Arrest warrant out for Powerball winner
Pedro Quezada's jackpot check may be a little smaller than he expected.
March 28th, 2013
09:26 PM ET

Arrest warrant out for Powerball winner

The New Jersey man who won $338 million in the Powerball lottery last weekend is wanted on charges of unpaid child support, according to the Passaic County Sheriff's Office.
An arrest warrant was issued for Pedro Quezada in 2009, the sheriff's office said. He has five children ages 5-23 and owes a total of $29,000 in back child support, spokesman William Maer said. It is not clear which children the payments are for.

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Filed under: Justice • Lotto • New Jersey • U.S.
March 28th, 2013
07:10 PM ET

4 arrested in rapes of Gaza-bound aid workers

Four suspects have been arrested in Benghazi, Libya, following the alleged rape and kidnapping of two British-Pakistani women who were part of an aid convoy bound for Gaza, the Libyan Ministry of Interior said Thursday.

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Filed under: Crime • Gaza • Libya • Pakistan • United Kingdom • World
March 28th, 2013
06:26 PM ET

U.N. to send peacekeepers to DRC

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to deploy about 3,100 peacekeepers to a restive region in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. announced.

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Filed under: Africa • Democratic Republic of Congo • United Nations • World
March 28th, 2013
06:22 PM ET

North Korea OKs plan to aim rockets at U.S.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has signed off on a plan to prepare rockets to be on standby for firing at U.S. targets, including the U.S. mainland and military bases in the Pacific and in South Korea, state media reported Thursday.

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Filed under: Kim Jong Un • Military • National security • North Korea • South Korea • World
Colorado suspect had 28 violations in prison
The gun Evan Ebel used in a shootout with Texas police has been linked to a prison official's killing in Colorado.
March 28th, 2013
05:41 PM ET

Colorado suspect had 28 violations in prison

Evan Ebel, the man suspected of killing the head of the Colorado prison system, was written up for 28 violations during his incarceration in the state, according to records released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Ebel said he would make the guard "beg for her life" if he ever saw her on the streets, records indicate. He also was involved in two fights and three cases of assault and was written up for 28 violations during his imprisonment, the reports said.

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Filed under: Colorado • Crime • Texas
March 28th, 2013
04:49 PM ET

France to reduce force in Mali

France will cut its troop levels in the west African nation of Mali from 4,000 service members to about 1,000 by the end of the year, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday evening during a live interview with CNN affiliate France 2.

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Filed under: Africa • France • Mali • World
March 28th, 2013
04:47 PM ET

FBI: Cruise passenger had heart disease

The 64-year-old woman who died last weekend on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship had heart disease, the FBI said Thursday.

Katherine Kennedy was found by her husband in their cabin Sunday, Royal Caribbean said.

The couple was traveling on the Enchantment of the Seas, which was on a seven-day voyage from Baltimore to Florida and the Bahamas.

On Thursday, the FBI said the medical examiner found a cut on Kennedy's head, which likely occurred when she fell.

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Filed under: Maryland • Travel • U.S.
March 28th, 2013
04:33 PM ET

Italian leftist fails to form government

With Italy mired in post-election gridlock, Pier Luigi Bersani told Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday that he has been unable to form a new government, state news agency ANSA reported.

Bersani fared the best in the February elections by leading a leftist coalition to a small majority in the lower house of parliament. But he was unable to win a majority in the Senate.

Instead, power in the Senate was divided between Bersani and the center-right coalition of his rival, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which is anchored by his party, Popolo della Liberta, or People of Freedom.

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Filed under: Italy • Silvio Berlusconi • World
March 28th, 2013
04:30 PM ET

Air Force general nominated to lead NATO

President Barack Obama has nominated Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove to be the next commander of NATO and commander of the U.S. armed forces in Europe, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced Thursday.

Breedlove has been the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa. He has been in the Air Force since graduating from Georgia Tech in 1977.

The current NATO commander, U.S. Adm. James Stavridis, is scheduled to retire this summer.

