Author: chicagoinquirer

by Chinedu Asalu and Hannah Schoenbaum LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The three Americans convicted of participating in a botched coup attempt in Congo last year have been repatriated to the United States, days after their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, Congo’s presidency said Tuesday. The three will serve out their life sentences in the U.S. following the repatriation done in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, Congolese presidential spokesperson Tina Salama said. The presidency said the Americans left Tuesday morning. International law experts say it’s unlikely the U.S. will shorten their sentences. The State Department said it was aware…

by Marcia Dunn CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Four space tourists who orbited the north and south poles returned to Earth on Friday, splashing down in the Pacific to end their privately funded polar tour. Bitcoin investor Chun Wang chartered a SpaceX flight for himself and three others in a Dragon capsule that was outfitted with a domed window that provided 360-degree views of the polar caps and everything in between. Wang declined to say how much he paid for the 3 1/2-day trip. The quartet, who rocketed from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday night, returned off the Southern California…

by Zeke Miller and Steve Peoples WASHINGTON — Not even 24 hours after his party lost a key Wisconsin race and underperformed in Florida, President Donald Trump followed the playbook that has defined his political career: He doubled down. Trump’s move on Wednesday to place stiff new tariffs on imports from nearly all U.S. trading partners marks an all-in bet by the Republican that his once-fringe economic vision will pay off for Americans. It was the realization of his four decades of advocacy for a protectionist foreign policy and the belief that free trade was forcing the United States into…

by Tim Reynolds Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard are going into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, not once but twice. And LeBron James and Chris Paul are part of the group that’s headed to the Hall as well, even before their playing careers end. Anthony and Howard were announced Saturday as members of the Class of 2025, as was the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team that they played on — dubbed the “Redeem Team,” the one that captured gold at the Beijing Games and started a still-going run of five consecutive Olympic titles and counting for…

by George Walker IV and Bruce Schreiner HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Another round of torrential rain and flash flooding was coming Saturday for parts of the South and Midwest already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that also spawned some deadly tornadoes. Round after round of heavy rains have pounded the central U.S., rapidly swelling waterways and prompting a series of flash flood emergencies in Missouri, Texas and Arkansas. The National Weather Service said 45 river locations in multiple states were expected to reach major flood stage, with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.…

by Dave Collins New York state officials have told the Trump administration that they will not comply with its demands to end diversity, equity and inclusion practices in public schools, despite the administration’s threats to terminate federal education funding. Daniel Morton-Bentley, counsel and deputy commissioner of the state Department of Education, said in a letter dated Friday to the federal Education Department that state officials do not believe the federal agency has the authority to make such demands. “We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion,’” he wrote. “But there are no…

WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Thursday that the Trump administration may have “acted in bad faith” by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country before a court could block their deportations to El Salvador. U.S. District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg in Washington pressed a Justice Department lawyer to explain the government’s actions in a high-stakes court hearing to determine whether the administration ignored his orders to turn around planes that were carrying deportees to El Salvador. The judge said he could issue a ruling as soon as next week on whether there are grounds to find anyone…

by Michael Kunzelman WASHINGTON — A federal judge didn’t have the authority to order the Trump administration to broker the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported from the U.S. to a notorious El Salvador prison, government attorneys argued Saturday as they urged an appeals court to suspend the ruling. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Friday ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. by late Monday night. Justice Department lawyers asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to immediately pause the judge’s order. “A judicial order that forces the…

by Wafaa Shurafa and Natalie Melzer DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 27 or more sheltering at a school in the north, according to Palestinian medical authorities, in a stepped-up offensive that Israel’s military said is intended to put new pressure on Hamas and eventually expel the militant group. The bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City and the death toll could rise because some of the 70 wounded sustained critical injuries, said…

by Elaine Kurtenback and David Mchugh FRANKFURT, Germany — United States President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs on American imports shocked governments and investors around the world, swiftly spurring both threats of retaliation and calls for negotiation as industries scrambled and global stocks tumbled. China accused the U.S. of “bullying” and the European Union promised “robust” countermeasures, with French officials suggesting taxes to hit U.S. tech giants. Yet the United Kingdom and Japan, among others, expressed hope for a deal with Trump and refrained from talk of retaliation against the world’s biggest economy, fearing that slapping their own tariffs on…