Building explosion injures 23

BALTIMORE -- An explosion in a high-rise building in Baltimore injured 23 people Wednesday and temporarily trapped a window-washing crew on dangling scaffolding. Twenty-one of the victims -- all construction workers -- were brought to area hospitals following the explosion, which caused a partial roof collapse. The city's fire department tweeted that at least nine of the victims were in critical condition, while another was in serious condition. The trapped workers were rescued through a window. The firefighters' union tweeted that evidence points to an explosion on the 16th floor of the downtown building, where the offices of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company are located. The fire department said the cause of the explosion remains under investigation. Utility spokeswoman Stephanie Anne Weaver said work on the building's "air handling and boiler system" likely caused the accident. "Window washing scaffolding was compromised because of the incident and a window washing crew was pulled to safety by the fire department," Weaver said in a statement. Weaver said no utility employees were injured. The building was largely empty because of the holidays and the coronavirus pandemic. Its gas service was not active because of the construction work. Weaver said the building has been deemed structurally sound following an inspection and repairs are planned.

Pfizer to supply extra 100M doses

WASHINGTON -- Pfizer said Wednesday it will supply the U.S. government with an additional 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine under a new agreement between the pharmaceutical giant and the Trump administration. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said that will bring their total current commitment to 200 million doses for the U.S. That should be enough to vaccinate 100 million people with the two-shot regimen. The government also has an option to purchase an additional 400 million doses. "This new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021," said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in a statement. The cost to taxpayers: $1.95 billion for the additional 100 million doses.

Woman charged in threats

DETROIT -- A woman angry with a Detroit-area election official sent photos of a dead body and threatened her family, a day after a clamorous meeting at which Republican board members initially refused to certify local results in favor of Joe Biden, authorities said Wednesday. Katelyn Jones, 23, was charged with making a threat of violence. She sent a series of disturbing messages by phone and on social media that referred to Monica Palmer (pictured) of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers as a terrorist and racist, the FBI said in a court filing. Jones has ties to Olivet, Michigan, according to her driver's license, but the FBI said she sent the threats from Epping, New Hampshire, where she was staying with her mother, and she was arrested there. Palmer chaired a raucous meeting of the Board of Canvassers on Nov. 17. She and a fellow Republican on the four-member board initially refused to certify Wayne County's election results, typically a routine step on the way to statewide certification. They cited problems with absentee ballots in Detroit. When the meeting turned to public comment, Palmer and William Hartmann were criticized for hours by people watching on video conference. They subsequently changed their votes and certified the election totals, saying they were assured by the board's two Democrats that a post-election audit would be performed. Biden won the county on Nov. 3 with 68% of the vote. "You have made a grave mistake. I hope you realize that now," Jones told Palmer a day after the meeting, according to the FBI. The threats included photos of a woman's nude, bloody body and references to Palmer's daughter, the FBI said.

Gunman kills 3 French officers

PARIS -- A heavily armed gunman in southern France killed three police officers responding to a domestic violence call at his house and then fled, and he was found dead nearby Wednesday after an apparent suicide, the regional prosecutor said. The unusual killing of three on-duty officers prompted a broad search and drew national concern, notably from French leaders who are under pressure from police to do more to protect them. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "They are our heroes." The bloodshed started when a woman called a friend for help Tuesday night and reported her partner had beaten her at the couple's home in the mountainside village of Ambert southwest of Lyon, regional Prosecutor Eric Maillaud told reporters. The friend called police, and when gendarmes arrived, they found the woman on the roof, where she had taken refuge after the man apparently set the house on fire, the prosecutor said. "It was a real scene of war that we confronted overnight," he said. "An over-armed individual. A house in flames." In the ensuing standoff, three police officers were killed and another injured, and the gunman fled. Some 300 police were sent to the area to search for the assailant, according to a spokesman for the national gendarme service. The man was found Wednesday morning in his car, crashed on a mountainside, Maillaud said.

Canada authorizes 2nd vaccine

TORONTO -- Canada's health regulator authorized a second COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will extend the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom because of a new variant there, calling the situation "very serious." Health Canada said the vaccine from U.S. biotech firm Moderna is starting shipments to Canada within 48 hours.

