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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The criminal case against a Mexican man accused of killing a woman on a crowded San Francisco pier is coming to a close more than two years after setting off a national firestorm over immigration.

Jurors started deliberating Tuesday after prosecutors and defense attorneys argued whether Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was a hapless homeless man who killed Kate Steinle in a freak accident or a calculated murderer intent on playing a sick game.   Continue reading “Jurors weigh San Francisco pier killing 2 years after death”

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BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — A year of events marking the 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s birth is drawing to a close exactly 54 years after his assassination. National park rangers will lay a wreath outside Kennedy’s childhood home in Brookline, Massachusetts, and a 21-gun salute by an honor guard will follow.

Wednesday’s solemn commemorations fall on the anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The observances are being held at what is now known as the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site administered by the National Park Service.  Continue reading “JFK birth centennial ending on assassination anniversary”

RT

A school notorious for inviting alt-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos to speak has introduced a controversial new program called ‘unsafe space,’ where students will study Mein Kampf and learn that not all cultures, genders, and sexual orientations are equal.

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury, where Yiannopoulos was once a student, is causing another stir after creating the ‘unsafe space’ forum for sixth-form students. The program is described as the “antidote to the poison of political correctness” and will examine “the most beautifully disturbed and disturbing ideas, all of them presented without trigger warnings.”   Continue reading “Students study Mein Kampf in ‘unsafe space’ as ‘antidote to poison of political correctness’”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it is ending a temporary residency permit program that has allowed almost 60,000 citizens from Haiti to live and work in the United States since a 2010 powerful earthquake shook the Caribbean nation.

The Homeland Security Department said conditions in Haiti have improved significantly, so the benefit will be extended one last time — until July 2019 — to give Haitians time to prepare to return home.   Continue reading “US ending temporary permits for almost 60,000 Haitians”

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut funding from cities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities. U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick rejected the administration’s argument that the executive order applies only to a relatively small pot of money and said Trump cannot set new conditions on spending approved by Congress.

The judge had previously made the same arguments in a ruling that put a temporary hold on the executive order targeting so-called sanctuary cities. The Trump administration has appealed that decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.   Continue reading “Judge permanently blocks Trump sanctuary cities order”

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DALLAS (AP) — Investigators believe a border patrol agent who died in West Texas after suffering extensive injuries to his head and body may have fallen down a 14-foot (4-meter) culvert, and his partner, who radioed for help, has no memory of what happened, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation.

FBI spokeswoman Jeanette Harper said in a statement Monday that both agents were found late Saturday night in a culvert near Van Horn and that both had traumatic head injuries. Harper said Rogelio Martinez died early Sunday. The FBI is leading the investigation and results of his autopsy are pending.   Continue reading “AP source: Authorities believe border agent may have fallen”

RT

The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has surpassed $8,200 on Monday, setting another record high. Bitcoin is up almost 850 percent this year.

November has been an extremely volatile month for bitcoin. Earlier this month, the digital currency price fell to $5,500 after developers scrapped the SegWit2X update, leading some miners and investors to shift to offshoot bitcoin cash.   Continue reading “Bitcoin smashes new all-time high of $8,200”

Mail.com

MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may be deeply unpopular in his state, but in his home county he’s getting a road named after him. Christie on Monday will be on hand when a new access road to Central Park of Morris County is christened Governor Chris Christie Way.   Continue reading “Chris Christie getting road named for him in home county”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Santa Claus may be coming to town, but you’ll need a reservation to see him. At Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street in New York, a chance to sit on Saint Nick’s lap is by appointment only this year, for the first time ever.

Starting Monday, eager families can go online to sign up for a time slot from 30 minutes to five days in advance. No walk-ins are allowed. Admission is free to Santaland Herald Square and runs from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve.   Continue reading “Santa’s in town? You need an appointment this year”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says it’s willing to strike a health care provision from Senate legislation to cut taxes and overhaul the tax code if the provision becomes an impediment to passing one of President Donald Trump’s top legislative priorities.

The provision would repeal a requirement that everyone in the U.S. have health insurance or pay a fine, but it has emerged as a major sticking point for Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, whose vote the White House needs. Collins said Sunday that the issue should be dealt with separately.   Continue reading “White House open to striking health provision from tax bill”

RT

After an Air Force veteran with a criminal history was able to buy guns and kill 29 people in a Texas church, a Pentagon-wide investigation found that the Army is failing to alert the FBI about soldiers’ criminal histories in a “significant amount” of cases.

