A Mississippi man pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal hate crime charge in connection with a group of young men and teenagers that carried out racial attacks against African-Americans in 2011.
Joseph Dominick, 21, from Brandon, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi, to one count of conspiracy to commit federal hate crimes.
Dominick and others began in the spring of 2011 to harass and assault African-Americans in Jackson and the surrounding area, according to the FBI.
In one case, Dominick was part of a group that used a sling shot to hurl metal ball bearings at several African-Americans, a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice said. The young men also threw glass beer bottles at African-Americans, the news release said.
On June 25, 2011, Dominick attended a party in Puckett, about 45 minutes from Jackson, where members of the group discussed going to the Mississippi capital to find African-Americans to harass, authorities said. While seven white men went in two trucks that night to Jackson, Dominick wasn't among them.
James Craig Anderson, 47, a black man, died after he was beaten and run over in the early morning hours of June 26, 2011. The truck was driven by Deryl Dedmon, a member of the group, prosecutors said.
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[Posted at 2:43 p.m. ET] We've just gotten a statement from BP with their reaction to the Transocean fine. BP agreed in November to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay penalties in relation to the incident.
"Today's settlement between Transocean and the United States underscores what every official investigation has found: that the Deepwater Horizon accident resulted from multiple causes, involving multiple parties.
In settling, Transocean has acknowledged that it played a significant role and has responsibility for the accident. Transocean is finally starting, more than two-and-a-half years after the accident, to do its part for the Gulf Coast.
Unfortunately, Halliburton continues to deny its significant role in the accident, including its failure to adequately cement and monitor the well."
[Posted at 1:00 p.m. ET] Offshore drilling firm Transocean will pay $1.4 billion in fines and penalties in connection with the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Transocean owned and provided a crew for the Deepwater Horizon rig, where an explosion in 2010 killed 11 men and triggered the worst maritime oil spill in U.S. history. The well was capped three months later, but not before millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf.
Transocean was contracted by BP, which leased the rig and directed staff onboard. BP agreed in November to plead guilty to criminal charges in connection with the incident and pay $4.5 billion in government penalties.
FULL STORYAbby Swansiger was a little nervous about heading back to school for the first time since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, so she asked her mom to come with her.
Sarah Swansiger said that things went off without a hitch in her daughter's kindergarten class, and everyone was making sure parents and kids felt comfortable at their new school.
"Honestly, it was like the first day of school," Swansiger said, noting there were a few things that were different. "There were counselors; there were therapy dogs. There was a little bit of anxiety, but everyone was ready to get back in the swing of things."
It appears House Speaker John Boehner was right - he had no reason to worry about being re-elected to his post this year.
There were certainly rumbles and grumbling after furor that there was no vote on Sandy aid during the fiscal cliff. That prompted some GOP members to speak out with extremely harsh words about Boehner. That anger was quickly defused after Boehner promised a vote would take place on that aid this Friday.
A few republicans chose to at least make a symbolic statement during today's vote: either by not voting for Boehner or nominating someone else. (One member nominated Colin Powell. Yes, non-members can actually serve if they have enough votes.)
Still, with the votes from 220 members, Boehner will again lead the House and the Republican majority.
Read more about some of the drama that has surrounded Boehner lately:
Christie: Boehner wouldn't take my calls
Republicans pledge to back Boehner, reversing earlier outrage
[Updated, 1:39 p.m. ET] The number of people killed Thursday in Syria amid the civil war there has reached 131, including 14 children,
according to the Local Coordination Committee in Syria, a Syrian based opposition activist network.
Fifty-six of those killed were in the Damascus suburbs, according to the network.
[Initial post, 12:21 p.m. ET] One hundred seventeen people were killed across Syria Thursday amid that country's civil war, according to the Local Coordination Committee in Syria, a Syrian based opposition activist network.
Thursday's reported death toll came a day after the United Nations said Syria's overall death toll since March 2011 surpassed an estimated 60,000 people.
It is a new day on Capitol Hill and a new session.
And along with a slew of items to deal with there are some important changes going on: specifically your new lawmakers. This year sees more women and more Latinos in our chambers than ever.
