Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Attorney General Merrick Garland warned the Jan. 6 probe is far from over; Virginia launched a civil rights investigation into the nation's top-ranked high school; A 55-year-old militant Italian anarchist is on hunger strike inside a maximum-security prison, and more.

National

Jan. 6 probe, prosecutions ‘far from over,’ AG warns

The FBI is still working to identify hundreds of people who committed violent crimes when a far-right mob attempted to overthrow the U.S. government two years ago this week, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives at a news conference at the Justice Department on April 6, 2022, with Andrew Adams, director of the Justice Department's Klepto Capture Task Force. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Twitter dodges suit by Saudi Arabia critic over suspended account

A Saudi Arabia dissident whose Twitter account was suspended struck out Tuesday in his lawsuit against the social media giant.

A mobile phone user turns on Twitter on his smartphone. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

McCarthy fails again in bid for speaker, GOP in disarray

House Republicans flailed through a second day of multiple balloting Wednesday, unable to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or to come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, right, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Regional

Virginia attorney general launches civil rights probe into elite high school

Virginia's attorney general on Wednesday launched a civil rights investigation into practices that some parents say discriminate against Asian American students at the nation's top-ranked high school.

A sculpture outside Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va. (EPA via Courthouse News)

Subpoenas of outside groups roundly criticized in Alabama transgender case

Groups that submitted friend-of-the-court briefs in a dispute over an Alabama law restricting gender-affirming care for minors fear harassment or violence if subpoenas targeting them are enforced.

Alabama Rep. Neil Rafferty speaks in support of transgender rights during a rally outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (Jake Crandall/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

Funeral home owner gets 20 years in body-brokering scheme

For nearly a decade, the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, sold off the body parts of deceased loved ones brought in for cremation and memorial services. And on Tuesday, a federal judge sentenced the funeral home’s director, Megan Hess, to 20 years in prison on charges of mail fraud and aiding and abetting.

Cremation urns. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

International

Imprisoned anarchist’s hunger strike shines light on Italy’s harsh isolation regime

Inside a maximum-security prison on the island of Sardinia, a 55-year-old militant Italian anarchist is on hunger strike: He says he'd rather die than live the rest of his life locked away under Italy's harsh system of isolating inmates considered so dangerous to society they need to be cut off from communicating with the outside world.

Italian authorities put Alfredo Cospito into its tough prison system of isolation in 2022 after designating him an anarchist terrorist. (Photo courtesy of Cospito family via Courthouse News Service).

Meta fined $414M in latest European privacy crackdown

European Union regulators on Wednesday hit Facebook parent Meta with hundreds of millions in fines for privacy violations and banned the company from forcing users in the 27-nation bloc to agree to personalized ads based on their online activity.

A Meta sign at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)