| Immigration advocates denounce DHS plan to implement Trump executive orders Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:48 PM PST  Immigration policy experts lashed out Tuesday at the Department of Homeland Security's plan to implement President Trump's executive orders on immigration. "In my many years of practicing immigration law, I have not seen a mass deportation blueprint like this one," Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that advocates for the rights of low-income immigrant families, said in a conference call with reporters. In two memos issued Tuesday, DHS Secretary John Kelly laid out sweeping new guidance for officers tasked with carrying out the president's immigration policies.
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| Meet the 22-year-old fighting Trump’s terror talk about Sweden from the country’s official Twitter feed Posted: 21 Feb 2017 11:40 AM PST  Before President Trump's reference on Saturday to a terror attack in Sweden, the biggest story in Stockholm was this one: a report about the so-called "fake news" industry published by Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper. "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," the president said to his supporters at a campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Fla., on Saturday. "Sweden, who would believe this?" Trump later explained he was watching a Fox News segment that featured a documentary filmmaker accusing the Swedish government of covering up an immigration-related crime wave there.
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| Did Murdered Indiana Teens Capture the Voice of Their Killer? Posted: 22 Feb 2017 01:13 PM PST  A voice can be heard saying "down the hill" on a recording on Liberty German's cell phone.
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| Le Pen top aide put under formal investigation Posted: 22 Feb 2017 01:42 PM PST ![Le Pen top aide put under formal investigation]( "Le Pen top aide put under formal investigation") The chief of staff of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was put under formal investigation on Wednesday after a day of questioning over the alleged misuse of EU funds to pay parliamentary assistants, a judicial source said. Catherine Griset was taken into custody for questioning along with Le Pen's bodyguard Thierry Legier, who was later released without being put under investigation, according to the source. In reaction to the news, Le Pen said that she formally denied any wrongdoing in a case that she said was being used to undermine her campaign.
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| The Latest: Russian UN diplomat's death needs further study Posted: 21 Feb 2017 10:04 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the death of Russia's ambassador to the United Nations (all times local):
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| Azerbaijan’s President Makes His Wife Second in Command Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:00 AM PST  Autocratic relationship goals.
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| Apple 'spaceship' headquarters readies for boarding Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:33 AM PST  Apple on Wednesday announced that workers will start boarding its futuristic new "spaceship" campus in Silicon Valley in April, fulfilling a vision set out by late founder Steve Jobs. The process of moving more than 12,000 people to a new campus that Jobs envisioned as a "center for creativity and collaboration" was expected to continue late into the year. A theater on the new Apple Park campus was named in honor of Jobs, who would have turned 62 on February 24.
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| Is North Korea’s Kim Jong Un A War Criminal? Posted: 21 Feb 2017 12:58 AM PST  A U.N. group of experts has proposed to establish a special international tribunal to deal with human rights violation in the reclusive country.
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| Resistance Report: More than 1 million sign White House petition for Trump’s tax returns, breaking record Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:56 AM PST  President Trump has taken to saying that no one cares about his taxes. White House petitions need to draw more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days to be considered for an official response from the White House.
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| Drunken driver gets 12 years plus in death of police officer Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:43 AM PST  GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man was sentenced Tuesday to at least 12 years in prison on third-degree murder, drunken driving and other charges for a wrong-way crash that killed a western Pennsylvania police officer.
