By Ashley Strickland, CNN The tree of life grew in 2022 as California Academy of Sciences researchers and their international collaborators discovered 146 new animal, plant and fungi species. The previously unknown creatures and plants were found around the world, including the mountains of California, Australia’s Queensland state, the rocky peaks of Brazil and the
Continue Reading By Emma Tucker and Laura Ly, CNN The first public sales of regulated cannabis in New York began at a dispensary in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday at 4:20 p.m., hours after the first sale was made to a city official, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced. Housing Works Cannabis Company became the first licensed
Continue Reading By Amir Vera, Michelle Watson and Devon M. Sayers, CNN The FBI Atlanta field office is offering a $10,000 reward for information regarding a vandalism incident that took place at Georgia’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church Heritage Sanctuary this summer, the agency said in a news release Thursday. The church’s sanctuary was vandalized in the late
Continue Reading By Lauren del Valle, CNN The mastermind of a historic pay-to-play scheme for wealthy parents to get their teens into top universities is set to be sentenced next week. Prosecutors want William “Rick” Singer, the college admissions scam architect, to serve six years in prison and pay over $19 million in fines and asset forfeitures.
Continue Reading By Sharif Paget, Caroll Alvarado and Jeanne Bonner, CNN Abdul Sharifu, 26, left his home in Buffalo Saturday afternoon in blizzard conditions to get milk and other supplies. He never made it back. Sharifu is among at least 39 fatalities in Erie County, New York, from the winter storm that buried the city of Buffalo
Continue Reading By Sahar Akbarzai, Ehsan Popalzai and Jen Deaton, CNN A Kabul professor who tore up his diplomas live on television in Afghanistan in protest over the Taliban’s barring of women from higher education has been arrested. The man, named Ismail Mashal, is the founder of the private Mashal University in Kabul and also a lecturer
Continue Reading By Michelle Watson, CNN The massive hunt for missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari has been hampered by how late police in North Carolina were notified of her disappearance, Cornelius police Capt. Jennifer Thompson said in a video update. “One of the challenges in this case, simply put, we were not notified she was gone,” said Thompson.
Continue Reading By Olga Voitovych, Eliza Mackintosh, Daria Markina-Tarasova and Dima Olenchenko, CNN Explosions rattled villages and cities across Ukraine on Thursday, damaging civilian infrastructure and killing at least three people in what Kyiv has called one of Moscow’s biggest missile barrages since the war began in February. Authorities have been cautioning for days that Russia was
Continue Reading By AJ Willingham, CNN Twenty-two years ago, humanity was teetering on the fulcrum of a new era. Our love affair with technology still felt glamorous and new, the internet a vast frontier full of danger and promise. Yes, we knew there may be troubles down the road, but the consequences of climate change and geopolitical
Continue Reading By Angela Fritz, CNN Lakefront homes in Ontario were encased in a thick, spiky coat of ice after last weekend’s blizzard whipped frigid waves on shore. Residents of the Fort Erie community, coincidentally named Crystal Beach, said the waves were crashing over their Lake Erie break wall during the storm. “Then the water has frozen
Continue Reading By Elizabeth Wolfe and Andy Rose, CNN A former Minneapolis police officer is charged with assaulting a man during nighttime civil unrest following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, according to a complaint filed Wednesday. Former officer Justin Stetson is accused of repeatedly punching, kicking and kneeing Jaleel Stallings in the head and
Continue Reading By Rob Picheta, Hadas Gold and Amir Tal, CNN Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday completed a dramatic return as Israel’s prime minister, after being sworn in as the leader of what is likely to be the country’s most right-wing government in history. Netanyahu and his government were sworn in on Thursday for his sixth term as prime
Continue Reading By Paradise Afshar and Dakin Andone, CNN Patrick Holland had only been on the heart transplant list for a few weeks when he said he got a call last Thursday from the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle that a donor match had been found. The 56-year-old Alaska man, who has congestive heart failure,
Continue Reading By Delia Gallagher, CNN Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is “lucid and vigilant” but his condition remains serious, the Vatican said Thursday in an update on the former pontiff’s health. “He is absolutely lucid and vigilant and today while his condition remains serious, the situation at the moment is stable,” Vatican press office director Matteo Bruni
Continue Reading By Sophie Tanno, CNN The United Nations announced Wednesday it has suspended some of its “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers. In a joint statement released by UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and other humanitarian groups, it warned that further activities will likely need to be
Continue Reading By Paradise Afshar and Dakin Andone, CNN Patrick Holland had only been on the heart transplant list for a few weeks when he said he got a call last Thursday from the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle that a donor match had been found. The 56-year-old Alaska man, who has congestive heart failure,
Continue Reading By Paradise Afshar, CNN An Alaska man with congestive heart failure says he missed out on a chance to get a new heart for Christmas when last week’s winter storm battered much of the US, leading to thousands of flight cancellations. Patrick Holland, 56, had only been on the transplant list for a few weeks
Continue Reading By Sophia Saifi and Rhea Mogul, CNN A court in Pakistan on Monday freed a convicted rapist after it was “agreed” he would marry his victim, his lawyer said, enraging rights activists who say the ruling risks normalizing sexual violence in the South Asian country. Daulat Khan, 23, was convicted in May of raping the
Continue Reading By Yin Soeum, Kocha Olarn and Heather Chen, CNN The death toll has risen to 24 following a huge fire that engulfed a casino complex in Cambodia as search and rescue operations resumed Friday with dozens still unaccounted for, according to authorities. Banteay Meanchey province spokesman Sek Sokhom told CNN that officials were now working
Continue Reading By Jessie Yeung and Jennie Chen, CNN One person was killed during a massive pileup involving more than 200 vehicles in the central Chinese city Zhengzhou on Wednesday, according to state media. The pileup took place on a bridge that was shrouded in heavy morning fog, which caused multiple vehicles to crash, according to state-owned
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