Greater than 60,000 view Benedict XVI’s body at Vatican
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ‘s body, his head resting on a pair of crimson pillows, lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday as tens of 1000’s queued to pay tribute to the pontiff who shocked the world by retiring a decade ago.
On the eve of the primary of three days of viewing, Italian security officials had said a minimum of 25,000-30,000 people would come on Monday. But by the top of the primary day’s viewing, some 65,000 individuals had passed by the bier, the Vatican said.
As daylight broke, 10 white-gloved Papal Gentlemen — lay assistants to pontiffs and papal households — carried the body on a cloth-covered wood stretcher after its arrival on the basilica to its resting place in front of the foremost altar under Bernini’s towering bronze cover.
A Swiss Guard saluted as Benedict’s body was brought in through a side door after it was transferred in a van from the chapel of the monastery grounds where the increasingly frail, 95-year-old former pontiff died on Saturday morning.
His longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, and a handful of consecrated laywomen who served in Benedict’s household, followed the van by foot for a number of hundred yards in a silent procession toward the basilica. Among the women stretched out a hand to the touch the body with respect.
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Moscow says Ukrainian rocket strike kills 63 Russian troops
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces fired rockets at a facility within the eastern Donetsk region where Russian soldiers were stationed, killing 63 of them, Russia’s defense ministry said Monday, in one in all the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces for the reason that war began greater than 10 months ago.
Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system and two of them were shot down, a defense ministry statement said. It didn’t say when the strike happened.
The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a latest setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
In keeping with the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, an unspecified variety of residents of the region were amongst those killed and wounded by the strike in town of Makiivka.
Russian military bloggers, whose information has largely been reliable throughout the war, said ammunition stored near the power had exploded within the attack and contributed to the high variety of casualties.
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Brazilians mourn Pelé on the stadium where he got his start
SANTOS, Brazil (AP) — 1000’s of mourners, including highschool students and supreme court justices, began filing past the body of Pelé on Monday on the century-old field where he made his hometown team one in all Brazil’s best.
The soccer great died on Thursday after a battle with cancer. The one player ever to win three World Cups was 82.
Pelé’s coffin, draped within the flags of Brazil and the Santos FC football club, was placed on the midfield area of Vila Belmiro, the stadium outside Sao Paulo that was his home for many of his profession. A Catholic Mass will probably be celebrated there Tuesday morning before his burial at a close-by cemetery. Brazil’s newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will come to Vila Belmiro shortly before Pelé’s coffin is faraway from the stadium.
The storied 16,000-seat stadium was surrounded by mourning fans, and covered with Pelé-themed decorations inside.
Fans coming out of the stadium said they’d waited three hours in line, standing under a blazing sun.
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Idaho slayings suspect’s family voices sympathy for victims
STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Relatives of a person arrested in Pennsylvania within the slayings of 4 University of Idaho students expressed sympathy for the victims’ families but additionally vowed to support him and promote “his presumption of innocence.”
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is desirous to be exonerated and plans to inform a judge Tuesday in Pennsylvania that he is not going to fight extradition to Idaho, said his public defender, Jason LaBar.
Moscow, Idaho, police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger said that might speed up the means of bringing Kohberger to Idaho to face charges, but that he wasn’t sure yet when that may occur.
Kohberger, a doctoral student and teaching assistant within the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was taken into custody early Friday by state police at his parents’ home in Chestnuthill Township in eastern Pennsylvania, authorities said.
His parents, Michael and Maryann, and his two older sisters, Amanda and Melissa, said in an announcement released Sunday by his attorney that they “care deeply for the 4 families who’ve lost their precious children. There aren’t any words that may adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray every day for them.”
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Utah cracks women’s AP top 10 for 1st time; Gamecocks No. 1
South Carolina finished 2022 the way it began the yr: No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll.
While the top-ranked Gamecocks cruised to a win of their lone game last week, then-No. 4 Indiana, No. 6 N.C. State and No. 7 Virginia Tech all lost as they scrambled to interchange injured players.
There have been 22 losses by teams within the AP top 10 this season before Jan. 1. That was tied for probably the most up to now 23 years before January, matching the 2014-15 season, in accordance with ESPN. Seven of those losses got here to unranked teams, tied with 1999-2000 and 2004-05 for probably the most ever.
The Latest 12 months didn’t start off any higher for top teams as then-No. 10 UCLA lost to Oregon State.
“Probably the most difficult week putting together my poll in my 12 years as a voter,” ESPN analyst Deb Antonelli said in spite of everything the ranked-team losses last week. “I’m records, injuries, NET and my experienced eye as a basketball analyst, and it’s difficult. We wanted parity and we got it! It’s an awesome measurement of growth in game.”
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NYC machete attack: Man arrested on attempted murder charges
NEW YORK (AP) — A person accused of attacking police with a machete near Latest York’s Times Square on Latest 12 months’s Eve was arrested on charges of attempting to murder cops, authorities said Monday as they continued to analyze whether he was motivated by Islamic extremism.