And right now, happening live on CNN, Vice President Joe Biden is swearing in those that will become new senators.
Britain extradited a man wanted by U.S. authorities for alleged terrorism offenses Thursday, police in London said, more than two years after he was detained.
Abid Naseer, 26, was put on a plane bound for the United States at Luton Airport, north of London, after having been handed over to U.S. officials.
Naseer, a Pakistani national, was arrested in northern England in July 2010 by British police officers acting on a provisional extradition arrest warrant issued at the request of the U.S. government.
He had been held at London's high-security Belmarsh prison since his arrest, London's Metropolitan Police said.
U.S. authorities want him to stand trial on charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to provide material support to such an organization, and conspiracy to use a destructive device.
FULL STORYA first step towards normalcy and a first step towards healing. That's what parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School are hoping for today as they drop their kids off at school for the first time since an unimaginable tragedy.
Many things will be different for these kids. They won't be attending Sandy Hook Elementary, which police say remains part of an ongoing investigation into Adam Lanza, the gunman who also killed his mother before opening fire at the school and killing 20 children and six adults.
Instead the children are expected to travel to Chalk Hill Middle School in the nearby town of Monroe, where a green-and-white banner greeting the children hangs on a fence. There will also be other familiar items to welcome the kids: furniture and rugs like the ones in their old school. And then there are the security changes: more cameras and locks.
All of those are steps officials across the state of Connecticut have helped make happen in hopes of making school a welcoming place for these children again.
Five men accused of gang-raping a 23-year-old Indian woman on a New Dehli bus have been formally charged with rape, murder and kidnapping, senior police official Suman Nalwa told CNN.
The attack on the woman, who died from severe injuries last week, has appalled and enraged many Indians, prompting widespread debate over the way the country handles sexual assaults and the treatment of women in Indian society. The trial is expected to begin this week.
iReport: What's your reaction to how India handles sexual assaults?
Two suspected U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan left 15 people dead, including an anti-U.S. Taliban commander, multiple Pakistani intelligence officials told CNN Thursday.
The first attack, by a drone that fired two missiles, targeted 11 suspected militants in South Waziristan, a tribal area on the border with Afghanistan. Mullah Nazir, a Taliban commander, was killed in the strike, along with 10 others, intelligence officials said.
A second attack left four more people dead in North Waziristan, including Pakistan Taliban commander Shah Faisal, intelligence officials confirmed.
President Barack Obama has signed into law the bill to avert the fiscal cliff.
The new law preserves the Bush-era tax cuts for individuals earning less than $400,000 and couples making less than $450,000 per year, and extends unemployment benefits.
The Senate passed the bill Tuesday morning and the House passed it Tuesday night.
The White House received a copy of the bill late Wednesday afternoon, a senior administration official told CNN. Obama, on vacation with his family in Hawaii, directed the bill be signed by autopen.
How they voted: House | Senate
Is the autopen legal? Read the Justice Department's opinion (pdf).
[Update, 6:31 p.m. ET] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was discharged Wednesday evening from New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she'd been admitted Sunday because of a blood clot, the State Department said.
"Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery," the department said. "She's eager to get back to the office, and we will keep you updated on her schedule as it becomes clearer in the coming days. Both she and her family would like to express their appreciation for the excellent care she received from the doctors, nurses and staff at New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center.
[Update, 5:50 p.m. ET] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's office hasn't issued a statement saying that she had been released from New York Presbyterian Hospital.
CNN staff outside the hospital had seen Clinton, her husband and daughter get into a van outside the hospital on Wednesday.
[Initial post, 4:13 p.m. ET] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has left New York Presbyterian Hospital, according to CNN staff at the scene.
Clinton had been admitted Sunday due to a blood clot that was discovered during a follow-up exam related to a concussion she suffered last month.
FULL STORYU.S. House Speaker John Boehner has assured lawmakers that the House will vote on $60 billion in aid related to Superstorm Sandy by January 15, a group of lawmakers from New York and New Jersey told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
The announcement came hours after those same lawmakers began expressing dismay that Boehner, as the 112th Congress was winding up Tuesday night, declined to put to a vote a similar aid bill that the Senate had passed.
The lawmakers met with Boehner Wednesday afternoon and then made the announcement.
