Author: Emily Schmall
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Half-million infected worldwide as economic toll rises
WASHINGTON • The human and economic toll of the lockdowns against the coronavirus mounted Thursday as India struggled to feed the multitudes, Italy shut down most of its industry, and a record-shattering 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in a single week. As the number of infections worldwide reached a half-million and deaths climbed…
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Video: 20 seconds of terror between missiles in Iran crash
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates • Iran’s top diplomat acknowledged Wednesday that Iranians “were lied to” for days after the Islamic Republic accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner. The admission came as new surveillance footage purported to show two surface-to-air missiles 20 seconds apart shred the airplane and kill all 176 people aboard. The downing of…
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Troops lock down Kashmir as India votes to strip its status
NEW DELHI • Indian lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that strips the statehood from the Indian-administered portion of Muslim-majority Kashmir amid an indefinite security lockdown in the disputed Himalayan territory, actions that neighboring Pakistan warned could lead to war. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government submitted the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill for a…
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Modi surges to victory in India on Hindu-first platform
NEW DELHI • Narendra Modi, India’s charismatic but polarizing prime minister, was headed Friday for a landslide election victory, propelling his Hindu nationalist party to back-to-back majorities in parliament for the first time in decades. With most of the votes counted, Modi’s stunning reelection mirrored a global trend of right-wing populists sweeping to victory, from…
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As Sri Lanka mourns, IS claims Easter bombings
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka • As the death toll from the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka rose to 321 on Tuesday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility and released images that purported to show the attackers, while the country’s prime minister warned that several suspects armed with explosives are still at large. Another top government official…
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Classmate: Girl tortured with siblings was bullied, frail
LOS ANGELES — The oldest of the 13 California siblings who authorities said were imprisoned by their parents was frail, smelly and picked on as a grade school student in Texas, one of her classmates said in a heart-wrenching Facebook post. The now-29-year-old woman was rescued with her starving brothers and sisters from their home…
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Texas woman accused of mailing bombs to Obama, Abbott
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas woman is accused of sending homemade bombs in 2016 to then-President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that could have killed or maimed the leaders, prosecutors said. Julia Poff, 46, mailed the devices in October 2016, along with a third package that she sent to the Social Security…
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Thousands pack Texas church shooting family funeral service
Mourner walk past a line of hearses as they arrive for a funeral for members of the Holcombe family who were killed in the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church shooting, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, in Floresville, Texas. A man opened fire inside the church in the small South Texas community last week, killing more than two…
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Pastor: Texas church that was attacked will be demolished
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — The Texas church where more than two dozen people were killed by a gunman during Sunday services will be demolished, the pastor said. Pastor Frank Pomeroy told leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention earlier this week that it would be too painful to continue using First Baptist Church as a place…
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‘So many babies in there’: church shooting claims 8 children
LA VERNIA, Texas — By the time Paul Brunner rolled up in his ambulance to the worst mass shooting in Texas history, the First Baptist Church was a chaotic triage scene. Parents cried and kids screamed, and nearly all the victims appeared to have been hit more than once. Two of the first four patients…