Trevor Bickford, 19, also faces attempted assault charges from the attack that injured two officers at the sting of the high-security zone where throngs of latest yr’s revelers were gathered, the Latest York Police Department said in a news release.
Bickford, who lives in Wells, Maine, remained hospitalized Monday with a gunshot wound to the shoulder from police fire throughout the confrontation. He was awaiting arraignment, and it wasn’t immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak to the allegations. The Associated Press left messages for his relatives.
A law enforcement official acquainted with the matter told the AP on Sunday that investigators consider Bickford traveled to Latest York City earlier within the week. They’re examining whether he made the trip specifically to attack police on the Times Square festivities, the official said.
Latest York City police and federal officials are still trying to determine a motive, and investigators are reviewing Bickford’s online postings, which included some mentions of Islamic extremist views, the official said. The official couldn’t publicly discuss details concerning the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
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On the Supreme Court, it’s taking longer to listen to cases
WASHINGTON (AP) — When lawyers argue before the Supreme Court, a small white light goes on to inform them when their time is nearly expired after which a red light signals after they should stop. But arguments this term are extending well beyond the red light’s cue.
Arguments that typically lasted an hour within the morning have stretched well beyond two, and on many days it’s gone lunchtime before the court breaks.
The lengthy arguments must do with a change the justices have made to their argument style, a switch tied to the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the justices asking more questions. Justices have said up to now that lawyers’ written briefs, not oral arguments, most influence their decisions, so it’s unclear if the overtime is de facto helping them resolve cases. Whether that trend will proceed can be an open query.
In December, an argument about whether a Colorado graphic artist can refuse to create wedding web sites for same-sex couples lasted two hours and 25 minutes. And a crucial elections case that was scheduled for an hour and a half clocked in at two hours and 53 minutes. Already, a handful of arguments have been longer than any argument the high court heard within the term that resulted in June — and that term included major cases on abortion and guns.
Within the graphic artist case on Dec. 5, Justice Neil Gorsuch engaged in friendly banter with attorneys concerning the length of arguments.
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Transgender woman’s scheduled execution can be US first
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Unless Missouri Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency, Amber McLaughlin, 49, will turn into the primary transgender woman executed within the U.S. She is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday for killing a former girlfriend in 2003.
McLaughlin’s attorney, Larry Komp, said there aren’t any court appeals pending.
The clemency request focuses on several issues, including McLaughlin’s traumatic childhood and mental health issues, which the jury never heard in her trial. A foster parent rubbed feces in her face when she was a toddler and her adoptive father used a stun gun on her, in accordance with the clemency petition. It says she suffers from depression and attempted suicide multiple times.
The petition also includes reports citing a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a condition that causes anguish and other symptoms in consequence of a disparity between an individual’s gender identity and their assigned sex at birth.
“We predict Amber has demonstrated incredible courage because I can inform you there’s a number of hate with regards to that issue,” her attorney, Larry Komp, said Monday. But, he said, McLaughlin’s sexual identity is “not the foremost focus” of the clemency request.
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Rose Parade avoids California rain because it welcomes Latest 12 months
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Flower-covered floats, marching bands and equestrian units celebrated the Latest 12 months on a cold but dry Monday because the 134th Rose Parade slipped through a niche in California’s siege of drenching storms.
Pasadena’s annual floral spectacle offered the optimistic theme of “Turning the Corner” for 2023, and former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, who survived a 2011 shooting, served as grand marshal.
“The Latest 12 months is a time for renewal, a chance for a fresh start,” Tournament of Roses President Amy Wainscott told the tv audience.
The parade, which by tradition is held on Jan. 2 when Latest 12 months’s Day falls on a Sunday, kicked off with the Los Angeles band Fitz and the Tantrums! performing “Let Yourself Free” and a crowd-pleasing flyby of two U.S. Air Force B-1B jets.
Rain has rarely fallen on the parade, but this yr it got here close. Downpours pounded Southern California over the weekend and rain was expected to return by Monday evening, possibly affecting the Rose Bowl college football game between Utah and Penn State.
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Looted ancient sarcophagus returned to Egypt from US
CAIRO (AP) — An ancient wood sarcophagus that was featured on the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences was returned to Egypt after U.S. authorities determined it was looted years ago, Egyptian officials said Monday.
The repatriation is a component of Egyptian government efforts to stop the trafficking of its stolen antiquities. In 2021, authorities in Cairo succeeded in getting 5,300 stolen artifacts returned to Egypt from internationally.
Mostafa Waziri, the highest official on the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the sarcophagus dates back to the Late Dynastic Period of ancient Egypt, an era that spanned the last of the Pharaonic rulers from 664 B.C. until Alexander the Great’s campaign in 332 B.C.
The sarcophagus, almost 3 meters (9.5 feet) tall with a brightly painted top surface, could have belonged to an ancient priest named Ankhenmaat, though among the inscription on it has been erased, Waziri said.
It was symbolically handed over at a ceremony Monday in Cairo by Daniel Rubinstein, the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Egypt.
