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On this version of Hot off the Wire:
» President Joe Biden says the U.S. will send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, reversing months of persistent arguments that the tanks were too difficult for Ukrainian troops to operate and maintain. The U.S. decision announced Wednesday came on the heels of Germany agreeing to send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its own stocks.
» An attorney says a Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student during class plans to sue the school district. Diane Toscano, a lawyer for the 25-year-old teacher, Abigail Zwerner, said Wednesday that on the day of the shooting, concerned teachers and employees warned administrators three times that the boy had a gun on him and was threatening other students, “but the administration could not be bothered.”
» Spain’s interior ministry says one person has been killed and another severely injured in an attack carried out by a person with a bladed weapon at a church in the southern city of Algeciras.
» Chicago authorities say one person has died and eight others were taken to hospitals Wednesday as firefighters responded to a high-rise apartment building fire on the city’s South Side.
» Jill Biden's Inauguration Day outfits are now at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. She says the two dresses — one blue, one white — with matching coats and face masks were her “voice” on one of the most important days of her life.
» Senators grilled Ticketmaster Tuesday about its spectacular breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee debated possible action, including making tickets non-transferable to cut down on scalping and requiring more transparency in ticket fees.
» The Carter Center said Tuesday that only 13 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide last year.
» Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners are down again, and federal officials are launching a new campaign to try to bring them up.
Snow carpets much of Japan amid record low temperatures, and more of today's top videos
Snow and cold weather affected much of Japan on Wednesday, scientists continue to discover more about the Milky Way, and more of today's top videos.
Snow and cold weather affected much of Japan on Wednesday, disrupting highway, air and train travel with more cold temperatures on the way.
Astronomers have released a huge survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way containing a staggering 3.32 billion celestial objects — arguab…
The US Justice Department sued Google on Tuesday for its dominance of the online advertising market, launching a fresh legal battle against th…
Germany's Leopard 2, the powerful tank that Berlin has finally agreed can be sent to Ukraine, could provide a major boost for Kyiv's forces as…
Ticketmaster executives were grilled by U.S. senators at a hearing about the lack of competition in the ticketing industry after the company’s…
The latest wearable gadgets have gone on display at an exhibition in Tokyo.
Bridging an evolutionary gap spanning dozens of millions of years.
Frigid winter weather gripped East Asia for the second straight day on Wednesday, causing several deaths and multiple injuries in Japan and a …