$536M Mega Millions jackpot is claimed

$536M Mega Millions jackpot is claimed

INDIANAPOLIS

Someone has come forward with the winning ticket for the $536 million Mega Millions jackpot drawn this month, Indiana lottery officials said Thursday, but no details have emerged about the winner.

Hoosier Lottery spokesman Dennis Rosebrough said a “winner’s representative” will attend a news conference today about the jackpot. He noted that Indiana law allows the prize to be claimed by a limited liability corporation or legal trust, which could allow the winner to remain anonymous.

The only winning ticket for the jackpot was sold in Cambridge City, a town of about 2,000 residents roughly 50 miles east of Indianapolis.

Man won’t be retried in Chandra Levy case

Prosecutors announced Thursday that they will not retry a man convicted of killing Washington intern Chandra Levy, saying they can no longer prove their case in the 15-year-old slaying that thrust former congressman Gary Condit into the national spotlight.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia issued a statement saying it has moved to dismiss the case charging Ingmar Guandique with Levy’s 2001 killing.

According to the statement, prosecutors concluded they can no longer prove the murder case against Guandique beyond a reasonable doubt, “based on recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week.” The statement does not elaborate, and Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney, declined to comment.

Boko Haram injures 5 during ambush

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria

Boko Haram Islamic extremists ambushed a humanitarian convoy escorted by troops in northeast Nigeria on Thursday, wounding three civilians including a U.N. worker, and two soldiers, the army and UNICEF said.

The attack comes as aid agencies are warning that children are dying of starvation daily among more than 500,000 people in need of urgent help in recently liberated areas that still are dangerous to reach.

An employee of the U.N. Children’s Fund and a contractor for the International Organization for Migration were among those wounded in the ambush.

Leader claims to cut ties with al-Qaida

BEIRUT

The leader of Syria’s Nusra Front said in recording aired Thursday that his group is changing its name, claiming it will have no more ties with al-Qaida in an attempt to undermine a potential U.S. and Russian air campaign against its fighters.

The announcement is the first time that an entire branch of al-Qaida has said it is leaving the terror network. But the move took place with the endorsement of al-Qaida’s central leadership, and its ideology remains the same, raising questions whether the change really goes beyond the new name, the Levant Conquest Front.

The United States, which considers Nusra a terrorist organization, immediately expressed its skepticism.

Testing confirms new, rarely seen whale

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Genetic tests confirm that a mysterious, unnamed species of beaked whale only rarely seen alive by Japanese fishermen roams the northern Pacific Ocean, according to research published this week.

The testing shows the black whales, with bulbous heads and beaks like porpoises, are not dwarf varieties of more common Baird’s beaked whales, a slate-gray animal.

Japanese researchers are in the formal process of “describing” the species, said Phillip Morin, a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research molecular biologist.

Associated Press