Author: Sunfire

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The vast majority of immigrant children who arrive alone at the U.S. border are placed by the government with adults who are in the country illegally, federal data reviewed by The Associated Press show.

The government has long said that it places the children with family and friends regardless of immigration status. But since more children began arriving on the border in 2014, officials have not revealed how often those sponsors lack legal papers.   Continue reading “Immigrant kids placed with adults who are in US illegally”

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JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Monday it has discovered and destroyed a tunnel burrowing from Gaza into Israel — the first tunnel to be discovered since Israel’s 2014 war with the militant Hamas movement that runs the coastal strip.

Israeli troops detected the tunnel’s exit, still underground, several days ago, according to military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, who added he believes the tunnel was built after the summer war. It extended several hundred meters (yards) from Gaza into Israel and was lined with cement and outfitted with electricity, ventilation and rail tracks to cart away dirt from digging, Lerner said.   Continue reading “Israeli army says it discovered tunnel from Gaza into Israel”

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BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — For the second time in under a quarter century, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies voted to open impeachment proceedings against a democratically elected leader, dealing a devastating blow to President Dilma Rousseff, whose left-leaning Workers’ Party came to power 13 year ago on the promise of improving the lot of the poor.

The 367-137 vote late Sunday in favor of impeachment was well over the 342 votes needed for the proceedings to move ahead to the Senate, where a majority vote will determine whether Rousseff is put on trial and suspended while Vice President Michel Temer temporarily takes over. The exact date of the Senate vote is not known, but it’s widely expected by the middle of next month.   Continue reading “Fights loom after Brazil’s lower chamber OKs impeachment”

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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A schoolmate says she cried with joy when she saw a Boko Haram video appearing to show some of Nigeria’s kidnapped Chibok girls, with images of tearful mothers recognizing their daughters who have not been heard from since the mass abduction by the Islamic extremists two years ago.

“The moment I saw them and recognized their faces — Saratu Ayuba, Jummai Mutah, and Kwazigu Hamman — I started crying, with tears of joy rolling down from my eyes, thanking God for their lives,” she says.   Continue reading “Video appears to show some kidnapped Chibok girls alive”

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FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — International crime rings targeting California’s booming agriculture industry are increasingly stealing truckloads of high-value nuts, prompting authorities and the firms falling victim to ramp up efforts to break the spree costing millions.

The sophisticated organizations in many cases use high-tech tactics, hacking into trucking companies to steal their identity. Armed with false shipping papers, they pose as legitimate truckers, driving off with loads of nuts such as almonds, walnuts or pistachios valued at $150,000, and some worth $500,000 each.   Continue reading “Thieves targeting California almonds, walnuts”

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TOKYO (AP) — A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 knocked over houses in southern Japan on Thursday evening, and police said people may be trapped underneath. Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital said it has admitted or treated 45 people, including five with serious injuries.

The quake struck at 9:26 p.m. at a depth of 11 kilometers (7 miles) near Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There was no tsunami risk. “The shaking was so violent I couldn’t stand still,” said Hironobu Kosaki, a Kumamoto Prefectural Police night-duty official.   Continue reading “Strong quake hurts 45 in south Japan; people may be trapped”

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — In a military buildup certain to inflame tensions with China, the United States said Thursday it has been conducting joint South China Sea patrols — and eventually will conduct air patrols — with the Philippines, while dispatching U.S. troops and combat aircraft there on more frequent rotations.

The announcement by Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a news conference with Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was the first time the U.S. revealed that its ships had conducted patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move not done with many other partners in the region.   Continue reading “US reveals joint patrols in South China Sea with Philippines”

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CHINO, Calif. (AP) — Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson’s followers to take part in one of the nation’s most notorious killings, is trying again for parole. The homecoming princess who descended into a life of drugs before joining Manson’s cult in the 1960s is scheduled for her 21st hearing before a parole board panel on Thursday at the California Institution for Women in Chino.

Van Houten, 66, has spent more than four decades in prison, completing college degrees and demonstrating exemplary behavior. She was convicted for her role in the 1969 murders of wealthy grocer Leno La Bianca and his wife Rosemary in their Los Angeles home. The La Biancas were stabbed numerous times and the word “WAR” was carved on his stomach.   Continue reading “Ex-Manson family member seeks parole for 1969 murder”

RT

Internal police documents obtained through a public records request showed Chicago officers punched, beat, Tasered and strangled men held illegally at Homan Square, the city’s off-site interrogation center.

Chicago Police Department files confirm that officers used physical force against at least 14 men when they were held in custody at its warehouse site, according to the Guardian on Tuesday, which obtained the documents through a lawsuit under Illinois’ freedom of information law.   Continue reading “Police beat, strangle, Taser men held unlawfully at Chicago’s ‘Gitmo’”

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrians in government-controlled areas cast ballots Wednesday for a new 250-member parliament that is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for President Bashar Assad in a vote which Western leaders and members of Syria’s opposition have denounced as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks.