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| Texas to feral pigs: It's time for the 'hog apocalypse' to begin Posted: 22 Feb 2017 07:33 AM PST  Texas has a new plan for its 2.5 million feral hogs: total annihilation. Sid Miller, the state's agriculture commissioner, just approved a pesticide — called "Kaput Feral Hog Lure" — for statewide use. "The 'hog apocalypse' may finally be on the horizon," Miller said in a statement on Tuesday. SEE ALSO: First human-pig chimeras created, sparking hopes for transplantable organs — and debate "This solution is long overdue," he added. "Wild hogs have caused extensive damage to Texas lands and loss of income for many, many years." Texas's agriculture commission estimates that feral hogs cause $52 million in damage each year to agricultural businesses by tearing up crops and pastures, knocking down fences and ruining equipment. The so-called hog lure is derived from warfarin, a blood-thinning agent that's also used to kill rats and mice in homes and buildings. Animals don't die immediately from eating the odorless, tasteless chemical. That would be too kind. Instead, they keep eating it until the anti-clotting properties cause them to bleed to death internally. This week, Miller approved a rule change in the Texas Administrative Code that allows landowners and agricultural producers to use Kaput — essentially warfarin-laced pellets — to keep feral hogs off their property. Not on my watch, hogs. Image: mark thompson/Getty Images Proponents of the hog toxicant, including the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service, say it's an effective tool because it's only strong enough to kill the swine, and not other wildlife populations or livestock. In January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered Kaput's hog bait under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, a move that made the product available for general use. Still, environmentalists and hog hunters alike staunchly oppose using warfarin to stamp out Texas's feral pig problem. Pigs poop, after all, and other animals could ingest the warfarin along the way. Some Texans hunt the pigs for sport and food, and they're worried about eating poisoned swine. "For Texas to introduce a poison into the equation is a bad decision in our opinion and could likely contaminate humans who unknowingly process and eat feral hogs," the Texas Hog Hunters Association said in a Change.org petition to block the rule change. MIke and his big ole boar from yesterday. Lamar county Texas https://t.co/jQoS5JbtnQ pic.twitter.com/2SeAKs7zbh — TX Hog Hunters Assn. (@texashoghunters) February 14, 2017 Louisiana might become the next state to use Kaput to quell its feral hog population, which worries state wildlife veterinarian Jim LaCour. He said local black bears and raccoons could easily lift the lid to the cages containing the warfarin-laced pellets. "We do have very serious concerns about non-target species," LaCour told the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. "When the hogs eat, they're going to drop crumbs on the outside, where small rodents can get them and not only intoxicate themselves but also birds of prey that eat them. Since the poison will be on the landscape for weeks on end, the chances of these birds eating multiple affected animals is pretty good," he told the newspaper. The pesticide's manufacturer, Scimetrics Ltd. Corp., assures the pesticide is safe for humans and wildlife — just not for feral pigs.
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| 7 Earth-sized planets discovered with possible life Posted: 22 Feb 2017 02:45 PM PST  NASA announced the discovery of the most Earth-sized planets found in the habitable zone of a single star. The dwarf star, TRAPPIST-1, was discovered in 2008.
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| College Board tightens SAT exam security, but key risk remains Posted: 22 Feb 2017 02:05 PM PST ![College Board tightens SAT exam security, but key risk remains]( "College Board tightens SAT exam security, but key risk remains") The New York-based College Board said the steps include reducing the number of times the test is given outside the United States and increasing the auditing of test centers. As Reuters reported last year, the College Board has failed to stop a widespread and known security problem. Asian test-preparation companies are gathering questions and reading passages from past SAT exams, and then giving their clients that material to practice upon.
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| Massachusetts police end visits to schools to greet kids Posted: 21 Feb 2017 08:05 AM PST ![Massachusetts police end visits to schools to greet kids]( "Massachusetts police end visits to schools to greet kids") NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts police department's program that sent officers into elementary schools one day a week to greet and high-five students has been ended because some people complained.
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| Bodies of 74 migrants wash up on Libya beach Posted: 21 Feb 2017 12:41 PM PST  The bodies of 74 migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe have washed up on a beach west of the Libyan capital, the Red Crescent said Tuesday. Residents of the village of Harcha, outside Zawiya, 45 kilometres (30 miles) from Tripoli, alerted the emergency services after finding a wrecked boat on the beach with bodies inside, the Red Crescent said. "We don't have an appropriate vehicle to transport the bodies or a cemetery for unidentified bodies to bury them in," the group said.
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| Deputy Responds To Girl, 19, Who Stole His Bike to Get Home Safely: 'It Had to be Scary For Her' Posted: 22 Feb 2017 11:45 AM PST  A young woman who identified herself as "M" explained she had a 16-mile journey home, and was stranded "because of drunk boys, a dead phone and no money."
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| Trump’s Sweden gaffe gets ridiculed on late night TV Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:50 AM PST  When President Trump picks up his copy of the New York Times on Tuesday morning, he'll see something he likes for a change: a photo of himself smiling and shaking hands with his new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, a pick that has been widely praised. Below the image, though, Trump will see a story that has continued to dog him for the last three days: the fallout over the president's suggestion during his campaign-style rally in Florida on Saturday that a terror attack had occurred in Sweden the night before. "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump told his supporters on Saturday night.
