North America

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio doctor accused of ordering drug overdoses in the deaths of 25 hospital patients has sued his former employer for defamation, arguing that he did nothing wrong and did not deviate from hospital policy on end-of-life care.

Dr. William Husel, who is accused of murder, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Franklin County against the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System and its parent organization, Trinity Health Corp.

ATLANTA (AP) — A small plane en route to a college football playoff game crashed into a post office parking lot in Louisiana shortly after takeoff Saturday, killing five people, including a well-known sports reporter who was the daughter-in-law of one of the team’s coaches.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump retweeted a post that included the alleged name of the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment by the House.

Just before midnight Friday, Trump retweeted a message from Twitter user @Surfermom77, an account that claims to be a woman named Sophia who lives in California. The account shows some indications of automation, including an unusually high amount of activity and profile pictures featuring stock images from the internet.

MONSEY, N.Y. (AP) — A man attacked a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home north of New York City late Saturday, stabbing and wounding five people before fleeing in a vehicle, police said.

The attack appeared to be the latest in a string targeting Jews in the region, including a massacre at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey earlier this month.

Police said the stabbings happened at around 10 p.m. in Monsey, one of several Hudson Valley towns that have seen an influx in large numbers of Hasidic Jews in recent years.

28 December 2019; AFP: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday slammed Iran for using "violence" and censorship to prevent memorials for those killed during the suppression of recent protests.

Protests broke out on November 15 across Iran, whose economy has suffered under sweeping sanctions from the United States, after the government abruptly hiked fuel prices.

28 December 2019; AFP: The Mars 2020 rover, which sets off for the Red Planet next year, will not only search for traces of ancient life, but pave the way for future human missions, NASA scientists said Friday as they unveiled the vehicle.

The rover has been constructed in a large, sterile room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, where its driving equipment was given its first successful test last week.

28 December 2019; AFP: The United Nations General Assembly on Friday approved a resolution extending the investigation into the mysterious 1961 death of secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold.

The Swedish diplomat had been traveling in southern Africa for a mission when his plane crashed.

The text, initiated by Sweden and co-sponsored by more than 100 countries, was adopted by consensus without a vote.

MEXICO CITY/LA PAZ (Reuters) - Mexico’s government said Bolivian police had impeded the departure of Spanish officials visiting the Mexican ambassador in La Paz on Friday, widening a spat over Bolivia’s surveillance of its diplomatic facilities that has rumbled on for days.

Two Spanish diplomats were about to leave the Mexican ambassador’s residence when they were told their cars had been detained some minutes away and would not be allowed to re-enter the compound, Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States is looking at ways to cooperate with Mexico on customs along their border to curb flows of illicit arms, drugs and money, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico said on Friday.

Speaking after what he called a fruitful meeting with Mexico’s finance ministry, Ambassador Christopher Landau said that U.S. Attorney General William Barr would visit Mexico next month to discuss cooperation.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The General Assembly on Friday approved an annual regular budget for the United Nations, in its first annual planning and budgeting in 45 years.

The budget for 2020 is 3.074 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 2.849 billion dollars for 2019.

Since 1974, the UN budget had been prepared every two years.

The regular budget covers UN activities across a range of areas, including political affairs, international justice and law, regional cooperation for development, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and public information.