U.S./World category, Page 882
Scene from ‘Elf’ comes to life as Buddy meets dad in Boston
BOSTON — Just like a real-life movie, the story of Buddy the Elf meeting his biological father has come to life, just in time for the holidays. Doug Henning wore a costume like the one actor Will Ferrell’s character wore in “Elf” while meeting his father face to face for...
Surveillance tape breeds false fraud claims in Georgia
Surveillance footage of ballot processing on election night in Atlanta is fueling a false social media narrative of “suitcases filled with ballots” hidden under a cloth-covered table and tallied without supervision, even as top state officials confirm election workers followed standard procedure. The video showed regular ballot containers on wheels...
Colorado student, scientist named Time’s ‘Kid of the Year’
LONE TREE, Colo. — A 15-year-old Colorado high school student and young scientist who has used artificial intelligence and created apps to tackle contaminated drinking water, cyberbullying, opioid addiction and other social problems has been named Time Magazine’s first-ever “Kid of the Year.” Gitanjali Rao, a sophomore at STEM School...
Mexico City hospitals are filling up, but so are the streets
MEXICO CITY — Sometimes Latin American dance tunes on the radio — salsa, cumbia, ranchera — bring a little cheer into the emergency room of Mexico City’s Ajusco Medio hospital, which is operating well over normal capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Marta Patricia Mancilla, head of the emergency...
UK-EU trade talks ‘paused’ with deal still elusive
LONDON — A week of intense trade talks between Britain and the European Union ended in stalemate Friday, with attention turning to political leaders who will decide whether significant differences can be bridged. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said he and his British counterpart, David Frost, had agreed to “pause”...
U.S. imposes visas restrictions on more Chinese citizens
WASHINGTON — The State Department said Friday that the U.S. will impose visa restrictions on Chinese citizens engaged in overseas influence operations. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the restrictions would apply to Chinese Communist Party officials or anyone else taking part in propaganda or influence campaigns linked to the...
Police: Nearly 30 found in Texas human smuggling operation
HOUSTON — More than two dozen people who police in Texas believe were being held as a part of a possible human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston. One of the men was seen Thursday running down a residential street in his underwear, yelling that he...
West Virginia police arrest woman in crash that killed child
BRADSHAW, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia have arrested a woman in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 2-year-old boy. Angel Alberta Estep, 37, of War was charged Thursday with negligent homicide, crash involving death and other counts, McDowell County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy James Muncy told news outlets. The child...
Man charged with robbing Wawa customer at gunpoint inside rest room
A 27-year-old man was arrested Thursday and charged with robbing a customer at gunpoint in the men’s room of a Wawa store in Atlantic County, N.J., authorities said. Police were called about 11:40 a.m. to the convenience store in the 500 block of West Delilah Road in Pleasantville on a...
Ohio sheriff’s deputy wounded, suspect shot and killed
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Authorities on Friday were investigating after a welfare check by police turned into an exchange of gunfire that left one man dead and a sheriff’s deputy wounded in Ohio. Two deputies were sent to a home to check on a person around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the Richland...
Czechs target 2038 to phase out coal as energy source
PRAGUE — A Czech government advisory body has agreed to a proposal for the country to phase out coal as an energy source by 2038, a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough. Trade and Minister Karel Havlicek, one of the two chairmen of the body, said on Friday...
2 U.S. marshals shot, fugitive killed in Bronx gunfight
NEW YORK — A suspect in the shooting of a state trooper in Massachusetts was killed during a gunfight with U.S. marshals in New York City early Friday that left two of the officers wounded. The two deputy marshals injured in the 5:30 a.m. confrontation in the Bronx were treated...
West Virginia police officer dies 2 days after being shotVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia police officer has died two days after being shot by a suspect while responding to a parking complaint. The city of Charleston announced officer Cassie Johnson’s death in a news release Thursday. Johnson, 28, joined the city as a humane officer in October 2017...
Vaccine rollout could ease crisis, but who gets it first?
Getting a covid-19 vaccine to the right people could change the course of the pandemic in the United States. But who are the right people? As the decision looms for President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration, a new analysis argues for targeting the first vaccines to the same low-income Black, Hispanic...
California governor: Most of state nears stay-home order
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will likely order most of its businesses to close or limit capacity in the coming days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, part of new rules triggered when fewer than 15% of beds are available in intensive care units for regional hospital networks. Newsom said four of...
Charitable donations on ‘Giving Tuesday’ up 25%
NEW YORK — Donations on Giving Tuesday, an 8-year-old campaign to get people to give money to charities, rose 25% from last year, organizers said. Nearly $2.5 billion was donated in the U.S. on Tuesday, according to estimates by GivingTuesday, the nonprofit behind the campaign. That’s up from last year’s...
Senate confirms Christopher Waller to serve on Fed’s board
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Christopher Waller for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, placing another of President Donald Trump’s picks on the Fed’s influential board after a string of high-profile rejections. The vote in favor of Waller was 48-47. Waller, research director at...
Nestle to spend $3.6 billion on improving climate footprint
GENEVA — Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, said Thursday that it will spend $3.6 billion over five years to improve its climate footprint. Nestle said the investment will increase the Switzerland-based company’s use of renewable energy, which it aims to use exclusively by 2025. The money will also boost...
Optimism growing for covid relief bill as pressure buildsVideo
WASHINGTON — Optimism about delivering long-sought covid-19 relief is building on Capitol Hill after additional rank-and-file lawmakers voiced support for a bipartisan, middle-of-the-road plan taking shape in the Senate and as top congressional leaders connected on the topic for the first time in months. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate...
12 Days of Christmas cost drops in 2020, but you’re not getting all the gifts
The 12 Days of Christmas will cost you less than half of what it did in 2019. But you’re getting less gifts because of covid-19. “The true cost of Christmas decreased in 2020, as this year’s index accounts for cancellations of many live performances,” PNC said on their rundown of...
Chinese moon probe begins return to Earth with lunar samples
BEIJING — A Chinese lunar probe lifted off from the moon Thursday night with a cargo of lunar samples on the first stage of its return to Earth, state media reported. Chang’e 5, the third Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon and the first to take off from it...
Biden facing high hopes, tough choices on border wall
LOS EBANOS, Texas — The U.S. government has been trying to take Pamela Rivas’ land for a border wall since before Joe Biden was vice president. From a brushy bluff, Rivas can look across the Rio Grande to Mexico on the other side. She spent her childhood fishing on the...
Police say 4 dead after explosion at U.K. waste water plant
LONDON — Four people have died following an explosion at a waste water treatment plant near the southwest England city of Bristol, police said Thursday. Chief Inspector Mark Runacres of Avon and Somerset Police said that a fifth person was injured during the explosion at Avonmouth but that his condition...
Mural at Black archive in Amsterdam vandalized
AMSTERDAM — Vandals daubed white paint over the faces of Black historical figures on a mural outside a Black cultural archive in Amsterdam in what one of the archive’s founders called a racist attack Thursday. The vandals also stuck stickers on the mural saying in Dutch “soot-smudge Pete is genocide,”...
China hits out at U.S. after report of new visa restrictions
BEIJING — China on Thursday accused critics in the U.S. government of “an escalation of political suppression” against Beijing following a report of new visa restrictions on members of China’s ruling Communist Party and their immediate family members. Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China would “make representations” to the...
