Killer with rare condition facing 'one of most gruesome executions' in US history

A killer due to be executed in Missouri could get a last minute reprieve because of a rare condition that would cause him a “gruesome” death.Russell “Rusty” Bucklew was due to be put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday evening for crimes including murder, kidnapping and rape.

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First GOP member of Congress voices support for Trump impeachment inquiry

Rep. Mark Amodei on Friday became the first Republican member of Congress to publicly support the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

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A student at Karen Pence's school alleged students cut her dreadlocks. She just took it back.

The Virginia private school student who claimed three classmates pinned her down and forcibly cut off her dreadlocks has now retracted the story.Reports emerged last week about an allegation from 12-year-old Amari Allen, who is black, that three white sixth-grade boys pinned her down during recess at Immanuel Christian School and cut her dreadlocks while saying "my hair was nappy and I was ugly and I shouldn't have been born," as she told The Washington Post. The story quickly went viral online in part because second lady Karen Pence teaches art part time at the school.But the Post now reports Allen has told the school that this incident, which was being investigated by the Fairfax County Police Department, did not happen, with her family apologizing in a statement. "To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school," Allen's grandparents said in a statement. "To the broader community, who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust."The principal of the school, Stephen Danish, confirmed that Allen now says the allegations are false, saying, "We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing."

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Missouri executes killer despite concern about painful death

A Missouri man was executed Tuesday for killing a man during a violent 1996 crime spree, despite concerns that the inmate's rare medical condition would cause a gruesome lethal injection. Russell Bucklew was executed at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It was Missouri's first execution since January 2017.

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Stranded Asylum Seekers Ask Appeals Court to Let Them In

(Bloomberg) -- Central Americans seeking asylum in the U.S. said they’ve waited long enough in Mexico for their applications to be assessed under a Trump administration policy they call unlawful.On Tuesday, their advocates asked the federal appeals court in San Francisco to rule that the policy is illegal. Such a ruling would open the border gates to about 45,000 people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.The three-judge panel didn’t decide whether to uphold a judge’s ruling to block the “forced return” policy, as the ACLU asked, but it expressed concern why the government doesn’t ask immigrants whether they had any fears about being sent back to Mexico. It’s standard practice for asylum seekers to be asked if they are fearful of returning to their home countries.The appeals court previously has allowed the policy to remain in effect during the litigation -- which the ACLU says is endangering the tens of thousands of people.“Individuals returned to Mexico are sent to areas with some of the highest murder rates in the world,” the ACLU said in a court filing. “They face extreme dangers -- killings, kidnappings, sexual assault, robbery, and other forms of violence -- from cartels, the gangs they fled their home countries to escape, corrupt government officials, and an anti-migrant sentiment.”The lawsuit is one of the many fronts on which immigrant rights’ advocates have been battling the administration’s efforts to block entry to the swelling number of migrants from Central American countries.The government also is trying to stop people from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they didn’t make such an application in another country on their way to the U.S. -- so a person from El Salvador should have applied for asylum in Guatemala, or Mexico, according to the U.S.In another case the appeals court heard Tuesday, the U.S. is seeking to overturn a judge’s decision that found it was illegal to require asylum seekers to apply only at official border crossings.An appeals panel in December rejected the government’s request to put the judge’s ruling on hold while the case was tried. The panel said it was likely the rule was “arbitrary and capricious.”The cases are: East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump, 18-17274, and Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan, 19-15716, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District (San Francisco).(Updates with hearing in second paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Steve StrothFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Hunter Biden's work in Ukraine is a problem, but not just for Democrats

The former vice president's son sat on the board of directors of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings. Does that matter?

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People's Views of China Are Mixed, According to Global Study

The People's Republic of China celebrates its 70th anniversary on Tuesday, and the views of the country by people around the world are mixed, according to new research by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. Negative views of China have turned most sharply turned negative in North America, Western Europe and across the Asia-Pacific, while positive views of the East Asian giant were recorded in Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, according to the report, released on Monday. Overall, a median of 41% in a total of 32 countries included in the Pew Global Attitudes survey expressed a favorable opinion of China, while a median of 37% said they had an unfavorable opinion.

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'She completely objectified me': Husband of 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren jokes about how his relationship with the senator began

The 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren and her husband participated in the couple's first joint interview since the beginning of her campaign.

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China’s new missiles could reach U.S. in 30 minutes

Military planners in Washington and elsewhere will be taking note of new missile technology displayed by China, particularly a hypersonic ballistic nuclear missile believed capable of breaching all existing anti-missile shields deployed by the U.S. and its allies.

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Meghan Markle stuns in Banana Republic trench dress while on royal tour

Meghan Markle stepped out solo Tuesday morning on the second to last day of the royals' South African tour.

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