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Nation and World

Sears next to sever ties with Paula Deen
 

Paula Deen just lost another business partner.

Sears Holdings Corp. announced Friday that it is cutting ties with the Southern celebrity chef, adding to the list of companies severing their relationship following revelations that Deen used racial slurs in the past.

Vatican monsignor arrested in $26 million plot

A Vatican cleric and two other people were arrested Friday by Italian police for allegedly trying to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into the country from Switzerland by private jet. It’s the latest scandal to hit the Holy See and broadens an Italian probe into its secretive bank.

 
Obama recasts chase for Snowden as unexceptional

The last thing President Barack Obama wants to do is turn Edward Snowden into a grand enemy of the state or a Daniel Ellsberg-type hero who speaks truth to power.

Body of NYC storm victim lay undetected for months

In the chaotic days after Superstorm Sandy, an army of aid workers streamed onto the flood-ravaged Rockaway Peninsula looking for anyone who needed help.

NASA launches sun-watching satellite from Calif.

NASA launched a satellite late Thursday on a mission to explore a little-studied region of the sun and to better forecast space weather that can disrupt communications systems on Earth.

THE LATEST
 
Friend: Trayvon Martin encounter with George Zimmerman racially charged

SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman’s defense attorney insisted during several testy exchanges with an important prosecution witness Thursday that Trayvon Martin injected race into a confrontation with the neighborhood watch volunteer and insinuated the young woman was not believable because of inconsistencies in her story.

Court: Hobby Lobby can challenge health care law

DENVER — An appeals court said Thursday that Hobby Lobby and a sister company that sells Christian books and supplies can fight the nation’s new health care law on religious grounds, ruling the portion of the law that requires them to offer certain kinds of birth control to their employees is particularly onerous, and suggesting the companies shouldn’t have to pay millions of dollars in fines while their claims are considered.

Bail denied for Hernandez; judge calls evidence ‘overwhelming’

ATTLEBORO, Mass. — A judge on Thursday denied bail for former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a friend.

Suspect in Boston Marathon bombing indicted

BOSTON — A federal grand jury on Thursday returned a 30-count indictment against the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, and many of the charges carry the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty.

 
Jackson’s teenage son describes upbringing, father’s death

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson’s oldest son described the frantic efforts to revive his father to a jury, a scene of tears and agony that ended a dozen idyllic years being raised by one of pop music’s superstars.

Mapping genes of a horse from 700,000 years ago

From a tiny fossil bone found in the frozen Yukon, scientists have deciphered the genetic code of an ancient horse about 700,000 years old — nearly 10 times older than any other animal that has had its genome mapped.

 
Broad immigration bill cruising to Senate passage

WASHINGTON — Far-reaching immigration legislation cruised toward passage in the Senate as House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday on a different approach that cracks down on millions living in the United States illegally rather than offering them a chance at citizenship.

Airborne laser reveals city under Cambodian earth

Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temples complex.

 
Texas carries out its 500th execution since 1982

Texas marked a solemn moment in criminal justice Wednesday evening, executing its 500th inmate since it resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.