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Filed under: Europe • Military • NATO • U.S. Air Force
March 28th, 2013
02:25 PM ET

Official: Colo. suspect had tracking device

The 28-year-old convict suspected of shooting to death Colorado's prison chief left prison wearing an ankle bracelet tracking device when he was paroled, according to a Colorado law enforcement official who has examined Evan Ebel's prison case file.

While that new detail emerged Thursday, a 22-year-old woman police say is connected to the case appeared in court.

Stevie Marie Vigil of Commerce City made a "straw purchase" from a weapons dealer and gave the gun to Evan Ebel, a convicted felon who could not purchase his own firearm, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements was shot to death at his home outside Colorado Springs on March 19. Ebel, 28, was killed two days later in northern Texas in a gun battle with authorities that left a sheriff's deputy wounded.

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Filed under: Colorado • Crime
Newtown probe: Shooting took under 5 minutes
Authorities say Adam Lanza killed himself after killing 20 students and six women at a Connecticut elementary school.
March 28th, 2013
01:51 PM ET

Newtown probe: Shooting took under 5 minutes

  • Prosecutors release new documents related to December's shootings at school in Newtown, Connecticut
  • Documents: Investigators found a gun safe in shooter Adam Lanza's room
  • Documents: 1,600 rounds of ammunition found in Lanza's home
  • Police say Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother, then 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut before killing himself
  • People who knew Lanza described him as quiet, smart, socially awkward. Connecticut's medical examiner has said he was told that Lanza had Asperger's syndrome.
  • Live updates below. Also, read the full story; and see the documents

[Updated at 1:51 p.m. ET] This live blog is wrapping up, but please check out our full story for the latest about today's document release.

[Updated at 1:48 p.m. ET] One of the warrants released Thursday cites an interview with a person who said that Lanza rarely left his home, that he was a shut-in, "and an avid gamer who plays Call of Duty, amongst other games." "Call of Duty" is a military-style war game.

In the house, according to the documents, were several books - one titled "NRA guide to the basics of pistol shooting," another about Asperger syndrome and one on autism. Both are developmental disorders that are not typically associated with violence.

Police also found a 2008 New York Times article about a shooting at Northern Illinois University. Police took from the house an NRA certificate for Nancy Lanza, a receipt for a shooting range in Oklahoma, a book titled "Train your brain to get happy," and three photographs "of what appears to be a deceased human covered with plastic and what appears to be blood."

As noted below, the NRA issued a statement today saying neither Lanza nor his mother were members.

[Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET] The main details of the shooting have long been known: The carnage began on the morning of December 14, when Lanza fatally shot his 52-year-old mother, Nancy Lanza, with a .22 caliber rifle.

But some of the details are new. "There was no indication of a struggle," according to a statement from Stephen J. Sedensky III, state's attorney for the judicial district of Danbury. The statement came with Thursday's release of five search warrants and related documents.

Lanza shot his mother in the forehead, one of the search warrants says.

Laden with weapons and ammunition, Lanza then went to the elementary school, shooting his way into the building where he killed the 26 victims with a Bushmaster .223 caliber model XM15 rifle, according to Sedensky.

The rampage ended when Lanza, using a Glock 10 mm handgun, shot himself.

Attached to the rifle police found a 30-round capacity magazine that still had 14 bullets Sedensky said, and a search of Lanza's body found that he was carrying more ammunition for the handguns as well as three more 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster, each fully loaded.

"Located in the area of the shootings were six additional 30-round magazines," Sedensky said in his statement, three of them empty and the others holding 10, 11, and 13 rounds. Police found 154 spent .223 caliber casings at the school.

All of the guns appear to have been bought by Lanza's mother, the state's attorney said.

[Updated at 12:59 p.m. ET] We've gotten all the documents together in one place. Here are the documents that Connecticut prosecutors released today in the Newtown investigation.

[Updated at 12:35 p.m. ET] Back to today's Newtown document release. The National Rifle Association has issued a statement, apparently reacting to what the papers say about investigators finding NRA certificates for Lanza and his mother, Nancy.

"There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association," the NRA statement said. "Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory."

This page from one of the search warrants released in the Newtown case Thursday mentions investigators found an "Adam Lanza National Rifle Association certificate."