Ethnic massacre in Ethiopia

NAIROBI, Kenya -- More than 100 people have been killed in the latest massacre along ethnic lines in western Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said Wednesday, and the toll is expected to rise. The attack in Metekel zone of Benishangul-Gumuz region occurred a day after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the region and spoke about the need to end such massacres. Ethnic tensions are a major challenge as he tries to promote national unity in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups. The attacks are separate from the deadly conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, where Ethiopian forces and allied regional forces began fighting Tigray regional forces in early November. Some people in remote villages remained encircled and under threat on Wednesday evening, with the death toll thought to be above 200, Belete Molla, head of the National Movement of Amhara political party, asserted after speaking with residents. Amnesty International, which spoke with five survivors, said members of the ethnic Gumuz community attacked the homes of ethnic Amhara, Oromo and Shinasha, setting them on fire and stabbing and shooting residents. The Gumuz see minorities as "settlers," the rights group said. Dozens of people are still unaccounted for, Amnesty said. Amharas are the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia, and they have been targeted repeatedly in recent weeks. One rebel attack on Nov. 1 in the far western Oromia region killed at least 54 people, according to Amnesty International.

Actor faces child porn charges

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- "Cheer" star Jerry Harris has pleaded not guilty to federal child pornography charges and allegations that he solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves. Harris, 21, of Naperville, Illinois, was indicted earlier this month in a seven-count indictment that included the child sex, porn and other allegations. A complaint filed in September initially charged him with child pornography. In the original complaint, prosecutors said Harris admitted to FBI agents that he asked a teenage boy to send him lewd photographs of himself, but that he requested child pornography from at least 10 to 15 others he knew to be minors via Snapchat. Two of Harris' alleged victims, who are teenage brothers, have sued Harris in Texas. Harris was the breakout star of the Emmy-winning docuseries that follows a cheerleading team from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.

'Balloon boy' parents pardoned

DENVER -- A couple convicted of criminal charges in the so-called balloon boy hoax that fascinated the country more than a decade ago were pardoned Wednesday by the governor of Colorado. Richard and Mayumi Heene reported their 6-year-old son had floated away in an homemade UFO-shaped silver helium balloon in 2009. Dozens of emergency responders and two Colorado National Guard helicopters scrambled to save the boy as video footage of the enormous balloon floating far above the ground made national news. But the child was never on the balloon, and he was later found unharmed at his home in Fort Collins, about 60 miles north of Denver. Authorities said the Heenes staged the ordeal to get publicity for reality TV shows they were trying to pitch. Eleven years later, couple has now "paid the price in the eyes of the public" and shouldn't have to be dragged down by a criminal record for the rest of their lives, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Wednesday. "We are all ready to move past the spectacle from a decade ago," said Polis, a first-term Democrat. Richard Heene served a month in jail after pleading guilty to a felony count of attempting to influence a public servant, and Mayumi Heene was jailed for 20 days for filing a false report. They were also ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution. The couple told ABC News last year that it wasn't a hoax because they truly feared their son could have been aboard the balloon when they called for help. Polis also issued 16 other pardons and four commutations.

UPS driver dies after assault

WATERTOWN, Conn. -- A UPS employee sought in a deadly assault on a co-worker was taken into custody Wednesday. The suspect, Elijah David Bertrand, 19, had been the target of search since Tuesday night when a fellow UPS worker, Nathan Burk, was found suffering from injuries. The two men apparently were riding in the same vehicle before the assault, Connecticut State Police Trooper Joseu Dorelus said at a news conference. The motive was unknown. A weapon was recovered at the scene, Dorelus said. State troopers initially responded to a call about an accident involving a UPS truck in Watertown around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. They found Burk, 28, of Waterbury, had been assaulted, and medics took him to a hospital, where he died.

Crash splits car in half, kills 5

YONKERS, N.Y. -- A car speeding away from police Tuesday night in suburban New York City barreled into another car, splitting that vehicle in half and killing five people. The 36-year-old driver of the speeding car and four 18-year-old men, who were ejected from the other vehicle, died in the crash. The fatal collision happened around 9:30 p.m. in Yonkers, Mayor Mike Spano and Police Commissioner John Mueller said. WNBC-TV reported that friends described the four 18-year-olds as recent high school graduates. "Four young lives were cut short by the recklessness of one individual," Spano said in a statement. "Let this be a lesson to all who drive at excessive speeds -- it not only puts your life at risk but also the innocent lives with whom you share the road." Spano and Mueller said minutes before the crash, officers attempted to stop the speeding car, a 2009 Infiniti, because it was being driven erratically. The car appeared to pull over, but then suddenly accelerated and took off down Riverdale Avenue at "beyond reckless speeds," the officials said. As officers followed, the Infiniti slammed into the car with the four 18-year-olds, a 2006 Nissan that was making a right turn onto Riverdale Avenue from Culver Street, causing "catastrophic damage to both vehicles," Spano and Mueller said.

