World/nation briefs

WASHINGTON

A 2,000-car procession of law enforcement and emergency vehicles followed the flag-draped caskets of four police officers gunned down Nov. 29. Gov. Chris Gregoire called it "the darkest day in the history of law enforcement in Washington." About 20,000 mourners were anticipated, making it the biggest such event in state history. Suspect Maurice Clemmons was shot after a two-day manhunt.

NATIONWIDE

A winter storm hammered more than a dozen states with ice, snow and vicious winds that threatened to create 15-foot drifts in parts of the Upper Midwest. As much as two-thirds of the country will be affected by the time the storm moves off Maine Thursday night, said meteorologist Jim Lee. It drenched California with rain and blanketed the Mountain West. Wind advisories were in effect from New Mexico to the Mid-Atlantic states with flooding in the south.

MASSACHUSETTS

Attorney General Martha Coakley has defeated three candidates to win the Democratic nomination in the race to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Coakley, 56, will face off against GOP state Sen. Scott Brown in a general election Jan. 19.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The White House instructed every federal agency to publish on the Internet before the end of January at least three collections of "high value" government data that have never been previously disclosed, an ambitious order to make good on President Obama's transparency promises. It was not immediately clear what types of information the government would make available under the order.

OHIO

Ohio executed a killer by performing the nation's first lethal injection using a single drug, a supposedly less painful method than previous executions that required three drugs. Kenneth Biros was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m. Tuesday, about 10 minutes after one dose of thiopental sodium began flowing into his veins in Lucasville.

IRAN

Pro-government Basij militiamen stormed the campuses of two universities in the Iranian capital of Tehran and attacked hundreds of protesting students, while Iran's chief prosecutor vowed to come down harder than ever against demonstrators he described as a threat to security. Tehran University remained under lockdown a day after thousands of students staged anti-government demonstrations.

WEST BANK

The Palestinian Authority announced that it is enforcing a boycott of products made in Israel's West Bank settlements and has confiscated more than $1 million in merchandise from shops and companies since November. Israeli products are commonplace in the West Bank, either for lack of a Palestinian-made alternative or because consumers prefer them. As a result, previous boycott efforts have failed.

NORTH KOREA

President Obama's special representative to North Korea arrived in Pyongyang for three days of high-level meetings, the highest-level U.S. official visit in more than a year. The trip by Stephen Bosworth is part of an effort to persuade the North to return to nuclear disarmament talks.

HONDURAS

Gunmen ambushed and killed Honduras' top anti-drug official in Tegucigalpa just two months before he planned to retire and move to Canada. Julian Aristides Gonzalez, 57, director of the Office for Combating Drug Trafficking, was driving alone after dropping his daughter at school when the assailants opened fire, police said.

NEWS SERVICES