Sheldon " Timothy" Herrington Jr. is accused of killing Jimmy "Jay" Lee , a gay man, in 2022 .

Lee disappeared and his body has never been found, but a judge declared him dead.

Jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict after over nine and a half hours of deliberation.

Herrington showed little emotion as he left the courtroom with his attorneys and several relatives.

Six critically endangered Mekong giant catfish were caught and released in Cambodia recently in just a few days .

The underwater giants can grow up to 10 feet ( 3 meters ) long and weigh up to 300 kilograms ( 661 pounds ) The species' population has plummeted by 80% in recent decades due to overfishing, dams that block the migratory path the fish follow to spawn.

Few of the millions of people who depend on the Mekong for their livelihoods have ever seen a giant fish.

Pope Francis calls for debt reduction for poorer countries to mark the Vatican 's 2025 Jubilee Year.

He calls for a new financial framework “lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness’ The once-every- quarter-century event formally begins on Christmas Eve , when Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica .

Somaliland seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago , but is not recognized by the African Union , the U.N. or any other country as an independent state.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi , the region's former opposition leader, took over from Muse Bihi Abdi in inauguration.

Ceremony came a day after Somalia and Ethiopia agreed in Turkey to hold “technical talks” over a dispute sparked by a deal with Ethiopia .

Somalia says the deal infringes on its sovereignty and territory.

Pakistani court indicts imprisoned former PM Imran Khan and his wife for corruption.

The couple is accused of keeping and selling state gifts at a value less than their market price.

Khan has been embroiled in nearly 200 criminal cases since his ouster in parliament in 2022 .

He has been behind bars for over a year since his conviction in another case in 2023 .

In the past five years , planned home births in Finland have quadrupled in five years .

Policymakers want all births to take place in hospitals, and this is unlikely to change.

Home births are not covered by the public healthcare system.

Families must cover all expenses themselves, which range from 3,000 to 4,000 euros.

YouTube , TikTok , Instagram and Snapchat remain widely used among U.S. teens.

Nearly half say they’re online almost constantly, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Facebook and X use have steeply declined over the past decade .

Roughly six -in- ten teens say they use TikTok and Instagram , and 55% say the same for Snapchat.

Nearly half of teens say they are online almost constantly, up from 24% a decade ago .

Teens ages 15 to 17 are more likely than those ages 13 to 14 say they use Instagram ( 72% ) or Snapchat ( 63% vs. 44% ) Teens who identify as Democrats and Republican leaners use TikTok, Instagram , YouTube , Reddit and WhatApp .

Casey Caruso , 31 , has raised $75 million for a new fund called Topology Ventures .

The fund will invest in frontier tech, including AI , decentralized networks, neuro-technology, aerospace, and robotics.

She says investors who better understand the complexity of technology are poised for success.

China affirmed its recent policy shifts and stressed plans to boost growth in a high-level economic planning meeting.

The annual economic planning conference, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping , called for proactive fiscal policy.

China typically announces the full-year growth target and fiscal deficit at an annual parliamentary meeting in March .

The iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) rose by 0.8% in premarket trading, before paring gains.

Future for the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% .

European markets opened mixed as investors assessed the European Central Bank’s Thursday rate cut decision.

Britain 's economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% month-on-month in October .

China 's leaders wrapped up a two-day economic policy meeting in Beijing .