In the news

Pope Francis

announced that he plans to visit Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territory May 24-26 to improve relations with Orthodox Christians and commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s meeting with Orthodox leader Ecumenical Patriarch Atengora.

Jason Carter, 39, who escaped from Bryan Psychiatric Hospital in Columbia, S.C., where he had been committed after pleading innocent by reason of insanity in the 2006 slayings of his mother and stepfather, was captured after authorities tracked a cellphone signal to a motel outside Nashville, Tenn.

Michelle Obama, the first lady, whose family has returned to Washington after a two-week vacation, will spend a few extra days in Hawaii, the White House said, as part of a gift from her husband to celebrate her 50th birthday Jan. 17.

Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Humayqani, the secretary-general of the Yemeni Rashad Union party whom the U.S. has accused of financing al-Qaida, will remain in Yemen after President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi denounced the charges and refused a U.S. extradition request.

Bunyamin Aygun, 43, an award-winning Turkish photographer who was kidnapped in Syria, was released to intelligence officials and was on his way back to Turkey, the country’s state-run Anadolu Agency said.

Charlotte Moncrief

of Anniston, Ala., who said she and her roommate have visited the Pearl River Resort near Philadelphia, Miss., about once a month for the past eight years, hit a $90,000 jackpot, returned the next day and won another $90,000 payout.

Jack Garey, a wealthy lawyer and rancher in Georgetown, Texas, has given his more than 500-acre property and 6,000-square foot home to the city for a public park, and donated $5 million to complete a plan announced in 2004 by him and his wife, Cammy, who grew up in Georgetown and died last year.

Bill de Blasio, New York City’s new mayor, opened up Gracie Mansion to thousands who waited in line for a rare tour of the mayor’s residence, saying he was “excited to give New Yorkers a chance to see that which is theirs.”