No Mega Millions winner Tuesday, next jackpot now $1.35 billion

 Mega Millions players will have another shot at winning one of the largest prizes in the game's history after no winner was announced Tuesday night. The winning numbers in Tuesday's drawing were 7, 13, 14, 15 and 18, and the gold Mega Ball number was 9.

The jackpot for Friday night has now climbed to an estimated $1.35 billion, with no winner since Oct. 14. The cash option would be $707.9 million.

While Tuesday's jackpot was the third-largest prize in Mega Millions history, it was the fifth-largest in U.S. lottery history. The largest prize in lottery history came in November 2022, when a single Powerball winner took home $2.04 billion.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.

The lucky winner can opt for either an annuity or the cash option.

The Mega Millions annuity is paid out as one immediate payment, followed by 29 yearly payments with each payment growing by 5%.

"This helps protect winners' lifestyle and purchasing power in periods of inflation," according to the Mega Millions website.

Or, the winner can opt for the cash option: a one-time, lump-sum payment of the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.

House Oversight Committee investigating classified documents found at Biden's office

 Court records show that the government engaged in a lengthy dispute with Trump in order to retrieve the classified and sensitive records he took with him, with FBI agents ultimately searching Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in August. He denies wrongdoing.

Comer told CNN in November that it "will not be a priority" for the Oversight Committee to look at Trump's handling of documents in that case.

Court records show that the government engaged in a lengthy dispute with Trump in order to retrieve the classified and sensitive records he took with him, with FBI agents ultimately searching Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in August. He denies wrongdoing.

Comer told CNN in November that it "will not be a priority" for the Oversight Committee to look at Trump's handling of documents in that case.

Writing to Wall at NARA on Tuesday, Comer took issue with the delay in learning about the documents found at Biden's office, suggesting it "raises questions about political bias at the agency."

ABC News and other outlets reported on Monday that the DOJ has launched a preliminary review of the matter -- some two months after Biden's attorneys say they first discovered the records at his personal office and notified NARA.

Comer requested that his committee staff be able to interview the NARA general counsel, Gary Stern, and its director of congressional affairs, John Hamilton, by Jan. 17.

"The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of documents with classified markings," Richard Sauber, a special counsel to Biden, said in a statement on Monday.

Sauber said the documents were found on Nov. 2 and NARA was notified by the White House on the same day, then took possession of them on Nov. 3.

Sauber said the documents were found by Biden's personal attorneys while they were "packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space" at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Biden Center in Washington. "The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives," Sauber said.

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer speaks to reporters on his way to a closed-door GOP caucus meeting at the Capitol, Jan. 10, 2023.

Controversial Catholic cleric Pell dies aged 81

 Cardinal George Pell, whose conviction on child abuse charges shocked the Catholic Church before being quashed, has died at 81.

Cardinal George Pell was Australia's highest ranking Catholic cleric

Cardinal Pell, who always maintained his innocence, spent 13 months in prison before the High Court of Australia quashed the verdict in 2020.

The former Vatican treasurer is Australia's highest ranking Catholic cleric, and the most senior Church figure ever jailed for such offences.

He died of heart complications after hip surgery, Church officials say.

Cardinal Pell served as Archbishop of both Melbourne and Sydney before becoming one of the Pope's top aides.

He was summoned to Rome in 2014 to clean up the Vatican's finances, and was often described as the Church's third-ranked official.

But the cleric left his post in 2017, returning to Australia to face trial on child sex abuse charges.

A jury in 2018 found he had abused two boys while Archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.

However a civil lawsuit - launched by the father of a choirboy that prosecutors alleged Cardinal Pell abused - is still under way.

Meanwhile a landmark inquiry found that he knew of child sexual abuse by priests in Australia as early as the 1970s but failed to take action.

The Child Abuse Royal Commission ran for several years, interviewing thousands of people, and its findings were released in 2020. Cardinal Pell denied the allegation, insisting it was "not supported by evidence".

Cardinal George Pell sued by father of choirboy

Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli paid tribute to Cardinal Pell as "a very significant and influential Church leader" while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his death would be a "shock to many".

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott - a Catholic - praised the cleric as a "saint for our times" and "an inspiration for the ages", saying the charges he'd faced were "a modern form of crucifixion".

He rose to prominence in the Church as a strong supporter of traditional Catholic values, often taking conservative views and advocating for priestly celibacy.

Speaking to the BBC in 2020, Cardinal Pell said there was "no doubt" that his "direct" style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had driven parts of the public against him.

But Steve Dimopoulos - a government minister in Cardinal Pell's home state of Victoria - was among those who voiced mixed feelings.

"Today would be a very difficult day for the cardinal's family and loved ones, but also very difficult for survivors and victims of child sexual abuse and their families and my thoughts are with them," he said.

The cardinal was a polarising figure, both in Australia and abroad, something he himself conceded.

"The fact that I defend Christian teachings is irritating to a lot of people," he told BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme.