U.S./World category, Page 803
Flock of giant California condors trashes woman’s home
TEHACHAPI, Calif. — Giant California condors are rare — but not at Cinda Mickols’ home. About 15 to 20 of the giant endangered birds have recently taken a liking to the house in the city of Tehachapi and made quite a mess. Mickols’ daughter, Seana Quintero of San Francisco, began...
Sherpa guide scales Mount Everest for record 25th time
A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak. Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides reached the summit at about 6 p.m., Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said. They are the first...
NYC still storing covid-19 victims in refrigerated trucks
New York City is still using refrigerated trucks to store bodies of coronavirus victims, more than a year after they were first set up as temporary morgues as deaths surged at at the height of the pandemic. The city’s medical examiner’s office said Friday that 750 bodies are being kept...
Georgia judge sets October trial in slaying of Ahmaud Arbery
SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Georgia judge Friday scheduled an October trial for three white men charged with murder in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased and shot while running in the defendants’ neighborhood. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley issued a notice stating that jury...
Ohio becomes latest state to propose transgender sports ban
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transgender girls would be banned from participating in female sports teams in high school or college in two bills introduced by Republican lawmakers in Ohio, which became the latest state to take up the contentious debate. The proposals, titled the Save Women’s Sports Act, would require schools...
Brazil’s Amazon deforestation surged in April after pledges
RIO DE JANEIRO — Preliminary data released Friday signaled deforestation of Brazil’s Amazon in April was the highest for that month in at least five years, a report that comes two weeks after Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said his government would dedicate more energy and resources toward curbing deforestation. Deforestation...
TripAdvisor removes insensitive review of Auschwitz Museum
NEEDHAM, Mass. — Travel website TripAdvisor has removed an insensitive review of the Auschwitz Museum after initially saying it complied with its submission guidelines. The museum at the site of the Nazi concentration camp in Poland on Thursday tweeted that it had asked the Massachusetts-based travel website to take down...
EU leaders attend summit in person for 1st time this year
PORTO, Portugal — European Union leaders and their large following of diplomats and advisers met Friday in Portugal for two days of in-person talks, signaling their belief that the threat from covid-19 on the continent is waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. The pandemic was a constant presence, however. Meeting...
4 ex-cops indicted on U.S. civil rights charges in George Floyd death
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of violating the Black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air, according to indictments unsealed Friday. The three-count indictment...
High-level talks resume on returning U.S. to Iran nuclear deal
VIENNA — World powers began a fourth round of high-level talks in Austria aimed at bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran, with major stumbling blocks remaining Friday but both sides suggesting a resolution was possible. The U.S. pulled out of the landmark 2015 deal in...
Carbon emissions from energy dropped 10% in the EU last year
BRUSSELS — Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion dropped 10% in the European Union last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to estimates from the EU’s statistical office. Eurostat said in a statement Friday that emissions fell in all of the EU’s 27 member nations compared to 2019 as...
Main stage of Chinese rocket likely to plunge to Earth soonVideo
BEIJING — The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as Saturday at an unknown location. Usually, discarded core, or first-stage, rockets reenter soon after liftoff, normally over water, and...
2 women freed from ongoing Minnesota bank robbery standoff
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — A standoff between police in St. Cloud, Minn., and an alleged hostage-taker continued into the evening Thursday despite the release of two employees. The women were released from a Wells Fargo Bank branch, according to authorities. The first woman ran from the bank toward members of...
U.S. sends more warplanes to protect pullout from AfghanistanVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States has deployed a dozen additional warplanes to bolster protection of American and coalition troops making a final withdrawal from Afghanistan as Taliban insurgents step up pressure on Afghan government forces, top Pentagon officials said Thursday. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,...
At least 25 dead during Brazilian police raid in Rio
RIO DE JANEIRO — Police targeting drug traffickers raided a slum in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and at least one officer and 24 suspects died after being shot, authorities said. A police helicopter flew low over the Jacarezinho favela as heavily armed men fled police by leaping from roof...
Pittsburgh terrorism expert concerned about U.S. troop withdrawal from AfghanistanVideo
Last month, President Biden announced a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, ending the longest war in American history. It’s a decision that’s raised concerns for terrorism experts like Colin P. Clarke, director of Policy and Research for the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and...
Blinken reaffirms U.S. support for Ukraine amid Russia tension
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine at a meeting Thursday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the wake of Kyiv’s heightened tensions with Russia, fueled by Moscow’s recent troop buildup near their border. The top American diplomat met with Zelenskyy during his one-day...
4-year-old mistakenly places Amazon order for 51 cases of SpongeBob popsicles worth $2.6K
A 4-year-old SpongeBob SquarePants fan got carried away while using his mother’s Amazon account this week. A New York Post report said the Brooklyn boy, named Noah, ordered nearly $3,000 worth of non-refundable SpongeBob SquarePants Popsicles on Amazon. On Monday, a friend, Katie Schloss, set up a GoFundMe page to...
Sheriff: Girl shoots 3 at Idaho school; teacher disarms her
RIGBY, Idaho — A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to her Idaho middle school, shot and wounded two students and a custodian and then was disarmed by a teacher Thursday, authorities said. The three were shot in their extremities and were expected to survive, officials said at a news conference....
Armed South Carolina soldier hijacks bus full of elementary school kids, officials say
COLUMBIA, S.C. — An armed soldier who ran off Fort Jackson was arrested Thursday morning after he boarded a bus with 18 elementary school children, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. No students were injured, and neither was the school bus driver, Lott said at a news conference. “Very scary...
India’s government eases hospital oxygen shortage as demand jumps
Under order by the Supreme Court, India’s government agreed on Thursday to provide more medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, potentially easing a 2-week-old shortage that worsened the country’s exploding coronavirus crisis. Government officials also denied reports that they have been slow in distributing life-saving supplies donated from abroad....
U.S. proposes ending rule that weakened wild bird protections
The Biden administration on Monday proposed revoking a rule imposed under former President Donald Trump that weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most U.S. bird species. The Interior Department announcement comes after officials in March said they were reversing a Trump policy that ended criminal...
Nebraska launches ‘beef passport’ program for meat eating
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts ramped up his crusade for the meat industry on Wednesday by endorsing a new “beef passport” program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado’s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. Ricketts, a Republican, cast meat as essential to...
Dunkin’ offers free coffee to health care workers on National Nurses Day
Dunkin’ is offering a free medium hot or iced coffee today — no purchase necessary — to all health care workers who visit participating restaurants nationwide, while supplies last. Abby Zweigle, spokesperson for Dunkin’ Brands, said ID is required and the promotion excludes Cold Brew and Nitro Cold Brew, and...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs GOP voting law critics call ‘un-American’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a major rewrite of Florida’s elections law on Thursday, tightening rules around drop boxes and mail-in voting in the presidential battleground. Critics say the changes will make it harder for voters, particularly the elderly and people of color, to cast ballots. It’s the...
