U.S./World category, Page 886
Holiday trends to watch: Adult Play-Doh; stores that ship
NEW YORK — The pandemic is turning this into a holiday shopping season like no other. Toy companies are targeting stuck-at-home grown-ups with latte-smelling Play-Doh and Legos that turn into Warhols. Those who added a puppy to their family during the pandemic will see tons of gift options for their...
High court blocks N.Y. coronavirus limits on houses of worship
WASHINGTON — As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide, the Supreme Court late Wednesday barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit by the virus. The justices split 5-4 with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. It was...
Black Lives Matter flag becomes issue in Florida community
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As demonstrations against police brutality roiled the country earlier this year, Antoine Mickle began noticing the flags going up in his Jacksonville neighborhood declaring “Blue Lives Matter.” For months, those flags hung from his neighbors’ homes. But when Mickle decided to hang a flag of his own...
Trump pardons Michael Flynn, taking direct aim at Russia probe
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday, taking direct aim in the final days of his administration at a Russia investigation that he has long insisted was motivated by political bias. “It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn...
Tweet on spare change generates big money for virus aid
SALT LAKE CITY — Andy Larsen is a sports writer, but with so many games scratched during the pandemic he has spent a lot of time digging into coronavirus data and its sobering implications. Then on Monday, while he was sorting his spare change — some from a childhood piggy...
Trump administration denies permit for divisive Alaska mine
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Trump administration on Wednesday denied a permit for a controversial gold and copper mine near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in southwest Alaska. The Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement that the permit application to build the Pebble Mine was...
Duchess of Sussex reveals she had miscarriage in the summer
LONDON — The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she had a miscarriage in July, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others. Meghan described the miscarriage in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday, writing that “I knew, as I clutched...
Mine explodes, damaging oil tanker off Saudi Arabia
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A mine in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia near Yemen exploded and damaged an oil tanker Wednesday, authorities said, the latest incident targeting the kingdom amid its long war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The blast happened early Wednesday and struck the...
Germany to compensate gay servicepeople for discrimination
BERLIN — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved legislation that would provide compensation to gay servicepeople who experienced discrimination in the military before a change of policy 20 years ago. The decision comes two months after Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer issued an apology for decades of discrimination. A study commissioned by...
On speakerphone in Gettysburg, Trump still falsely insists he won election
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump uttered one falsehood after another as he baselessly claimed that he won the 2020 election instead of President-elect Joe Biden as he phoned into an event organized by Pennsylvania Republicans in Gettysburg. Trump’s election lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, attended the event to continue his quixotic and...
Tens of thousands evacuated as India braces for cyclone
NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in low-lying areas of southern India and moved to evacuation shelters on Wednesday to escape a cyclone that was barreling toward the region’s coast. Cyclone Nivar is expected to bring heavy downpours after slamming ashore near Mamallapuram and Karaikal...
New York state may speed up, permanently expand vote-by-mail
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York may permanently expand voting by mail — something it tried on a wide scale for the first time this year — while also trying to reform its molasses-slow and opaque process for counting absentee ballots. A proposed constitutional amendment would do away with the rule...
Global push to end domestic violence, worse amid covid-19
PARIS — With domestic violence on the rise amid the coronavirus pandemic, activists are holding protests Wednesday from France to Turkey and world dignitaries are trying to find ways to protect millions of women killed or abused every year by their partners. The pope called for global action to mark...
Sunbeam recalls nearly 1 million Crock-Pot multi-cookers over lid issue
Sunbeam Products has recalled almost 1 million Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cookers because an issue with the lid when used for pressure cooking can result in burns. “The recalled Crock-Pot multi-cooker can pressurize when the lid is not fully locked. This can cause the lid to suddenly detach while the...
With U.S. in covid panic, one senator saw stock opportunity
WASHINGTON — As the ravages of the novel coronavirus forced millions of people out of work, shuttered businesses and shrank the value of retirement accounts, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to a three-year low. But for Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican, the crisis last March signaled something else:...
Car hits gate outside German leader’s offices; minor damage
BERLIN — A car crashed into the front gate of the building housing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s offices on Wednesday morning, causing minor damage, authorities said. The driver was detained. Police were investigating the 10 a.m. (4 a.m. Pittsburgh time) crash at the German chancellery in Berlin. The car, a...
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pleads guilty in criminal case
Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty Tuesday to three criminal charges, formally taking responsibility for its part in an opioid epidemic that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths but also angering critics who want to see individuals held accountable, in addition to the company. In a virtual hearing with a...
Mysterious shiny monolith found in otherworldly Utah desert
SALT LAKE CITY — Deep in the Mars-like landscape of Utah’s red-rock desert lies a mystery: A gleaming metal monolith in one of the most remote parts of the state. The smooth, tall structure was found during a helicopter survey of bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, officials said Monday. A...
55-year sentence affirmed for 15-year-old MS-13 gang killer
NEW YORK — An appeals court affirmed a 55-year prison term Tuesday for a member of the MS-13 gang who organized the killings of four teenagers in a Long Island park when he was 15 — but it also expressed regret that the end of parole for federal prisoners means...
New Mexico lawmakers propose $1,200 payment to unemployed
SANTA FE, N.M. — The state legislature is meeting for the second time this year to tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and has introduced a bill to channel millions in federal funding into a one-time stimulus of $1,200 to economically stressed workers. The stimulus checks would go...
Court says North Dakota governor can’t fill dead candidate’s seat
BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum does not have the authority to appoint someone to a state House seat won by a Republican candidate who died before the election, the North Dakota Supreme Court concluded. The court, in a unanimous ruling issued Tuesday, decided that Burgum “has not...
Vatican butler convicted in Benedict XVI leaks case dies
ROME — Paolo Gabriele, the Vatican butler who was convicted of stealing and leaking Pope Benedict XVI’s private papers in 2012, has died. He was 54. Vatican News, the Holy See’s media portal, said Gabriele died Tuesday after a long, undisclosed illness. Gabriele’s case kicked off the first of two...
Germany warns of anti-Semitism among lockdown protests
BERLIN — A German government official warned Tuesday that anti-Semitism is emerging as a common position among people protesting pandemic lockdown measures who otherwise come from widely differing political backgrounds. Felix Klein, who was appointed in 2018 to head the government’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism, said that hatred against Jews...
Federal judge overrules Alaska attempt to block special hunt
JUNEAU, Alaska — A judge has ruled that the federal government was correct in allowing a southeast Alaska tribe to organize an out-of-season hunt because of the coronavirus pandemic. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration sued to block future hunts, arguing that permitting a special moose and deer hunt this summer...
Proposal would limit bank pullback of Arctic oil, gas funds
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The federal government has released a proposed rule aimed at limiting the ability of large banks to pull financing from Arctic oil and natural gas projects. The proposal issued last Friday follows announcements by five of the nation’s largest banks that they plan to prohibit or limit...