"As far as I'm concerned ... it was an extremely positive" meeting, said U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, who earlier Wednesday called Boehner's Tuesday move a "knife in the back."
The new, 113th Congress will be sworn in on Thursday.
FULL STORY[Update 3:57 p.m.] U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has assured lawmakers that the House will vote on $60 billion in aid related to Superstorm Sandy by January 15, a group of lawmakers from New York and New Jersey told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
[Initial post, 2:22 p.m.] New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he doesn't know why House Speaker John Boehner didn't allow a vote on a $60 billion aid package to help Superstorm Sandy victims Tuesday or Wednesday, but he's steamed about it.
"There's only one group to blame for the continued suffering" of Sandy victims, and that's Boehner and the House Republican leadership, Christie told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
“Shame on you. Shame on Congress,” Christie, a Republican, said.
It may only be a small update, but it seems we have a bit of good news about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's current health.
Clinton has been speaking with her staff and is active on the phone from the New York hospital where she's being treated for a blood clot between her skull and brain, according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Nuland told reporters at an off-camera briefing Wednesday that there is nothing new to report about Clinton's condition and treatment beyond the Monday statement from her doctors.
Gunmen have kidnapped an American journalist in Syria, the journalist's family announced Wednesday.
Freelancer James Foley was taken in northwest Syria on November 22, Thanksgiving Day in America, his family said, adding it decided to make his capture public now in the hope that media attention will increase the odds he'll be released unharmed.
"We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he's OK," said the journalist's father, John Foley. "Jim is an objective journalist and we appeal for the release of Jim unharmed. To the people who have Jim, please contact us so we can work together toward his release."
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[Updated at 11:32 a.m. ET] The state of Pennsylvania will file a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking to have a judge throw out all sanctions the association levied against Penn State University in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Wednesday.
Corbett (pictured) said the penalties – a $60 million fine, a four-year ban on bowl games, football scholarship reductions, and the stripping of 14 seasons of football victories under late head coach Joe Paterno – were unfair to the university, its students, and Pennsylvania citizens because the Sandusky criminal matter already is being handled in courts.
The NCAA "piled on ... (punishing) the citizens of Pennsylvania, who had nothing to do with these crimes," Corbett said.
"These sanctions are an attack on the past, present and future students of Penn State, the citizens of our commonwealth and our economy. As governor of this commonwealth, I cannot and will not stand by and let it happen without a fight," Corbett said.
He said the NCAA's actions were unlawful and overreaching, and that it essentially forced Penn State to accept the sanctions under the threat that if the school didn't accept them, the NCAA would impose on the football program a "death penalty" – a suspension from play of a year or more.
The NCAA levied the penalties last July.
FULL STORYThe son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been found dead in Malibu, California, according to a spokesman for the team.
Scott Sterling, 32, was reported dead at 12:42 a.m. PT on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office.
Sheriff's officers and the coroner's office believe he died of an "apparent drug overdose," according to a press release.
He was discovered by officers who were sent to the home and later pronounced dead by paramedics.
Donald and Shelly Sterling issued a statement later Wednesday in which they thanked supporters for their sympathy and asked for privacy as they mourn their son.
"Our son Scott has fought a long and valiant battle against Type 1 Diabetes. His death is a terrible tragedy, the effects of which will be felt forever by our family and all those who knew and loved him," the statement said.
Clippers President Andy Roeser offered condolences to the family in a news release.
"Today the thoughts and prayers of our organization go out to Donald T. and Shelly Sterling and their children Chris and Joanna, in the wake of this tragic loss. Scott was a friend to many in the Clippers' family and he will be greatly missed."
NBA Commissioner David Stern also expressed sympathy.
"On behalf of the NBA family, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Donald and Shelly Sterling on the loss of their son Scott," he said in a statement.
At least 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said on Wednesday, based on an analysis conducted by the U.N. Human Rights Office.
Dozens of people were killed and wounded after a Syrian government air raid at a fuel station in a Damascus suburb, the Local Coordination Committee of Syria reported.
There is no firm death toll at the moment, according to the Syria-based opposition activist network, but we'll bring you the latest information as soon as we get it.
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