U.S./World category, Page 804
U.S. unemployment claims fall to a pandemic low of 498,000
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 498,000, the lowest point since the viral pandemic struck 14 months ago and a sign of the job market’s growing strength as businesses reopen and consumers step up spending. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that...
Federal judge strikes down CDC’s national moratorium on evictions
A federal judge in Washington blocked a nationwide eviction moratorium the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established as the covid-19 lockdowns put millions of renters out of work during the past year. In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said the agency exceeded its authority by...
Josh Duggar granted release as he awaits child porn trial
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge on Wednesday allowed former reality TV star Josh Duggar to be released as he awaits trial on charges that he downloaded and possessed child pornography. Magistrate Judge Christy Comstock ordered Duggar, 33, confined to the home of family friends who have agreed to...
Kentucky medical student found dead at bottom of cliff at Red River Gorge
STANTON, Ky. — A 24-year-old University of Kentucky student who went hiking at Red River Gorge has been found dead at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff, authorities said. Powell County Search and Rescue said in a statement that the organization was notified Tuesday that the woman had gone hiking...
U.S. birth rate falls to lowest point in more than a century
NEW YORK — The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released Wednesday. The rate dropped for moms of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group, falling to the lowest point since...
Firing of Atlanta officer who shot Rayshard Brooks reversed
ATLANTA — The firing of the former Atlanta police officer who’s charged with murder in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks was reversed after a review panel found the city failed to follow its own procedures for disciplinary actions. Garrett Rolfe was fired in June, a day after he shot...
Families, advocates mark day of awareness for Native victims
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — From Washington to Indigenous communities across the American Southwest, top government officials, family members and advocates gathered Wednesday as part of a call to action to address the ongoing problem of violence against Indigenous women and children. U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and other federal officials commemorated...
60 years since 1st American in space: Tourists lining up
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Sixty years after Alan Shepard became the first American in space, everyday people are on the verge of following in his cosmic footsteps. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company used Wednesday’s anniversary to announce an auction for a seat on the company’s first crew spaceflight, launched by...
Louisiana cop who used stun gun on handcuffed man resigns
PORT ALLEN, La. — An officer who used a stun gun twice on a handcuffed, seated man has resigned from a Louisiana police department one day before a termination hearing. Nolan Dehon III had been scheduled for a hearing Tuesday before the Port Allen City Council, to consider whether to...
Myanmar’s military disappearing young men to crush uprising
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Myanmar’s security forces moved in and the street lamps went black. In house after house, people shut off their lights. Darkness swallowed the block. Huddled inside her home in this neighborhood of Yangon, 19-year-old Shwe dared to peek out her window into the inky night. A flashlight shone back,...
Macron to commemorate 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death
PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday is marking the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon Bonapart, the warrior and emperor who famously bequeathed to France its civil code but whose legacy is today tarnished in the eyes of some for reinstating slavery. In a speech, Macron is expected to...
Hot mic in courtroom captures insurance adjuster calling judge an idiot
Virtual court proceedings during the covid-19 pandemic have seen their share of cyber blunders. Participants have appeared naked or with a beer in hand, while an errant video filter turned a Texas attorney into a cat during a Zoom hearing. In the Silicon Valley last month, an insurance adjuster provided...
2 Denver officers suspended for excessive force in protests
DENVER — Two police officers in Denver have been suspended without pay after city officials said they used excessive force during racial justice protests last year sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Officers Derek Streeter and Diego Archuleta were the first in the department to be...
Woman from Mali expecting 7, gives birth to 9 babies in Morocco
BAMAKO, Mali — A Malian woman has given birth to nine babies after only expecting seven, Mali’s Ministry of Health said Wednesday. The 25-year-old Halima Cisse gave birth to the babies via cesarean section on Tuesday in Morocco after being sent there for special care, the ministry announced. “The newborns...
Germany aims for net-zero emissions by 2045, 5 years earlier
BERLIN — Officials in Germany proposed Wednesday accelerating the plans to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by setting a new goal of reaching “net-zero” by 2045. Under the proposal announced by Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the country would increase its emissions reduction targets from...
Flood threats persist as storms continue to drench the South
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Relentless wind and rain keeps pummeling much of the southeastern United States, spawning tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia. The storms have prompted boat rescues and toppled trees and power lines. Crews were preparing to continue cleaning up...
Rome jury convicts 2 American students in slaying of police officer
ROME — A jury convicted two American friends Wednesday in the 2019 slaying of a police officer in a tragic unraveling of a small time drug deal gone bad, sentencing them to the maximum life in prison. The jury of two judges and six civilians deliberated more than 12 hours...
Facebook board upholds former President Trump’s suspension
SAN FRANCISCO — Former President Donald Trump won’t return to Facebook — for now. The social network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board voted to uphold his ban from the platform after his account was suspended four months ago for inciting violence that led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. While upholding...
4 killed when plane crashes into Mississippi home
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Four people were killed when a small plane crashed into a home in Mississippi late Tuesday night, police said. Authorities in Hattiesburg were called to the scene of the civilian plane crash just before 11:30 p.m., Hattiesburg Police Public Information Officer Ryan Moore said. Police initially said...
Derek Chauvin files for new trial, alleging prosecutorial and judicial misconduct
MINNEAPOLIS — Derek Chauvin’s defense on Tuesday moved to have the former Minneapolis police officer receive a new murder trial, alleging misconduct by prosecutors and the judge before guilty verdicts on murder and manslaughter charges were handed down two weeks ago. Defense attorney Eric Nelson said in the filing in...
Idaho legislative intern reports rape, is ID’d by lawmaker
BOISE — The harassment began soon after a report by a 19-year-old intern, who alleged an Idaho lawmaker raped her, became public. One state representative sought a copy of the police report and made inquiries into how the young woman herself could be referred for criminal charges for reporting the...
Virginia man with neo-Nazi ties gets 3 years for bogus threats, calls
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A former neo-Nazi leader was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a conspiracy to target a Black church, a Cabinet member and more than 100 others with bogus bomb threats and 911 calls. U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady imposed...
G7 foreign ministers meet face-to-face after pandemic pause
LONDON — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy industrialized nations gathered Tuesday in London for their first face-to-face meeting in more than two years, to grapple with how to respond to the military coup in Myanmar and whether to challenge or coax a surging China. Host nation Britain...
Storms spawn twisters in Mississippi, kill 3 across South
YAZOO CITY, Miss. — Much of the South faced more severe weather Tuesday that has killed at least three people, spawned tornadoes Sunday night and Monday and damaged homes and uprooted trees from Mississippi to West Virginia. Parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, as well as corners of...
North Carolina lawmakers to debate new abortion restrictions
RALEIGH, N.C. — Another effort by North Carolina Republicans to narrow the situations in which abortion is legal in the state is set to be debated in a legislative committee. The House Health Committee planned Tuesday to discuss and vote on a measure that would bar a physician from performing...
