U.S./World category, Page 890
About 90K sex abuse claims filed in Boy Scouts bankruptcyVideo
NEW YORK — Close to 90,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed against the Boy Scouts of America as the Monday deadline arrived for submitting claims in the organization’s bankruptcy case. The number far exceeds the initial projections of lawyers across the United States who have been signing up clients...
U.S. appeals court weighs law on supervised injection sites
PHILADELPHIA — A federal appeals court became the latest panel to wrestle with the nation’s opioid epidemic as judges reviewed a long-debated plan Monday to open a medically supervised injection site in Philadelphia. U.S. Attorney William McSwain, an appointee of President Donald Trump, opposes the idea and hopes to overturn...
Trump to order troop reductions in Afghanistan, Iraq
The Trump administration is expected to cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan almost in half to 2,500 by Jan. 15, a U.S. official said Monday. The order would stop short of outgoing President Donald Trump’s goal to have all troops withdrawn by the end of the year, which...
Virginia governor pushes to legalize marijuana
RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Ralph Northam is pushing to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Virginia, which could be the first Southern state to do so. Northam announced his support for legalization Monday, saying he wants a responsible approach that promotes racial equity and preserves youth safety. The Democratic governor...
Hand tally of Georgia presidential race continues
ATLANTA — A hand tally of the nearly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in Georgia appeared to be going smoothly as it entered its fourth day Monday. The hand count stems from a state law that calls for one race to be audited to ensure the new...
3rd Breonna Taylor grand juror: Cops ‘got slap on the wrist’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A woman who sat on the Breonna Taylor grand jury said she believes their investigation was incomplete and that prosecutors wanted to give police “a slap on the wrist and close it up.” The woman is the third grand juror to speak anonymously about the September proceedings,...
NATO, acting U.S. Pentagon chief discuss Afghanistan
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has spoken to the new acting U.S. defense secretary about the alliance’s commitment to stay in Afghanistan as long as necessary, his spokeswoman said Monday, amid speculation that President Donald Trump might order a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops in the country. NATO spokeswoman...
SpaceX launches 2nd crew, regular station crew flights begin
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Sunday on the first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company. The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one Japanese, the second crew to be launched...
Hurricane Iota heads for battered Honduras, Nicaragua
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Iota became the 13th hurricane of the Atlantic season early Sunday, threatening to bring another dangerous system to Nicaragua and Honduras — countries recently clobbered by a Category 4 Hurricane Eta. Iota was already a record-breaking system, being the 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily...
‘Righting a wrong’: Nevada 1st to protect same-sex marriage
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Las Vegas has been known for decades as the place for exuberant nuptials blessed by the swirl of Elvis’ white capes. But for years, legal marriages were barred for same-sex couples. Now, the state that’s home to the “wedding capital of the world” is also the...
Russian city to demolish derided ‘Robot’ building
MOSCOW — A hulking, never-occupied building sardonically likened to a robot’s head that has loomed over the Russian city of Kaliningrad for decades is to be demolished next year, the region’s governor says. The 21-story House of Soviets was left unfinished when funding ran out in 1985 amid the Soviet...
Biden likely to break barriers, pick woman to lead Pentagon
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take a historic step and select a woman to head the Pentagon for the first time, shattering one of the few remaining barriers to women in the department and the presidential Cabinet. Michele Flournoy, a politically moderate Pentagon veteran, is regarded by...
Curtis Flowers defense team receives human rights award
OXFORD, Miss. — A human rights award has been presented to the defense team for a Mississippi man who was freed from prison in December after more than 20 years and this year had all charges dropped against him. The Curtis Flowers defense team, which includes the George C. Cochran...
Thousands attend weekly protest against Israel’s Netanyahu
JERUSALEM — Several thousand protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday night in what has become a weekly demonstration calling for the Israeli leader to resign. The protesters have been demonstrating for some five months, saying Netanyahu is unfit to lead while he is...
Ethiopia’s Tigray region bombs airports as conflict spreads
NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopia’s defiant Tigray regional government said Saturday it fired rockets at two airports in the neighboring Amhara region as a deadly conflict threatens to spread into other parts of Africa’s second-most populous country. The Tigray regional government said in a statement on Tigray TV that such strikes...
Romania: 10 die in fire at covid-19 intensive care unit
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanian officials say a fire at a hospital treating covid-19 patients has killed 10 people and critically injured seven others. The blaze spread through the intensive care ward designated for people with covid-19 patients at the public hospital in the northern city of Piatra Neamt, said Irina...
Thai protesters rally again, promoting a diversity of causes
BANGKOK — Pro-democracy protesters in Thailand rallied again on Saturday, promoting a diversity of causes and taking an opportunity to display their rejection of the country’s power structure directly to the monarch. Some 20 groups called the rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument under the name “Mob Fest” as the latest...
Britain’s Prince Charles celebrates 72nd birthday
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Prince Charles celebrated his 72nd birthday Saturday following an eventful year that saw him contract the coronavirus and his son Prince Harry step down from official royal duties. Gun salutes would normally be fired from London’s Green Park and the Tower of London for the heir...
Trump skips Southeast Asia summit for third year in a row
HANOI, Vietnam — President Donald Trump skipped a summit with his Southeast Asian counterparts for the third year in a row on Saturday, with rival China set to expand its influence with a massive free trade deal in the region. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Trump regretted he was...
Trump putting democracy to the test after his loss to Biden
WASHINGTON — Winston Churchill was not known for leaving his thoughts unspoken. One of them was this: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried.” President Donald Trump, who has professed admiration for, if not deep...
Iota threatens 2nd tropical strike for Nicaragua, Honduras
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean Sea early Saturday, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by a Category 4 Hurricane Eta. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Iota could bring dangerous wind, storm surge and as much...
North Dakota mandates masks, capacity limits as virus surges
BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ordered a statewide mask mandate and imposed several business restrictions late Friday in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has stressed the state’s hospital capacity. The Republican governor’s executive order comes after increased pressure from doctors, nurses and...
Colorado governor says ignoring virus is like playing ‘Russian roulette,’ as daily cases nearly double in week
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Another 6,439 Coloradans were diagnosed with covid-19 — nearly double Monday’s daily total, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Friday, warning state residents who continue to ignore the virus’s threat that they were playing Russian roulette with their own lives and the lives of others. “You wouldn’t...
California governor went to party, violated own virus rules
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For months, Gov. Gavin Newsom has pleaded with Californians to resist the temptation to socialize with friends and relatives outside their household. Turns out, he’s the one who couldn’t resist. Newsom acknowledged Friday he attended a birthday party with a dozen friends on Nov. 6 at the...
Scott Peterson to stay at San Quentin as judge mulls retrial
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — No one outside of San Quentin State Prison will be seeing Scott Peterson in person anytime soon as officials consider if he should face a new trial in the headline-grabbing slayings of his pregnant wife and unborn child, a California judge decided Friday. San Francisco Superior Court...
