U.S./World category, Page 773
Biden set to sign competition order targeting big business
President Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers’ wages and consumer protections. The sweeping order includes 72 actions and recommendations that...
Taliban say they now control 85% of Afghanistan’s territory
MOSCOW — The Taliban claimed on Friday that they now control 85% of Afghanistan’s territory amid a surge in wins on the ground and as American troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country. The announcement came at a press conference at the end of a visit by a senior...
Italy OKs port for rescue ship with 572 migrants aboard
ROME — Italy on Thursday agreed to allow the disembarking of 572 rescued migrants following a charity ship’s desperate plea that food was running short and tensions rising on the crowded Ocean Viking. Hours earlier, Luisa Albera, search and rescue coordinator of SOS Mediterranee, launched an urgent appeal from the...
Investigators: 2 Florida men involved in Haitian President Moïse’s assassination
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two Florida men have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the Miami Herald has learned. James Solages, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was identified as one of the assailants by Mathias Pierre, a minister in charge of Haitian elections. Pierre did not...
Tropical storm pounds East Coast after killing 1 in Florida
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Tropical Storm Elsa carved a destructive and soaking path up the East Coast after killing at least one person in Florida and spinning up a tornado at a Georgia Navy base that flipped recreational vehicles upside-down and blew one of them into a lake. Elsa’s winds strengthened...
Lawyer Michael Avenatti sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for extortion
NEW YORK — Michael Avenatti, the brash California lawyer who once represented Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to 2 1/2 years in prison for trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike by threatening the company with bad publicity. Avenatti, 50, was convicted...
Alabama officer still getting paid after murder conviction
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An Alabama police officer is still getting paid two months after he was convicted of murder. Huntsville officer William Ben Darby was stripped of his law enforcement certification after a jury May 7 found him guilty of murdering Jeff Parker, a man who told police he was...
Study: Northwest heat wave impossible without climate change
The deadly heat wave that roasted the Pacific Northwest and western Canada was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change that added a few extra degrees to the record-smashing temperatures, a new quick scientific analysis found. An international team of 27 scientists calculated that climate change increased chances of the extreme...
Pa. man charged in attack on AP photographer, police at Capitol
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A Pennsylvania man was arrested Wednesday on charges that he assaulted an Associated Press photographer and police officers during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Alan William Byerly, 54, was armed with what appeared to be a stun gun when he charged at officers...
Search crews give up hope of finding survivors at Miami-area condo collapse site; death toll hits 54
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Emergency workers gave up Wednesday on any hope of finding survivors in the collapsed Florida condo building, telling sobbing families that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble as crews shifted their efforts to recovering more remains. The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency...
California governor kicks off $1B statewide cleanup plan
SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday kicked off California’s $1.1 billion plan to clean trash and graffiti from highways, roads and other public spaces, an effort he said will beautify the state and create up to 11,000 jobs. “This is an unprecedented effort to acknowledge what all of...
Teen on life support after deadly Iowa water ride accident
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A teenager injured in an accident on an Iowa amusement ride that killed his younger brother remained on life support Wednesday as he turned 16, his family pastor said. David Jaramillo has been in a medically induced coma at Blank Children’s Hospital since Saturday’s accident on...
Sheriff: Alligator attack suspected in Florida woman’s death
VALRICO, Fla. — An alligator apparently attacked a woman whose body was found in a retention pond near Tampa, sheriff’s officials said. Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies found the woman’s body in a pond Sunday night, a news release said. The family of the 29-year-old woman told WFLA-TV that she was...
Virginia removes segregationist’s statue from Capitol Square
RICHMOND, Va. — Workers removed a statue of Harry F. Byrd Sr., a former Virginia governor, U.S. senator and staunch segregationist, from the state’s Capitol Square on Wednesday morning. A crane hoisted the larger-than-life statue off its pedestal and workers then strapped it to a truck to be hauled into...
Colby would be official Wisconsin cheese under bill
MADISON, Wis. — In cheese-obsessed Wisconsin, which proudly touts itself as America’s Dairyland, the dairy cow is the official domestic animal, milk is the official state beverage and cheese is the official dairy product. But believe it or not, in a state that produces more cheese than any other at...
Chinese social media giant WeChat shuts LGBT accounts
China’s most popular social media service has deleted accounts on LGBT topics run by university students and nongovernment groups, prompting concern the ruling Communist Party is tightening control over gay and lesbian content. WeChat sent account holders a notice they violated rules but gave no details, according to the founder...
Trump files suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against three of the country’s biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ CEOs, at a press conference Wednesday in New Jersey. He...
Tropical Storm Elsa kills 1 in Florida, hurts 10 at Georgia base
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A weakened but resilient Tropical Storm Elsa killed at least one person in Florida on Wednesday and injured several others when a possible tornado struck a Navy base in southeast Georgia. The National Hurricane Center said Elsa still packed 45 mph winds more than six hours...
U.K. court allows U.S. to appeal denial of Assange’s extradition
LONDON — Britain’s High Court has granted the U.S. government permission to appeal a decision that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be sent to the United States to face espionage charges. The judicial office said Wednesday that the appeal had been granted and the case would be listed for a...
14 days after Florida condo collapse, no signs of survivors
SURFSIDE, Fla. — The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, with the death toll at 46, scores still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members in a private...
Haiti in upheaval: President Moïse assassinated at home
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in their home early Wednesday, inflicting more chaos on the Caribbean country that was already enduring gang violence, soaring inflation and protests by opposition supporters who accused the leader of increasing authoritarianism. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph,...
Police: Georgia golf pro Eugene Siller slain because he came upon crimeVideo
KENNESAW, Ga. — Investigators believe a golf pro was shot to death on the course at his country club in the Atlanta suburbs because he witnessed a “crime in progress,” police said Tuesday. It does not appear that golf pro Eugene Siller was targeted, but rather was gunned down because...
Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks says he can’t be sued for inciting Capitol riot because he is a federal employee
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, claims he can’t be sued over his fiery speech challenging the 2020 election results at a rally just before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because he’s a federal employee. Brooks made the argument in a July 2 filing responding to a...
Regulator halts Iowa amusement ride after accident kills boyVideo
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A regulator on Tuesday ordered an Iowa amusement park not to restart a popular boat ride pending an investigation into an accident that killed an 11-year-old boy and left his brother in critical condition. Iowa Labor Commissioner Rod Roberts signed an order barring Adventureland Park from...
Officials: Storm lashing Florida strengthens into hurricaneVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A storm that has lashed the Caribbean and the Florida Keys with pounding rain and gusty winds and complicated the search for survivors in a deadly condominium collapse has strengthened into a hurricane. The National Weather Service said Tuesday that Hurricane Elsa was packing winds as...
