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WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday acquitted a New Mexico man of misdemeanor charges that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol and engaged in disorderly conduct after he walked into the building during last year's riot. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden issued the verdict from the bench after hearing testimony without a jury in the case against Matthew Martin. McFadden, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, acquitted Martin of all four counts for which he was charged.

Originally published on April 7, 2022 6:22 am Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

BERLIN — German lawmakers are debating Thursday whether to require all people aged 60 and over in the country to be vaccinated against the coronavirus — a compromise solution the government hopes will receive a parliamentary majority. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his health minister had originally called for a vaccine mandate to apply to all adults in Germany, but some government lawmakers and most of the opposition have balked at the idea.

Originally published on April 7, 2022 6:22 am Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

At 22, Jacob Greer thought he'd come up with the perfect plan to avoid a trial on child pornography charges in Iowa: He'd fake his own death and take to the wilds of the Northwest. He managed to remain on the run for nearly six years, despite some close calls. But the U.S. Marshals Service finally caught up with him on Monday, officials announced in a statement. Greer, now 28, was arrested in Spanaway, Wash., and is in custody at the federal detention center in Seattle.

ISTANBUL — A Turkish court ruled Thursday to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused in the gruesome killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and for the case to be transferred to Saudi Arabia. Kaghoggi, a United States resident who wrote for The Washington Post, was killed on Oct. 2, 2018, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone for an appointment to collect documents required for him to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.

In Chelsea Bieker's short story collection Heartbroke, the Central Valley of California shimmers at the edges with heat, desire, and desperation. "The sun shines here in a special way...Beats harder and stronger than anywhere else in the world," says Boots, the narrator of "Raisin Man," to his illegitimate son Sims, a boy he loves but cannot parent.