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| British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stay Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:12 AM PST ![British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stay]( "British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stay") By Guy Faulconbridge and Ali Abdelaty LONDON/CAIRO (Reuters) - An Islamic State suicide bomber from Britain who blew himself up in an attack on Iraqi forces this week had been given compensation for his detention in the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Western security sources said on Wednesday. Islamic State militants said Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, a British citizen who was originally known as Ronald Fiddler and then cast himself as Jamal Udeen al-Harith, detonated a car bomb at an Iraqi army base southwest of Mosul this week.
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| Support pours in for damaged Jewish cemetery near St. Louis Posted: 22 Feb 2017 02:05 PM PST  UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis Jewish cemetery badly damaged by vandals is getting a show of support from cleanup volunteers, well-wishers and financial contributors from across many faiths.
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| Texas Hunters Who Claimed They Were Shot by 'Illegal Aliens' Actually Shot Each Other: Cops Posted: 21 Feb 2017 11:43 AM PST  The hunters had falsely claimed they were ambushed by illegal immigrants, authorities said.
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| United Airlines enters basic economy fare wars in the US Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:36 AM PST  Airfare wars are heating up in the US, with United Airlines the latest carrier to launch a basic economy fare in response to the low-cost competition.
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| Russian space craft lifts off for international space station Posted: 21 Feb 2017 10:38 PM PST ![Russian space craft lifts off for international space station]( "Russian space craft lifts off for international space station") A Russian Progress cargo space craft blasted off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the first such mission since a failed launch in December. The space craft, carried by the same Soyuz booster rocket as used for manned launches, took off at 11:58 (0558 GMT) with the launch broadcast live by NASA TV. It is due to dock with the space station on Feb.24.
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| Shark kills bodyboarder on Reunion island Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:32 AM PST  Saint-André (France) (AFP) - A 26-year-old man bodyboarding off of Reunion island was killed by a shark on Tuesday, local officials said, in the latest attack in the waters of the Indian Ocean holiday destination. It was the 20th recorded shark attack on the island since 2011, eight of which have been fatal, despite efforts by local authorities to install nets and warn locals and tourists about the dangers. The man, a former shark spotter from the island once employed by the local surfing association, was pronounced dead after the shark bit through a major artery in his leg off the eastern coast near Saint-Andre.
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| Le Pen refuses headscarf, nixes talks with Lebanon cleric Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:48 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen refused to don a headscarf for a meeting with Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim cleric on Tuesday and walked away from the scheduled appointment after a brief squabble at the entrance.
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| Police Reluctant To Help Trump In Deportations Posted: 22 Feb 2017 08:39 AM PST  "We have not been approached nor would we be interested in participating in this program," one police official said.
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| 'Making a Murderer' prosecutor on what he would have done differently in the Steven Avery investigation Posted: 21 Feb 2017 01:52 PM PST  Ken Kratz, the former special prosecutor in the murder trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, spoke to Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga about his new book, "Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What 'Making a Murderer' Gets Wrong.' When asked if he regrets having local investigators' involved in the case while they were also being sued by Avery, he said, "You can look back, and would I have rather now had somebody else? Sure." He noted that the resources available at the time made that very difficult, and that they were not the only officers involved.
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| Ex-Hong Kong leader jailed in fall from 'such a height' Posted: 22 Feb 2017 02:49 AM PST ![Ex-Hong Kong leader jailed in fall from 'such a height']( "Ex-Hong Kong leader jailed in fall from 'such a height'") By Venus Wu HONG KONG (Reuters) - Former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang was jailed for 20 months on Wednesday for misconduct in public office, making him the most senior city official to serve time behind bars in a ruling some said reaffirmed the financial hub's vaunted rule of law. The sentence brings an ignominious end to what had been a long and stellar career for Tsang before and after the 1997 handover to Chinese control, service that saw him knighted by the outgoing British colonial rulers. "Never in my judicial career have I seen a man falling from such a height," said High Court justice Andrew Chan in passing sentence.
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| The Latest: Crowd holds vigil for slain Whittier officer Posted: 20 Feb 2017 10:09 PM PST  WHITTIER, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the shooting of two California police officers as they responded to a traffic accident (all times local):
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| Cyprus's Anastasiades says regrets Akinci's decision not to attend talks Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:32 AM PST ![Cyprus's Anastasiades says regrets Akinci's decision not to attend talks]( "Cyprus's Anastasiades says regrets Akinci's decision not to attend talks") Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades expressed regret on Wednesday over the decision of Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci not to attend scheduled peace talks on Thursday. "I am ready to continue the dialogue at any time," Anastasiades wrote on Twitter. Greek Cypriot officials earlier reported Akinci had pulled out of Thursday's peace talks, ongoing for almost two years.
