U.S./World category, Page 5
Paraplegic engineer becomes the first wheelchair user to blast into space
A paraplegic engineer from Germany blasted off on a dream-come-true rocket ride with five other passengers Saturday, leaving her wheelchair behind to float in space while beholding Earth from on high. Severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, Michaela Benthaus became the first wheelchair user in space,...
Everything you need to know about Christmas, and how it has evolved into a global holiday
Christmas is a Christian holiday that observes the birth of Jesus. But did you know that the earliest followers of Jesus did not annually commemorate his birth? Or that Santa Claus is inspired by the acts of kindness of a fourth-century Christian saint? And have you heard about the modern-day...
You finally got a doctor’s appointment. Here’s how to get the most out of it
WASHINGTON — It’s not unusual for a 20-something to text Mom in a panic from the doctor’s office, seeking help answering a question. And patients of any age can struggle to recall all their medicines — or forget to mention a concern. Getting the most out of a doctor’s visit...
A brief encounter, two attacks and then a break in investigations into the Brown and MIT shootings
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Just before Thanksgiving, Claudio Neves Valente checked into a Boston hotel and traveled to Brown University, where he had studied physics 25 years earlier. The drive to Providence was short, and in the days that followed, the 48-year-old Portuguese national returned to the campus again and again....
U.S. military launches strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters after American deaths
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago. A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that...
Photos of Bill Clinton included in newly released Epstein files
WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton featured prominently in the first batch of files released Friday by the Justice Department stemming from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the White House sought to move the focus of the highly anticipated documents from President Donald Trump. There were...
A timeline of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and the fight to make the government’s files public
Two decades after Jeffrey Epstein was first reported to police, the Justice Department has started to release its investigative files on the late millionaire, who was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing underage girls. Enacted last month, the Epstein Files Transparency Act requires disclosure of government records on Epstein and his...
Justice Department begins releasing long-awaited files tied to Epstein sex trafficking investigation
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department released thousands of files Friday from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein even as it acknowledged that its documents disclosure about the wealthy financier, known for his connections to President Donald Trump and other influential people, was incomplete. The records arrived with public...
Life ring, lifeboat piece from Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck sell at auction for $150,000
DETROIT — A life ring and a piece of a lifeboat from the Edmund Fitzgerald were sold at auction Friday for $150,000, a month after the 50th anniversary of the famous ship’s sinking in Lake Superior with 29 men aboard. The relics were discovered by a carpenter in 1975 along...
U.S. awards no-bid contract to Denmark scientists studying hepatitis B vaccine in African babies
NEW YORK — The Trump administration has awarded a $1.6 million, no-bid contract to a Danish university to study hepatitis B vaccinations on newborns in Africa that is raising ethical concerns. The unusual contract was awarded to scientists who have been cited by anti-vaccine activists and whose work has been...
A California fisherman may have broken records by catching a 10.25-pound canary rockfish
SAN FRANCISCO — A Northern California man caught a plump canary rockfish he says weighed in at 10.25 pounds, likely setting state and world records. Mendocino County fisherman Brendan Walsh, 26, said he caught the fish Tuesday off the coast of Albion, about 150 miles north of San Francisco. Walsh...
Supreme Court sides with immigration judges in speech case for now, rebuffing Trump administration
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sided with immigration judges on Friday, rebuffing the Trump administration for now in a case with possible implications for federal workers as the justices weigh expanding presidential firing power. The decision is a technical step in a long-running case, but it touches on the effects...
Brown attack suspect died the two days before his body was found, autopsy finds
An autopsy determined that the man suspected in last weekend’s attack at Brown University and the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor days later had been dead for two days when his body was found, New Hampshire’s attorney general’s office said Friday Authorities found Claudio Neves Valente,...
Military lawyer swiftly fired from immigration bench after defying Trump deportation push
MIAMI — A U.S. Army Reserve lawyer detailed as a federal immigration judge has been fired barely a month into the job after granting asylum at a high rate out of step with the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals, The Associated Press has learned. Christopher Day began hearing cases in...
Justice Department faces deadline day on Epstein files law
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department faces a Friday deadline to release investigative materials on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an inflection point in a controversy with deep intrigue and potential political ramifications for President Donald Trump. Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation last month that orders the Justice Department to publish...
The Kennedy Center has added Trump’s name to the memorial Congress created for John F. Kennedy
WASHINGTON — The Kennedy Center on Friday quickly added Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts center Congress designated as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, a day after the center’s board of trustees voted to make the change. Blue tarps were hung in front of the building to...
How 1 anonymous tipster cracked the Brown University shooting case
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Information from a tipster who had a strange encounter with another man on a sidewalk outside Brown University was key to police identifying the suspect they believe killed two students at the school and then two days later gunned down a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. Known...
Trump suspends green card lottery program that let Brown University, MIT shootings suspect into U.S.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that at Trump’s direction she is...
Trump’s blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil raises new questions about legality
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast is raising new questions about the legality of his military campaign in Latin America, while fueling concerns that the U.S. could be edging closer to war. The Trump administration says its blockade is narrowly tailored and not...
Jury finds Wisconsin judge guilty of obstruction for helping immigrant evade federal agents
MILWAUKEE — A jury found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for President Donald Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country. Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a...
Coast Guard drops references to swastikas and nooses being ‘potentially divisive’
References in U.S. Coast Guard policy calling hate symbols “potentially divisive” were removed Thursday, and a U.S. senator said she was lifting a hold she had placed on a nomination for the service’s top job. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said on social media...
Man suspected in Brown University shooting and MIT professor’s killing is found dead, officials say
A frantic search for the suspect in last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University ended Thursday at a New Hampshire storage facility where authorities discovered the man dead inside and then revealed he also was suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former...
Romanian court sentences Wiz Khalifa to 9 months for drug possession
BUCHAREST, Romania — American rapper Wiz Khalifa was sentenced by a court in Romania on Thursday to nine months in jail for drug possession, more than a year after he took part in a music festival in the Eastern European country. Khalifa was stopped by Romanian police in July 2024...
Deaths reported after business jet crashed at an airport in North Carolina
STATESVILLE, N.C. — A sheriff said there were deaths Thursday in the crash of a business jet that was trying to land at a regional airport in Statesville, North Carolina. “I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Grant Campbell said, though he declined to say how many. The...
Trump administration moves to cut off transgender care for children
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday unveiled a series of regulatory actions designed to block access to gender-affirming care for minors, building on broader Trump administration restrictions targeting transgender Americans. The sweeping proposals — the most significant moves this administration has taken so far...
