May 31, 2022 4:21 am
BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union leaders have agreed to embargo most Russian oil imports into the bloc by year-end. The move is part of new sanctions on Russia worked out Monday at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of new financial support. The embargo covers Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline. That was crucial to bringing landlocked Hungary on board a decision that required consensus. EU Council President Charles Michel says the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine.
May 31, 2022 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is set to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as soaring inflation takes a bite out of Americans’ pocketbooks. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first since Biden renominated Powell to lead the central bank and comes weeks after his confirmation for a second term by the Senate. The White House says the pair will discuss the state of the U.S. and global economy and especially inflation, described as Biden’s “top economic priority.” The White House says the goal is a “transition from an historic economic recovery to stable, steady growth that works for working families.”
May 31, 2022 4:18 am
UVALDE, Texas (AP) – A week after a gunman ran into a Texas grade school and started shooting, the first of 21 funerals began on Tuesday. Hundreds of mourners turned out for an afternoon Mass to remember Amerie Jo Garza. Six pallbearers wearing white shirts and gloves carried her small casket into Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which turned away several people after reaching capacity. Maite Rodriguez’s funeral was scheduled for later Tuesday at one of the funeral homes in Uvalde, Texas. The two 10-year-old fourth graders were among 19 children and two teachers killed when the 18-year-old gunman burst into a classroom on May 24 and began firing a military-style rifle.
May 31, 2022 4:15 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A movement known as Christian nationalism is making its presence known in many Republican primary races this year. Most prominent is the campaign of Doug Mastriano, who easily won the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania. He has made his faith central to his personal story and has woven his conservative Christian beliefs and symbols into his campaign. Mastriano and many other candidates reject the label of Christian nationalist. They say they’re applying their values to their politics, just as any citizen would. But scholars say the label fits those who support a fusion of American and Christian values, symbols and identity.
May 31, 2022 4:13 am
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — (WPXI) – A video on social media is gaining attention after it showed Kennywood’s Aero 360 ride stuck upside-down Monday. The video, taken by a guest at the park, shows the ride rocking back and forth for several minutes with guests left strapped in and suspended in the air. In a statement, Kennywood General Manager Mark Pauls said maintenance staff responded, quickly brought the ride back to the ground and evacuated the riders. Kennywood PR said the riders were stuck for “about five minutes.” The statement also said first-aid staff met with the riders, with three of them visiting the first-aid center as a precaution. “Safety is our first and foremost priority,” Pauls said in the statement. According to the statement, Aero 360 will be closed while an investigation into the stoppage is conducted. (PHOTO: Tina Talley/WPXI)
May 31, 2022 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh police issued an arrest warrant for another man they say is connected with the drive-by fatal shooting of 18-month-old Baby De’Avry Thomas in downtown Pittsburgh Sunday. Markez Anger, 23, is charged with criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy and firearms offenses. Police said the shooting happened in the 100 block of Fourth Avenue around 2:44 p.m. Sunday. Officials at the scene said it was a drive-by shooting, and a bullet went right through the window of a Jeep, hitting the victim. He was pronounced dead when medics arrived. During a press conference following the shooting, officials said the shooting was a targeted incident. The victim was not the intended target, but a passenger in the car was. Londell Falconer, 26, was arrested Monday morning in connection with the shooting. The criminal complaint said that he was involved in a separate shooting and police went to the hospital and made contact with him. He denied being in North Side all Sunday, but later said that he was visiting family in the Manchester neighborhood. He was shown video evidence of him exiting the vehicle from the downtown shooting in North Side and he said, “I was the driver.”
May 30, 2022 4:06 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Hundreds of flights worldwide were canceled by mid-afternoon Sunday, adding to the mounting number of scrubbed flights during the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend. About 1,460 flights had been canceled as of 7 p.m. EDT Sunday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. That follows more than 2,300 cancellations Friday and another 1,500 on Saturday. Nearly 450 of Sunday’s cancellations involved aircraft scheduled to fly to or from U.S. cities. Delta Air Lines canceled the most flights among major U.S. airlines. Delta said Saturday’s cancellations were because of bad weather and “air traffic control actions.”
May 30, 2022 4:05 am
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) – Russian and Ukrainian troops are trading blows in fierce close-quarter combat in an eastern Ukraine city. Local officials reported Russian forces “storming” the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk on Sunday, a situation that the Ukrainian president described as “indescribably difficult.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 90% of the buildings in Sievierodonetsk have been damaged. The city has emerged as an epicenter of Russia’s quest to conquer Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region. Russia also stepped up efforts to take nearby Lysychansk, where constant shelling was reported. Zelenskyy himself made a rare frontline visit to soldiers in Kharkiv. He declared “I feel boundless pride in our defenders. Every day, risking their lives, they fight for Ukraine’s freedom.”
May 30, 2022 4:03 am
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) – The wreckage of a plane that crashed in Nepal’s mountains has been found, and the bodies of 14 of the 22 people on board have been recovered. The search of the mountainside crash site was continuing, and there was no word on survivors. The Tara Air turboprop lost contact with the airport tower Sunday while flying through an area of deep river gorges and mountaintops. It crashed in Sanosware in Mustang district close to the mountain town of Jomsom where it was heading after taking off from the resort town of Pokhara, west of Kathmandu. The plane’s destination is popular with foreign hikers who trek the mountain trails and with Indian and Nepalese pilgrims who visit the revered Muktinath temple.
May 30, 2022 4:02 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Online videos show renewed clashes between Iranian riot police and angry protesters in the southwestern city of Abadan where the death toll from a building collapse is now at 31. The official IRNA news agency said on Monday that two more bodies were pulled from the rubble of an under-construction tower that collapsed a week ago at the Metropol Building. The deadly collapse has raised questions about the safety of similar buildings in Iran and has also drawn angry protesters to the streets. The semiofficial Fars news agency said violence broke out on Sunday night when a group of protesters attacked the state TV’s crew, prompting police to intervene.
