Lithuania's national opera house had stopped showing Tchaikovsky's 1892 masterpiece in solidarity with Ukraine over the war with Russia. Then a new minister expressed fondness for the Russian composer, igniting a furor.
In the West African nation of Niger, killings by insurgents have surged since the military seized power in a coup, expelled U.S. and European troops and stopped negotiations with Islamist groups.
Two bills on pediatric cancer research and a football stadium site had been left out of the main spending package, but passed early Saturday as separate legislation.
Rubi Patricia Vergara was one of two victims killed in Madison this week. At a memorial service, she was remembered as an empathetic teenager with a passion for music and art.
In his books about Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and other figures on the right, he was, one observer said, "a keeper of the flame and spreader of the gospel."
Widely regarded as the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history, he was not just one of the game's most exciting players, but also one of its most eccentric.