On Wednesday, Gen. Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, told Pentagon reporters that there have been “gaps and failures” on on the part of the Army to report the criminal activity of soldiers to federal civilian law enforcement agencies.   Continue reading “Not just the Air Force: US Army fail to report up to 20% of crimes to FBI”

RT

Israel’s Jerusalem affairs minister is calling for sheer numbers to root out the very idea of a sovereign Palestinian state. He says about a million Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank should do the trick.

Speaking at the “On the Way to a Million” conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Ze’ev Elkin said: “This will happen – it is only a question of when.” According to the minister, Israel would require between 10 and 20 years to reach the 1 million mark, depending on the pace of settlement construction.   Continue reading “Israel must push for 1mn West Bank settlers, enough talk of two states – minister”

Mail.com

HONOLULU (AP) — More than a dozen escapes have occurred over the past eight years at a Hawaii psychiatric hospital where a patient described as dangerous walked off the grounds and made it to California before he was captured this week.

Many of the 17 escapes between 2010 and this year happened when a patient broke “curfew” and didn’t return from the Hawaii State Hospital after being allowed to leave for a period of time, according to information obtained by The Associated Press from police and the state Department of Health.   Continue reading “17 escapes from Hawaii hospital since 2010”

Mail.com

SPINDALE, North Carolina (AP) — Former members of a controversial North Carolina-based church want the state to take legal action to overturn a court-ordered compromise they say has crippled child abuse investigations involving the sect.

The former congregants of Word of Faith Fellowship also want Rutherford County child protection agency director John Carroll to resign, saying he pushed for the 2005 settlement and has failed to protect children from abusive practices inside the church.  Continue reading “Ex-members of church urge overturning of court agreement”

RT

Agrochemical giant Monsanto and US farm groups are suing California to stop the state from issuing cancer warnings on the company’s herbicide glyphosate, which farmers use on genetically engineered crops.

California has added glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, to a list of cancer-causing chemicals. The state acted after the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently ruled glyphosate a carcinogen. IARC said that along with other Monsanto chemicals Roundup could cause Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and cancer.   Continue reading “Monsanto sues California over weed killer cancer warnings”

RT

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is launching a secret US government payload into space atop a Falcon 9 rocket – known only by its codename ‘Zuma.’

The covert haul is due to launch between 8pm and 10pm EST from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. But, as the launch site’s website puts it, “No other information is available about this mission.”   Continue reading “SpaceX mystery: What is the US govt sending into orbit?”

Mail.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Nearly 50 years after he was arrested in the kidnapping and rape of a nurse, a Louisiana man was preparing to walk out of prison on Wednesday, his life sentence and conviction overturned by a judge who said the case against him was “weak at best.”

Authorities withheld evidence decades ago that could have exonerated Wilbert Jones, now 65, State District Judge Richard Anderson said. His lawyer, Emily Maw, praised “the extraordinary strength” of a man “who has spent over 16,000 days in prison for something he didn’t do,” and would nevertheless “come out with a faith in God and in humanity.”   Continue reading “Lawyer: Freedom nears for man wrongfully convicted in 1974”

Mail.com

RANCHO TEHAMA RESERVE, Calif. (AP) — The gunman behind a rampage in Northern California was out on bail charged with stabbing a neighbor, others had complained about him firing hundreds of rounds from his house, and he had been the subject of a domestic violence call the day before the attack.

Yet Kevin Neal was free and able to use a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns Tuesday to shoot 14 people, killing four, in seven different locations across his rural community, including an elementary school, before he died in a shootout with police.   Continue reading “California gunman who killed 4, wounded 10 was out on bail”

RT

The bottom half of adults in the world collectively own less than the richest one percent, according to a Credit Suisse report. The gap between the super-rich and the poor has significantly grown since the global crisis.

The wealthiest one percent owned 42.5 percent of global wealth in 2008, the bank reports.

“The downward trend reversed after 2008 and the share of the top one percent has been on an upward path ever since, passing the 2000 level in 2013 and achieving new peaks every year thereafter. According to our latest estimates, the top one percent own 50.1 percent of all household wealth in the world,” the report said.   Continue reading “Richest 1% have more money than poorest half of world’s population”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans on Tuesday projected confidence about delivering on an overhaul of the nation’s tax code with President Donald Trump planning an in-person appeal to lawmakers ahead of a crucial House vote this week.

“This bill will make things better for hard-working Americans,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. House GOP leaders rallied support with the rank-and-file at a closed-door meeting. Underscoring the sharp political stakes for Trump, who lacks a major legislative achievement after nearly 10 months in office, is his planned meeting with House Republicans on Thursday ahead of an expected vote on the legislation.   Continue reading “Congressional GOP upbeat about prospects for tax overhaul”