The negotiations on resolving Syria’s five-year civil war were to resume later Wednesday in the Swiss city, with government representatives delayed on account of the elections and the U.N. envoy due to meet with the opposition team.   Continue reading “Assad says Syrian parliament elections blow to ‘terrorism’”

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HONOLULU (AP) — When Daniel Anthony spent the night sleeping in a traditional Hawaiian structure known as a “hale,” the sound of rain falling on the thatched roof made him feel like he was sleeping in the forest.

“This is the sound of aloha,” he said, recalling the experience. The hales, he said, are also a solution to a crisis of homelessness in Hawaii, which has the highest rate of homelessness per capita in the nation.   Continue reading “In homelessness crisis, Hawaii eyes thatched ‘hale’ homes”

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NEW DELHI (AP) — The tiny bone fragments formally turned over to the U.S. Wednesday carry a world of significance and perhaps closure for possibly a few American families who lost a loved one over the mountains of India in World War II.

During a solemn ceremony Wednesday, U.S. military members paid final respects to what they believe may be the remains of crew members from a B-24 bomber and a military transport plane that crashed on supply runs from India to China over the Himalayan Mountains.   Continue reading “Bone fragments from WWII crashes returning from India”

RT

Ongoing at-sea tests of the most advanced and expensive destroyer ever, the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), have exposed an unexpected problem. Perceived as a medium-sized fishing boat on radars, its sheer size shocks ill-prepared fishermen when it approaches.

Maine lobsterman Lawrence Pye experienced the “Zumwalt effect” for himself. He saw something that appeared on his radar screen to be a 15-meter fishing boat, but it materialized into a gigantic 186-meter warship. The destroyer was returning to the Bath Iron Works shipbuilding yard after a series of sea trials.   Continue reading “Too stealthy: New off-radar US destroyer poses maritime traffic risks”

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BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops and their allies launched an offensive Tuesday to retake an important hilltop village south of the city of Aleppo from militants, including al-Qaida’s local affiliate, as President Bashar Assad’s government was preparing for parliamentary elections the following day.

The vote will only be held in areas controlled by the government, and is expected to produce a rubber-stamp assembly loyal to Assad. Al-Manar TV, run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces, reported the offensive to retake the village of Tel al-Ais. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist-run monitoring group, said clashes were ongoing around Tel al-Ais and the nearby village of Khan Touman.   Continue reading “Syrian government launches offensive south of city of Aleppo”

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HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy officer in charge of a flight crew that located three castaways on a remote Pacific island said Monday he has never seen or heard of another rescue quite like it. The stranded men, who were reported missing last Tuesday after a wave overtook their skiff, were found on a tiny Micronesian island on Thursday, officials said.

The three had spelled out the word “help” with palm fronds after they swam to the deserted island when their boat capsized. “I’ve never seen anything like that, nor am I aware of anyone in our community seeing anything like that,” U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander John Harkins said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press Monday.   Continue reading “Navy flyer describes spotting island castaways”

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HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — An emotional John Kerry said Hiroshima’s horrible history should teach humanity to avoid conflict and strive to eradicate nuclear weapons as he became the first U.S. secretary of state to tread upon the ground of the world’s first atomic bombing.

Kerry’s visit Monday to the Japanese city included him touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park’s stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima’s iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.   Continue reading “Kerry makes gut-wrenching visit to Hiroshima site of A-bomb”

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DALLAS (AP) — A man who was slain at an upscale suburban Dallas shopping center is identified in federal court documents as the acting leader of a notorious Mexican cartel, a claim that would run counter to the long-held belief that drug kingpins seldom try to hide in the United States.

Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa moved into a million-dollar home in Southlake in 2011, two years before he was fatally shot by three men who prosecutors say had been stalking him for months. According to a recent court filing submitted by the lawyers for Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda — one of three suspects slated to stand trial for Chapa’s killing — Chapa became the interim head of the Gulf Cartel — one of Mexico’s most violent drug-trafficking rings — following the arrest of predecessor Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2007 and later sentenced to 25 years in prison.   Continue reading “Top cartel leader appeared to find temporary haven in Texas”

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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two 19-year-old women who were Southern University students and members of the school’s athletic program were killed during a shootout early Sunday outside a Baton Rouge apartment complex, police and university officials said.

Police arrested one of two men suspected in the shooting. Ernest Bernard Felton, 22, of Miami, is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon in the shooting of a 24-year-old man who was at a hospital with wounds that aren’t considered life-threatening.   Continue reading “2 university students dead in Louisiana shooting”