St. Louis prosecutor invokes 'Ku Klux Klan Act' in lawsuit NEWS BRIEFING Staff and news services Wisconsin appeals court puts voter rolls purge on hold Harsh weather kills 70 more people in Pakistan, Afghanistan Philippine volcano trembles, spews lava half-mile high Officials: Jet dumps fuel on LA school playground Senate GOP to hold vote Thursday on trade pact

CHICAGO - St. Louis' elected top prosecutor says the city, its police union and others violated a Civil War-era law by allegedly engaging in a racist conspiracy to force her from office and prevent her from reforming racist practices.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said the defendants violated the Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. Gardner is black; the named defendants are white.

The act was signed by President Ulysses S. Grant in April 1871 to help enforce the 14th Amendment, which had been ratified three years earlier.

The act was one of a series of actions designed to eliminate violence and protect the rights of 4 million freed slaves.

Today, it is invoked frequently in lawsuits involving police brutality or voting act violations, said Jack Beermann a Boston University law professor. He said Gardner's claim also is unusual because it involves a public official suing other public officials.

To win a case alleging a conspiracy, he said, the plaintiff must show that public officials were involved in a racially motivated conspiracy to deprive someone of their constitutional rights.

In St. Louis, Gardner's lawsuit cited racist Facebook posts by St. Louis police officers, which led to the firing of two veteran officers. The suit also says the police union went "out of its way" to support white officers accused of violence and excessive force against blacks, including posting bond for an officer who was charged with murder. The union said it considered the lawsuit "frivolous and without merit."

Wisconsin appeals court puts voter rolls purge on hold

MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin appeals court on Tuesday put on hold an order to immediately remove up to 209,000 names from the state's voter registration rolls, handing Democrats who had fought the move a victory in the battleground state.

The appeals court sided with the bipartisan state elections commission in putting the brakes on removing any voters while the court fight continues. It also put on hold a ruling from Monday in which a judge found the commission and its three Democratic members in contempt for not proceeding with removing the voters.

The issue is unlikely to be resolved in court before the presidential election.

The lawsuit argued that the state elections commission broke the law when it did not remove voters who did not respond within 30 days to an October mailing indicating they may have moved.

Harsh weather kills 70 more people in Pakistan, Afghanistan

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Severe winter weather has claimed more lives as avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall killed 55 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir while 15 died in neighboring Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

The latest deaths raise the two countries' overall death toll from the severe weather to 126 since Sunday.

Ahmad Raza Qadri, the minister for the disaster management authority in Kashmir, said Tuesday they had declared a state of emergency in the affected areas.

So far, about 300 houses have been damaged across Afghanistan because of snowfall, floods and landslides, Afghanistan's disaster agency said. On Monday, residents of the Afghan capital, Kabul, struggled to get to work on snow-covered roads.

Philippine volcano trembles, spews lava half-mile high

TAGAYTAY, Philippines - A volcano near the Philippine capital spewed lava into the sky and trembled constantly Tuesday, possibly portending a bigger and more dangerous eruption, as tens of thousands of people fled villages darkened and blanketed by heavy ash.

Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

The alert level since the eruption began Sunday has been 4, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible in hours to days. Level 5, the highest, means such an eruption is underway.

The picturesque volcano set in a lake in Batangas province south of Manila rumbled to life Sunday in a powerful explosion that released 9-mile column of ash, steam and rock into the sky.

Officials: Jet dumps fuel on LA school playground

CUDAHY, Calif. - Jet fuel dumped by an aircraft returning to Los Angeles International Airport fell onto an elementary school playground where children were playing Tuesday, fire officials said.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said firefighters assessed 17 children and nine adults who complained of minor injuries and none needed to be taken to a hospital.

The Los Angeles Unified School District said that the incident happened at Park Avenue Elementary just before noon.

"Students and staff were on the playground at the time and may have been sprayed by fuel or inhaled fumes," the district said.

Delta Air Lines said in a statement that Flight 89 "experienced an engine issue requiring the aircraft to return to LAX. The aircraft landed safely after an emergency fuel release to reduce landing weight."

Senate GOP

to hold vote Thursday

on trade pact

WASHINGTON - Republicans controlling the Senate are taking advantage of delays in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial to speed up a vote on a modified North American trade pact.

Thursday's expected vote promises sweeping bipartisan support for legislation implementing the terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It would replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced the vote at his weekly news conference Tuesday.

The new pact is designed to return manufacturing to the U.S. For example, it requires that 40% to 45% of cars eventually be made in countries that pay autoworkers at least $16 an hour - that is, in the United States and Canada and not in Mexico.

In the European Union: The European Union plans to dedicate a quarter of its budget to tackling climate change and to work to shift $1.1 trillion in investment toward making the EU's economy more environmentally friendly over the next 10 years.

Aiming to deliver on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's Green Deal, EU officials said the Europe Investment Plan unveiled Tuesday will be funded by the bloc's budget and by the private sector.

Von der Leyen took office Dec. 1 and is making the fight against climate change as president of the EU's executive arm. Her Green Deal is aimed at making Europe the world's first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

Caption: An anti-government demonstrator, flag in hand, jumps through ignited tires blocking a main highway. Following a brief lull, Lebanese protesters returned to the streets Tuesday in renewed rallies against a ruling elite they say has ignored the economic crisis.

Bilal Hussein/AP