Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.
Indonesian investigators: Crashed AirAsia flown by co-pilot
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian investigators say the co-pilot of the crashed AirAsia jet was in controls when he struggled to recover the aircraft as stall warnings sounded.
The Airbus A320-200 crashed into the Java Sea Dec. 28, halfway from Indonesia's city of Surabaya to Singapore. All 162 people on board were killed.
The chief investigator of the National Transportation Safety Commission says the cockpit voice recording indicated that the co-pilot, a French national, was flying the plane while the Indonesian captain was monitoring.
Islamic State releases new audio message by Japanese hostage
TOKYO (AP) — A new message, supposedly from Islamic State group militants, extends the deadline for Jordan's release of a convicted terrorist.
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
Islamic State has said that if Jordan doesn't release a woman convicted in the deadly Amman hotel bombings in 2005, they'll kill a Jordanian pilot who was captured in December after his F-16 crashed.
Japan is trying to get freed a Japanese journalist the militants also are threatening to kill.
Rights group blasts Iraqi, Syrian governments over extremism
BEIRUT (AP) — Human Rights Watch says the rise of the Islamic State group is among the world's top challenges and blames "sectarian and abusive" policies of the Iraqi and Syrian governments for fueling extremism.
In its annual report, the New York-based group accuses the U.S. and its allies of allowing military action against the IS to overshadow efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad's government to end its own abuses.
It also accuses the Iraqi government of relying in the battle against IS primarily on Shiite militias who are killing and cleansing Iraqi areas of Sunni civilians with impunity.
HRW also accuses the international community of indifference to the violations by both governments.
The 656-page World Report 2015 was released in Beirut Thursday, reviewing human rights practices in more than 90 countries.
Military judge weighs restrictions on Gitmo female guards
FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A military judge is hearing arguments today on whether to make permanent a temporary order limiting the use of female guards to move prisoners around the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Guantanamo detainee, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi (AHB'-dahl HAH'-dee ahl-ee-RAH'-kee), says his Muslim faith prohibits men from having physical contact with females other than their wives and close relatives.
The commander of the top-secret unit where Hadi is housed testified Wednesday that removing female guards from escort teams could jeopardize the safety of his operation by limiting staffing options.
More snow?
BOSTON (AP) —More snow?
Forecasters have their eyes on two weather systems that may bring significant additional snow to New England in the coming days, just as they continue to dig out from a historic blizzard.
The National Weather Service says a storm is expected to arrive in the region late Thursday and on through Friday night, bringing up to 4 inches of snow to Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Forecasters also are monitoring a storm that could head into the region this weekend.
Police barracks ambush suspect due to enter plea
MILFORD, Pa. (AP) — A survivalist accused of killing one state trooper and wounding another in a barracks ambush in Pennsylvania is expected to enter a plea of not guilty when he appears for a formal arraignment on Thursday.
Eric Frein (freen) is charged with murder, terrorism and related offenses in the September ambush outside the state police station in Blooming Grove.
Frein was captured after a 48-day manhunt in the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Panel recommending changes to military health care, benefits
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say an independent commission is recommending broad changes to the military's retirement and health care systems that could save more than $20 billion over the next four years.
The proposals would allow some of the programs to operate more like existing federal employee systems. But they are likely to face an uphill battle from lawmakers who vigorously protect military benefits and have so far resisted change.
Officials familiar with the report say the panel is recommending that the military's TRICARE health care system be largely replaced, giving families the ability to choose from a wider menu of insurance plans, similar to those used by federal employees.
Officials described the recommendations on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly before the report's release today.
UN seeking $3.1 billion to help children at risk
BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations is appealing for $3.1 billion to reach 62 million children at risk in humanitarian crises worldwide, including those living in Ukraine, Syria and other conflict zones and in areas affected by the Ebola epidemic.
The U.N. children's agency UNICEF says the largest portion, $903 million, would be targeted to help children with immunizations, safe water, sanitation and education in and around Syria.
Another $500 million would be directed to helping Ebola-affected communities with treatment and prevention programs.
The agency is seeking some $32 million for Ukraine, where it says 600,000 people are internally displaced and some 1.7 million children are affected.
The appeal, aimed primarily at governments, is $1 billion more than sought last year. UNICEF achieved a little more than half of the 2014 target.
Police question child who backed Charlie Hebdo attackers
PARIS (AP) — A lawyer says the decision by French police to question an 8-year-old boy who claimed to support the Charlie Hebdo attackers shows a "collective hysteria."
A law enforcement official in the Alpes-Maritimes region says the boy declared, "I am with the terrorists" who carried out the deadly attack on the satirical newspaper.
He says the child refused to take part in the national minute of silence for the victims.
Openings expected in murder trial of ex-Pat Aaron Hernandez
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Opening statements are set for Thursday in the murder trial of former New England Patriots star player Aaron Hernandez.
Hernandez is accused of killing semiprofessional football player Odin (OH'-dihn) Lloyd in 2013.
State board votes to take over Little Rock School District
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Board of Education has voted to take control of Little Rock schools away from the local school district board.
The move comes less than six months after a federal judge granted the historically embattled district more independence and ended a quarter-century of payments to boost integration.
Last year, the state classified six of the district's 48 schools as being in academic distress after fewer than half of its students scored at proficient levels on achievement tests.
Fugitive treasure hunter to appear in Florida federal court
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A treasure hunter locked in a legal battle over one of the greatest undersea hauls in American history is scheduled to appear in federal court in South Florida.
Former fugitive Tommy Thompson is set for an initial appearance this morning in West Palm Beach.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced Wednesday that authorities had captured Thompson the day before at an upscale hotel in West Boca Raton. He had been on the lam for two years, accused of cheating investors out of their share of $50 million in gold bars and coins he had recovered from a 19th century shipwreck.
A criminal contempt warrant was unsealed for Thompson on Wednesday.
'Thornbirds' author Colleen McCullough dies at age 77
SYDNEY (AP) — Best-selling Australian author Colleen McCullough, whose novel "The Thorn Birds" sold 30 million copies worldwide, has died at age 77 after a long illness.
HarperCollins Australia publishing director Shona Martyn said McCullough died Thursday in a hospital on remote Norfolk Island.
Martyn said McCullough had continued producing books despite a string of health and eyesight problems by using dictation.
McCullough wrote 25 novels through her career. Her first novel "Tim" was published in 1974, and her final book "Bittersweet" was released in 2013.
Before becoming an author, McCullough studied neuroscience and spent 10 years as a researcher at Yale Medical School in the United States. She established the neurophysiology department at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.
She is survived by her husband, Ric Robinson.
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