TURKMENISTAN CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE
JURY ACQUITS ALL 7 LEADERS OF OREGON STANDOFF
The seven leaders of an armed group who took over a wildlife refuge in Oregon earlier this year were all found not guilty Thursday of conspiracy and possession of firearms at a federal facility.
A jury exonerated brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five other co-defendants of conspiring to block federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in a standoff that began Jan. 2 and lasted almost six weeks.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown expressed disappointment in the jury’s decision.
Some of the defendants also were charged with possession of firearms at a federal facility and were acquitted on that count too.
The Bundys are still facing charges in Nevada stemming from a high-profile 2014 standoff with federal agents.
— Melanie Eversley and Gordon Friedman POLICE ARREST DAKOTA PIPELINE PROTESTERS
Armed soldiers and law enforcement officers dressed in riot gear on Thursday began arresting protesters who had set up a camp on private land to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
Dozens of protesters were led away and put in trucks, including at least one in handcuffs as authorities converged on the camp in North Dakota.
Law enforcement officers and soldiers driving trucks, military Humvees and buses began to advance at midday and formed a horseshoe-like loop once they reached the camp, where about 200 protesters were awaiting them — some defiant and other praying.
The operation to push out the protesters began a day after they had refused to leave voluntarily. — James MacPherson,
The Associated Press ALSO ...
Amtrak agreed Thursday to pay $265 million to victims of a crash in Philadelphia in 2015, which killed eight and injured 200 when a train derailed in a curve at twice the speed limit. The money will be divided among the victims through the settlement of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in eastern Pennsylvania.
Nearly 100 refugees fleeing through Libya were missing and feared dead Thursday after their crowded boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea, Libyan officials said. Ayoub Gassim, a Navy spokesman in Tripoli, said a survivor reported that 126 people set off Wednesday from Garabulli in northwest Libya, The Guardian reported.