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| Possible 'Hidden Chamber' in King Tut's Tomb Invites More Secretive Scans Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:20 AM PST  A group of archaeologists has said the tomb of Tutankhamun may hold a hidden chamber containing the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. Now, a physicist plans to lead a team conducting another series of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) scans as a last-ditch effort to find Nefertiti's burial site. In this method, high-frequency radio waves bounce off the ground and off of walls, and the reflected signals can reveal hidden treasures, or empty chambers.This is the third time that this method has been used in Tutankhamun's tomb and it is unclear how the new scans will be different than the others.
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| UN concerned over new West Bank demolition plans Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:09 AM PST  The United Nations raised concerns Wednesday over newly announced demolition plans in a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank that threaten dozens of buildings including a primary school. Israeli officials have over the past week issued dozens of demolition orders threatening "nearly every structure" in a part of the village of Khan al-Ahmar, the UN said. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Robert Piper, visited the village where the primary school is among 140 structures at risk of demolition.
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| 10 fascinating facts about the Washington Monument Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:45 AM PST  The iconic Washington Monument is celebrating its 132nd birthday today. Learn how it took 40 years to complete the project, and the surprising connections it has to the Pope, Abraham Lincoln, and the Constitution.
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| MLK Niece Joins Trump At African-American Museum Posted: 21 Feb 2017 08:21 AM PST  The niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., stood beside President Donald Trump as he spoke at the new African American history museum in Washington, D.C.
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| Verizon Kickstarting 5G Revolution in These 11 Cities Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:38 AM PST  Verizon will soon offer a preview of what 5G will feel like when the networking standard becomes more widespread. The wireless provider says it's testing out 5G connectivity on select customers in 11 markets by middle of 2017 with an eye toward seeing how 5G will work in the real world. Verizon will test 5G in 11 cities this year.
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| For over three years, Kim murder suspect lived mystery life in Malaysia Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:24 AM PST ![For over three years, Kim murder suspect lived mystery life in Malaysia]( "For over three years, Kim murder suspect lived mystery life in Malaysia") Chong Ah Kow said he facilitated Ri's working visa by stating in supporting documents that he was a product development manager in the company's IT department earning 5,500 ringgit ($1,230) per month. "It was just a formality, just documents, I never paid him," Chong, a Malaysian, said in an interview.
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| U.S.-backed offensive pounds Islamic State in western Mosul as civilians flee Posted: 22 Feb 2017 09:45 AM PST ![U.S.-backed offensive pounds Islamic State in western Mosul as civilians flee]( "U.S.-backed offensive pounds Islamic State in western Mosul as civilians flee") A few hundred civilians have fled their homes in the outskirts of western Mosul, the first reported displacement since a U.S.-backed offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold there began at the weekend. A Reuters correspondent saw about 200 women and children being transported on buses by federal police on Wednesday to the town of Hammam al-Alil, some 20 km (12 miles) south of Mosul, where camps have been set up. The federal police and elite Interior Ministry units known as Rapid Response have made quick progress towards western Mosul in a sweep from the south through hilly desert terrain since fighting resumed on Sunday.
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| Caretaker performed sexy dance on 100-year-old with dementia Posted: 22 Feb 2017 12:02 PM PST  SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — A caretaker at an assisted living center who police say was filmed performing a sexually provocative dance on a 100-year-old resident was doing it as a prank and trying to make the man feel good, her attorney said.
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| UPS has a functioning drone delivery concept, and it makes more sense than Amazon’s Posted: 21 Feb 2017 03:32 PM PST 
Companies like Amazon are going all-in on drone deliveries and have already shown off warehouses that send packages out to customers exclusively via drone. For delivery companies like UPS, the idea of converting operations to rely exclusively on drones is laughable, but that doesn't mean they won't find a way to utilize the new technology to streamline the delivery process. This week, UPS tested out a delivery drone concept that doesn't so much do away with its iconic brown box trucks as augment them.