FULL POST

March 28th, 2013
07:42 AM ET

Thursday's live events

Watch CNN.com Live for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008.

Today's programming highlights...

11:40 am ET - Obama talks gun violence - President Obama will call on Congress to pass "common sense" measures on gun violence in remarks at the White House.

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Filed under: Barack Obama • Crime • Gun violence • Justice • On CNN.com today • Politics
South Africa judge lifts travel ban on Pistorius
Authorities charged Oscar Pistorius with premeditated murder last month after he shot Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home.
March 28th, 2013
07:30 AM ET

South Africa judge lifts travel ban on Pistorius

South African track star Oscar Pistorius, charged with murder in the slaying of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, is once more allowed to travel overseas after a judge lifted a bail condition Thursday restricting his movements.

Judge Bert Bam said Pistorius could hand over his passport to his attorney and was entitled to use it to travel outside South Africa.

He should report his itinerary a week before leaving, Bam said.

Authorities charged Pistorius with premeditated murder last month after he shot Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on February 14.

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March 28th, 2013
06:27 AM ET

Mandela back in hospital with lung infection

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is conscious after his admission to a hospital for a recurring lung infection, the president's office said Thursday.

Mandela, 94, was admitted to the hospital just before midnight Wednesday, his second hospitalization this month.

The anti-apartheid icon and nation's first black president has become increasingly frail over the years, and he has not appeared in public since 2010.

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Woman arrested in Colorado prison chief case
March 28th, 2013
03:40 AM ET

Woman arrested in Colorado prison chief case

A 22-year-old woman is accused of buying the weapon used to kill Colorado prison chief Tom Clements last week and funneling the weapon to the alleged gunman.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Stevie Marie Vigil of Commerce City, Colorado, was arrested Wednesday night. Authorities say she made a "straw purchase" from a weapons dealer and transferred the weapon to Evan Ebel, a convicted felon who could not purchase his own firearm.

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Filed under: Colorado • Crime • Justice • U.S.
Documents to be released in Conn. shooting
March 28th, 2013
03:38 AM ET

Documents to be released in Conn. shooting

There has been much speculation over what was going on in Adam Lanza's head when he walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, with an assault rifle in December and opened fire on small children.

Thursday morning state prosecutors are planning to release new documents in the case, but it may not shed more light on the reasons for the mass shooting.

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Miami Heat's 27-game win streak over
LeBron James and the Miami Heat saw their winning streak end at 27 games with at 101-97 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
March 27th, 2013
11:17 PM ET

Miami Heat's 27-game win streak over

The Miami Heat's 27-game win streak ended Wednesday night with a 101-97 loss to the Chicago Bulls.

The 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers' run of 33 straight consecutive victories remains the NBA record.

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Filed under: Basketball • Florida • NBA • Sports
Theater shooting suspect offers plea deal
Prosecutors rejected James Holmes' offer to plead guilty.
March 27th, 2013
05:58 PM ET

Theater shooting suspect offers plea deal

Aurora, Colorado, shooting suspect James Holmes has offered to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life behind bars in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Prosecutors have not accepted the offer because they may choose to pursue the death penalty. Prosecutors have said they will make a decision on whether or not to seek the death penalty against the 25-year-old Holmes at a hearing April 1.

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Filed under: Colorado • Crime • Gun violence • Justice • U.S.
March 27th, 2013
05:35 PM ET

Obama to visit Mexico

U.S. President Barack Obama will head to Mexico in May, officials said.

Obama accepted Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's invitation to visit Wednesday morning, Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Obama will travel to Mexico during the first week in May to discuss a variety of issues with Pena Nieto, the statement said.

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Filed under: Barack Obama • Mexico • Politics • World
Judge OKs big airline merger
US Airways and United Airlines are working on a merger.
March 27th, 2013
05:32 PM ET

Judge OKs big airline merger

A federal bankruptcy judge gave approval on Wednesday for US Airways and American Airlines to proceed with their planned merger, according to a source familiar with the situation.

US Airways and American Airlines announced plans last month to join forces in an $11 billion deal to create the world's largest airline.

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Filed under: Air travel • Business • Courts • U.S.
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