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Northern Star

Northern Illinois University’s student media since 1899

 

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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Man pleads guilty to running service that offered child porn

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN | February 6, 2020

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A man who spent years fighting his extradition from Ireland to the U.S. pleaded guilty Thursday in a Maryland courtroom to operating a web hosting service that allowed users to anonymously access more than 1 million files of child...

Experts ponder human error in Italian high-speed train crash

By ANTONIO CALANI and LUCA BRUNO | February 6, 2020

OSPEDALETTO LODIGIANO, Italy (AP) — A high-speed passenger train derailed in northern Italy before dawn Thursday, killing two railway workers and injuring 28 other people as its engine broke off and careened into a work vehicle on a adjacent track....

Illinois woman gives $45 million to St. Louis Opera Theatre

February 6, 2020

WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. (AP) — An Illinois woman has left a $45 million bequest to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, which will more than double the company's endowment fund, the company announced Thursday.The gift from Phyllis Hernden Brissenden, of Springfield,...

Brawl breaks out as Ukraine’s lawmakers debate land reform

February 6, 2020

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Ukraine's parliament is debating a proposed law to allow sales of the country's rich farmland, a high-tension issue that sparked a brawl among lawmakers Thursday.Proponents say that allowing sales of farmland that are currently...

Ill Cali cartel drug kingpin seeks early prison release

By CURT ANDERSON | February 6, 2020

MIAMI (AP) — One of the world's major cocaine kingpins, a co-founder of Colombia's Cali Cartel that smuggled some $2 billion in drugs to the U.S., is seeking compassionate early release from a federal prison because of ill health.Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela,...

Lawyers to ICC: Free Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo unconditionally

By MIKE CORDER | February 6, 2020

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court judges should scrap conditions of release imposed on Ivory Coast's former president, his lawyers argued Thursday in a move they hope will free Laurent Gbagbo to return home during a tense election...

Universities cancel study-abroad programs amid virus fears

By MICHAEL MELIA and KANTELE FRANKO | February 6, 2020

As concerns about China's virus outbreak spread, universities are scrambling to assess the risks to their programs, and some are canceling study-abroad opportunities and prohibiting travel affecting hundreds of thousands of students.From Europe to Australia...

NASA’s record-setting Koch, crewmates safely back from space

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | February 6, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who spent nearly 11 months in orbit to set a record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, landed safely Thursday in Kazakhstan along with two International Space Station crewmates.The Soyuz capsule carrying...

Grenfell chair requests UK pledge on witness immunity

By DANICA KIRKA | February 6, 2020

LONDON (AP) — The chairman of the inquiry into a London tower bloc fire that killed 72 people wrote to Britain's attorney general Thursday to ask for a pledge to prevent evidence from corporate witnesses being used in subsequent criminal prosecutions.Martin...

UK reconsiders plan to fly flags on Prince Andrew’s birthday

February 6, 2020

LONDON (AP) — The British government says it is reviewing the policy of raising Union Jacks atop town halls on royal birthdays, after some officials balked at flying the flag for scandal-hit Prince Andrew.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local...

States use Catholic clergy abuse lists to screen applicants

By CLAUDIA LAUER and MEGHAN HOYER | February 6, 2020

In the wake of revelations that scores of Roman Catholic priests and religious workers credibly accused of child sexual abuse are living unsupervised in communities across the country, state officials face a quandary: Should they screen former clergy...

EU official says Balkan membership expansion is priority

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC | February 6, 2020

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The European Union's proposed new system for adding members is meant to reinstate the bloc’s influence in the Western Balkans, the bloc's enlargement commissioner said Thursday.There are worries that if the EU doesn't do more...