Officers tell Jan. 6 stories
WASHINGTON — “This is how I’m going to die, defending this entrance.” Capitol Police Officer Aquilino Gonell told House investigators Tuesday he could feel himself losing oxygen as he was crushed by rioters — supporters of then-President Donald Trump — as he was defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6...
As Jan. 6 probe begins, Democrat Bennie Thompson vows: ‘We have to get it right’
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, didn’t realize the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection until his wife called him. He was inside the Capitol, sitting in the upper gallery of the House, hoping for what he called a “bird’s-eye view of the process”...
Family: Last victim ID’d in Florida condo building collapseVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The final victim of the condo building collapse in Florida has been identified, a relative said Monday, more than a month after the middle-of-the-night catastrophe that ultimately claimed 98 lives and became the largest non-hurricane related emergency response in state history. Estelle Hedaya, an outgoing 54-year-old...
Police: 5 dead, one hospitalized after crash on Long Island
QUOGUE, N.Y. — Five people were dead and another person was in critical condition after a head-on collision on Long Island, according to police. The accident occurred at about 11:15 p.m. Saturday on Montauk Highway in Quogue. A Nissan Maxima traveling west with one person aboard left its lane and...
Trump inaugural chair Tom Barrack: I’m ‘100% innocent’ in lobbying caseVideo
NEW YORK — The chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee pleaded not guilty Monday and said he was “100% innocent” of charges that he secretly lobbied the U.S. on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Tom Barrack, 74, wearing a black mask to protect against coronavirus, appeared...
Biden: U.S combat mission in Iraq to conclude in 2021Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. military’s combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year, setting out a more precise timeline for American forces to formally step back in their fight against the Islamic State organization in Iraq. The plan to shift the...
At least 8 killed in 22-car pileup in Utah during sandstorm
KANOSH, Utah — A sandstorm caused a huge 22-vehicle pileup on a Utah highway that left eight people dead, including four children, authorities said. The crashes Sunday afternoon on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh came at the end of a holiday weekend for the state that often leads...
1960s civil rights activist Robert Moses dies at 86
Robert Parris Moses, a civil rights activist who was shot at and endured beatings and jail while leading Black voter registration drives in the American South during the 1960s and later helped improve minority education in math, has died. He was 86. Moses, who was widely referred to as Bob,...
California’s largest fire burns homes as blazes scorch WestVideo
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters, as numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the U.S. West. The massive Dixie Fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen...
Sparked by pandemic fallout, homeschooling surges across U.S.
Although the pandemic disrupted family life across the U.S. since taking hold in spring 2020, some parents are grateful for one consequence: They’re now opting to homeschool their children, even as schools plan to resume in-person classes. The specific reasons vary widely. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press...
Groups urge Maine to protect last wild Atlantic salmon in U.S.
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list. Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers but now return from the sea to...
Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
AHRWEILER, Germany — Like other residents of his town in Germany, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming. What nobody told him, he says, was how bad it would be. The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller from Ahrweiler said the first serious warning to evacuate or move to higher floors of buildings...
To reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan president must go
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who is also a...
Tom Barrack to be freed on $250 million bail ahead of criminal trial
Tom Barrack will be freed on $250 million bond as he awaits trial on charges he illegally lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack, the founder of Colony Capital Inc. and a Trump ally, has been in a San Bernardino jail since his arrest Tuesday...