The test was conducted using a specially equipped UPS delivery truck which has a drone compartment built right into its roof. When the driver stops to deliver a package, the drone can be sent out to deliver one to a nearby location as well. UPS used the example of a rural delivery where sending a driver and truck down a long, winding road would be less efficient than sending the drone to deliver the package instead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9_6OyjJrQ Once the drone has completed its delivery it automatically docks with the truck once again, and long arms grab and situate the device so that it can be recharged for the next stop. The drone is capable of carrying packages as heavy as ten pounds, which is double the five pound weight limit of Amazon's initial drone delivery tests. Due to current FAA regulations which require drones to remain within visual of its operator — and avoid flying over buildings or people — even UPS's modest drone ambitions have some serious limitations. However, there's hope that those restrictions will be made a bit more workable in the future.
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| Testosterone gel shows no benefit for older men's memories Posted: 21 Feb 2017 01:54 PM PST  CHICAGO (AP) — Testosterone treatment did not improve older men's memory or mental function in the latest results from landmark government research that challenges the anti-aging claims of popular supplements.
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| Denmark extends S.Korea 'Rasputin' daughter's detention Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:29 AM PST  A Danish court extended Wednesday for another month the detention of the daughter of Choi Soon-Sil, the woman at the centre of a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's president. Chung Yoo-Ra, the 20-year-old daughter of the woman dubbed South Korea's "Rasputin", is one of the figures in the influence-peddling scandal that sparked massive street protests demanding the removal of President Park Geun-Hye. Chung was detained in Denmark on January 1 for overstaying her visa, after South Korean authorities issued a warrant for her arrest.
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| Hillary Clinton Finally Stepped in to Advise President Trump Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:06 PM PST  After months of passive tweets, Hillary Clinton finally called on POTUS speak out against anti-Semitic attacks. President Trump employed Breitbart News chairman, Steven Bannon, as chief Whitehouse strategist, leading some to believe he's encouraging anti-Semitic behavior.
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| Trump's Anti-Immigrant Policies Could Cause Crime Surge Posted: 21 Feb 2017 09:57 AM PST  Unprecedented challenges could be created for local authorities.
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| Why Tesla Inc (TSLA) Will Punch Through the Ceiling Again Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:04 AM PST ![Why Tesla Inc (TSLA) Will Punch Through the Ceiling Again]( "Why Tesla Inc (TSLA) Will Punch Through the Ceiling Again") This week will mark the first time that Tesla Inc (ticker: TSLA) reports quarterly earnings under its spanking-new moniker. Elon Musk's Tesla Motors switched over to simply Tesla at the start of the month in large part to reflect the fact that the company folded in solar energy services company SolarCity Corp. last year. Expectations for double-digit growth out of Tesla still are par for the course.
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| Reliance Jio racks up 100 million subscribers but ends freebies Posted: 21 Feb 2017 06:06 AM PST ![Reliance Jio racks up 100 million subscribers but ends freebies]( "Reliance Jio racks up 100 million subscribers but ends freebies") By Sankalp Phartiyal and Devidutta Tripathy MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries' Jio telecoms unit will charge for its services from April, ending an almost seven month spree of free calls and data that shook up India's telecoms sector and helped the new arrival rack up more than 100 million users. The shift to paid services, even at a sharp discount to established players, will test the appeal of Jio and the fundamentals behind a $20 billion investment in telecoms by Reliance - one of the world's largest energy groups. In a speech broadcast live on company social media accounts, Reliance owner and India's richest man Mukesh Ambani announced Jio had passed the 100 million subscriber mark and its service would cover most of the country's billion-plus population by the end of the year.
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| Virginia governor vetoes bill defunding Planned Parenthood Posted: 21 Feb 2017 01:25 PM PST ![Virginia governor vetoes bill defunding Planned Parenthood]( "Virginia governor vetoes bill defunding Planned Parenthood") Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have blocked funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions and other health services. McAuliffe, a Democrat, said the measure would harm thousands of Virginians who relied on Planned Parenthood healthcare services and programs. "Attempts to restrict women's access to health care will impede the goal of making Virginia the best place to live, work, and run a business," he said in a statement.
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| Woman Arrested After Doing Cartwheels During Field Sobriety Test: Cops Posted: 22 Feb 2017 05:56 AM PST  Bryelle Marshall, 23, was arrested and charged with battery, aggravated DWI, and for an expired license plate.
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