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Nation and world news briefs
Lawsuit by Sandy Hook families against gun manufacturer will go to trial in 2021
WATERBURY, Conn. -- A lawsuit by nine families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings against the company that made the gun used in the massacre will go to trial in September 2021.
On Wednesday lawyers for Remington Arms and the families agreed ...Read more

North Korea may return to launching ICBMS, UN ambassador warns
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.S. sees "deeply troubling indications" that North Korea may be poised to engage in a major provocation, United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft warned.
"In practical terms, this would mean that the DPRK could launch space vehicles using long-range ballistic missile technology, or that they could even test-launch ...Read more
Pompeo sued for records of Trump-Putin meeting. A judge will hear the case
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is being sued over allegedly failing to preserve official notes about President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a court ruled Wednesday that the case could move forward.
That means Pompeo must either provide evidence that he complied with the Federal Records Act, ...Read more
Trump blocked by second judge on military funds for border wall
SAN FRANCISCO -- A second federal judge barred President Donald Trump from using military construction funds for his Mexico border wall, with a U.S. court ruling Wednesday in Oakland, Calif., echoing one Tuesday in El Paso, Texas.
The Trump administration and Congress remain at odds over how much taxpayer money to spend on border security as a ...Read more

GOP senators leaning toward short impeachment trial for Trump
WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans say there is an early consensus building within their ranks for a short impeachment trial that could see the GOP-led chamber vote on a likely acquittal of President Donald Trump without hearing from any witnesses.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said a growing number of the Senate's 53 GOP members want...Read more
More than 70 killed in attack on Niger military camp, army says
NIAMEY, Niger -- An attack on a military camp in western Niger has left 71 military personnel dead, according to an army statement read on national television late Wednesday.
Fifty-seven of the attackers were also killed, the statement said, while 12 people were injured and several others were missing.
The assault took place Tuesday evening. ...Read more
Israel barrels toward elections as Knesset sets dissolution in motion
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel's parliament on Wednesday set in motion the process of dissolving itself and calling a third round of elections within a year, as lawmakers passed blame around for the stalemate.
The Knesset passed the first reading of a bill to dissolve itself and set an unprecedented third round of elections with a large majority.
...Read more
Who's in charge of deadly UPS hijack investigation? The FBI — and there are questions why
MIAMI -- The police car chase and gunbattle that killed two armed robbers, a UPS driver and a bystander was a chaotic affair that stretched across two counties and involved a slew of South Florida cops.
The ensuing investigation -- at least for the public clamoring to know how a police chase broadcast on live television ended in two innocent ...Read more
Archaeologists uncover 12,500-year-old site showing evidence of the earliest known population in Connecticut
When the state Department of Transportation began construction on a bridge over the Farmington River archaeologists suspected there could be historic sites hidden under the soil.
In late 2018, once excavation was underway, crews discovered evidence of what scientists have called southern New England's earliest inhabitants.
The site, located ...Read more

Cuban deportations have more than doubled in the past year, new data shows
More than twice as many Cubans were deported this year compared to last year, according to new data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On Wednesday, federal officials released its latest deportation statistics, which showed that 1,179 Cubans were detained nationwide during the 2019 fiscal year, compared to last fiscal year's ...Read more

As marijuana goes legal in Illinois, immigrants urged not to use pot or work in new industry
CHICAGO -- With much of Illinois anticipating the state's legalization of marijuana in January, activists are urging immigrants not to use or buy cannabis or work in the new industry, as it could lead to drastic measures like deportation.
Immigration attorneys and advocate groups gathered Wednesday in Chicago's Loop to get word out that any ...Read more
Harvard benefited from slavery in Antigua; now the two are talking about reparations
Harvard is the latest university seeking to make amends for its ties to slavery.
A Harvard University spokesman confirmed to the Miami Herald that the school's president, Lawrence Bacow, recently reached out to Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the United States, Ronald Sanders, to discuss how the prestigious Cambridge, Mass., university and ...Read more

Lawsuit by Sandy Hook families against gun manufacturer will go to trial in 2021
WATERBURY, Conn. -- A lawsuit by nine families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings against the company that made the gun used in the massacre will go to trial in September of 2021.
On Wednesday lawyers for Remington Arms and the families agreed to the date after nearly two hours of haggling before Superior Court Judge ...Read more
Rep. Ted Lieu undergoes heart procedure to place stent
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., underwent surgery in Washington on Tuesday to have a stent placed after having chest pains.
The Capitol's attending physician recommended Lieu go to the hospital Monday night and he was admitted to George Washington University Hospital for chest pain, according to Lieu's chief of staff, Marc Cevasco.
An ...Read more
Elizabeth Warren revises income disclosure from controversial coal case
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, under pressure to reveal more details of her income, released an accounting this week showing she made nearly $2 million over three decades as a legal consultant while she worked as a bankruptcy professor.
The disclosures provide new information about a controversial case Warren handled in the 1990s, indicating that she ...Read more

Federal Reserve puts hold on interest rates in quiet end to busy year
WASHINGTON -- After three successive interest rate cuts, the Federal Reserve hit the pause button at its last meeting of the year on Wednesday and signaled it was likely to remain on the sidelines all next year.
The decision to keep the Fed's benchmark rate at between 1.5% and 1.75% was approved unanimously by all 10 voting members, whereas one...Read more
Key lawmaker calls for halt to controversial system to detect biological attacks
WASHINGTON -- Citing "serious concerns" about unproven technology rushed into use by the Trump administration to detect biological attacks, the chairwoman of the House Science and Technology Committee is calling for the system to be shut down.
The chairwoman, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, said Wednesday that the administration's newly deployed ...Read more

Justice Department inspector general testifies about report on FBI's Russia probe
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's internal watchdog told Congress on Wednesday that the FBI botched its high-profile investigation of potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government efforts to tilt the 2016 election in Trump's favor.
"The activities we found don't vindicate anyone who touched this," Inspector ...Read more
Judge dismisses lawsuit aimed at forcing SC GOP to hold presidential primary
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A Richland County judge has dismissed a lawsuit claiming that the South Carolina Republican Party broke state laws and its own rules by canceling the state's GOP presidential preference primary.
The decision Wednesday came more than a month after attorneys for the South Carolina GOP and for former U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, a ...Read more

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi dismisses claims of genocide at The Hague
THE HAGUE -- In an appearance that further marked her fall from grace, Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi mounted a defense of her homeland Wednesday, calling claims of genocide "incomplete and misleading" a day after a tribunal heard damning accounts of atrocities inflicted on Rohingya ethnic minorities.
The 74-year-old disgraced human...Read more
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