Ivanka helps out at food drive

MIAMI -- Presidential daughter Ivanka Trump helped load boxes of food into the cars of drivers who showed up at a South Florida drive-through food distribution event for those in need. "Merry Christmas," Trump said Tuesday as she hauled a black box into a car's trunk in the parking lot of King Jesus Ministry in Miami-Dade County, according to WSVN. One driver in the line, Karla Fuentes, told the Miami television station that she had gotten to the church more than 12 hours earlier to get in line for the food and slept in her car. "It's a big help for my house, for my neighbor," Fuentes said. "We can share with everybody." Another food recipient, Vivian Lopez, said she had lost her job because of the pandemic. "We are living really hard times," Lopez said. The food giveaway isn't too far from where Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, recently bought property on Indian Creek Island near Miami, an area referred to as "Billionaires Bunker," according to news reports.

Doctors detail Navalny treatment

BERLIN -- German doctors treating Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after he was poisoned with a nerve agent have detailed the case in an article for a major medical journal. Berlin's Charite hospital said Wednesday that Navalny had given his permission for the article to be published in The Lancet journal. As Navalny's condition improved, he was brought out of a medically-induced coma and doctors determined that difficulties understanding speech and speaking he had initially showed after waking up disappeared after three weeks. "At the last follow-up visit on day 55, we found near-complete recovery of neurological, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological findings without evidence of polyneuropathy," they wrote. It is the first clinical case study detailing a Novichok poisoning, although the symptoms and treatment are similar to those for exposure to organophosphorus pesticides, which claim over 100,000 lives in Asia each year. Navalny's doctors note that their patient "had a very favourable outcome" and attribute this to the swift treatment he received in Russia. Last week, a joint investigation by the research group Bellingcat and several media outlets alleged that operatives from Russia's FSB domestic security agency followed Navalny during his trips since 2017.

Aussie gets long prison term

PERTH, Australia -- A judge on Wednesday ordered a long prison term for a man who killed two women and sexually assaulted two others in Australia's western city of Perth more than 20 years ago -- crimes connected years later by fingerprints and DNA tests. Bradley Robert Edwards, 52, was sentenced in the Western Australia state Supreme Court to life in prison and must serve at least 40 years, the longest minimum sentence in the state's history. The sentence was greeted with applause from the public gallery including victim's relatives. The two women he assaulted delivered victim impact statements at Wednesday's hearing. "Bradley Edwards now features as the villain of my nightmares and I can't make it stop," said one woman, who cannot be named because she is a victim of a sex crime. Edwards was convicted in September of abducting and killing childcare worker Jane Rimmer, 23, and lawyer Ciara Glennon, 27. He was acquitted of killing 18-year-old secretary Sarah Spiers, who was the first of the three to vanish during nights out in the Claremont nightlife precinct over 14 months in 1996-97. Spiers' body was never found. The bodies of the other two were found concealed in scrub land within days of their murders. Justice Stephen Hall said the confessed rapist's propensity for violent abductions made it likely that he also killed Spiers. His fingerprints were on record after the telecommunications technician was convicted of assault for grabbing a woman at a hospital where he was working on the telephone system. Police started investigating him and extracted his DNA from a soda bottle he'd left in a cinema.

Trump presses for $2,000

WASHINGTON -- Threatening to tank Congress' massive COVID relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump's demand for bigger aid checks for Americans is forcing Republicans traditionally wary of such spending into an uncomfortable test of allegiance. On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break with Trump, calling up his proposal for a Christmas Eve vote. Republicans have not said if they will block the vote.

Travel surges despite outbreak

TAMPA, Fla. -- Some are elderly and figure they don't have many Christmases left. Others are trying to keep long-distance romance alive. Some just yearn for the human connection that's been absent for the past nine months. Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year's, despite pleas from public health experts that they stay home to avoid fueling the raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 nationwide. Many people at airports this week thought long and hard about whether to go somewhere and found a way to rationalize it. "My mom's worth it. She needs my help," said 34-year-old Jennifer Brownlee, a fisherman from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, who was waiting at the Tampa airport to fly to Oregon to see her mother, who just lost a leg. "I know that God's got me. He's not going to let me get sick." Brownlee said that she would wear a mask on the plane "out of respect" for other passengers but that her immune system and Jesus Christ would protect her. More than 5 million people passed through the nation's airport security checkpoints between Friday and Tuesday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. That is down around 60% from the same time last year. But it amounts to around a million passengers per day, or about what the U.S. saw in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, when some Americans likewise disregarded warnings and ended up contributing to the nationwide surge.