State Department: U.S. ready to open Jerusalem embassy in May
February 25th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The United States said on Friday it will open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem in May, a move from Tel Aviv that reverses decades of U.S. policy and is bound to trouble U.S. allies who have already objected. President Trump announced last December that the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,...
New York man pleads guilty of attempting to support ISIS
February 23rd, 20180 NEW YORK — A former plumbing assistant from New York City pleaded guilty on Wednesday to attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Sajmir Alimehmeti, 24, also pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan to committing passport fraud in order to facilitate an act of terrorism, federal prosecutors said....
Students plan rallies, Washington march, to demand stronger gun laws after mass shooting
February 19th, 20180 PARKLAND, Fla. - Stunned by the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, students mobilized across the country on Sunday to organize rallies and a national march in support of stronger gun laws, challenging politicians they say have failed to protect them. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student...
Driver of van slated to be in Trump motorcade detained for having gun
February 19th, 20180 PALM BEACH, Fla. — The driver of a van carrying journalists covering President Trump was detained on Monday after Secret Service officials found a gun in his bag during a security sweep before the vehicle was to drive onto the president’s Florida property. The Secret Service said no one had been put in danger. The male driver told...
FBI warned about accused Florida gunman who took part in White nationalist militia
February 16th, 20180 PARKLAND, FL — The Federal Bureau of Investigation was warned last year about an ominous online comment by the 19-year-old man accused of killing 17 people at his former high school but was unable to locate him, an agent said on Thursday. Authorities said the ex-student, identified as Nikolas Cruz, walked into the Marjory Stoneman...
Federal Appeals Court: Trump travel ban unlawfully discriminates against Muslims
February 15th, 20180 WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating on the basis of religion, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday in another legal setback for the policy. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on a 9-4...
Several dead at Florida high school after ex-student opens fire
February 14th, 20180 PARKLAND, Fla. — A former student at a Florida high school opened fire in the school on Wednesday, causing 16 fatalities and wounding 20 people before he was arrested by police, authorities said. The attack took place shortly before dismissal at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 45 miles north of Miami,...
Iraqi refugee removed from plane sues Southwest Airlines
February 14th, 20180 LOS ANGELES, CA — Southwest Airlines Co. was sued on Tuesday by an American citizen who came to the United States as an Iraqi refugee and said he was removed from a California flight after another passenger became unnerved upon hearing him speak in Arabic. Khairuldeen Makhzoomi said he is seeking compensatory and punitive...
Saudi man in Oklahoma charged with ties to al Qaeda
February 9th, 20180 WASHINGTON — A Saudi man who attended flight school in Oklahoma was charged on Tuesday with visa fraud for allegedly having lied about attending an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2000, the U.S. Justice Department said. A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Naif Abdulaziz M. Alfallaj, 34, after his...
Draft DHS report called for long-term surveillance of Sunni Muslim immigrants
February 9th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Homeland Security called on authorities in a draft report from late January to continuously vet Sunni Muslims coming into the U.S. who fit an "at-risk" demographic profile. The report, obtained by Foreign Policy Magazine, reviews 25 terrorist attacks in the United States between October 2001 and...
Trump administration may target immigrants who use food aid, other benefits
February 9th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is considering making it harder for foreigners living in the United States to get permanent residency if they have received certain public benefits such as food assistance, in a move that could sharply restrict legal immigration. The Department of Homeland Security has drafted rules seen...
World’s most powerful rocket launches electric supercar on path to Mars
February 9th, 20180 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world's most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, roared into space through clear blue skies on its debut test flight on Tuesday from a Florida launch site in another milestone for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's private rocket service. The 23-story-tall jumbo rocket, carrying a cherry red Tesla...
New SpaceX jumbo rocket set for debut test launch in company milestone
February 6th, 20180 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new SpaceX jumbo rocket in line to become the world’s most powerful launch vehicle in operation was set for its highly anticipated debut test flight on Tuesday from Florida, carrying a Tesla Roadster as a mock payload. Liftoff of the 23-story-tall Falcon Heavy was slated for as early as 1:30 p.m. EST at...
U.S. State Department designates Hamas leader as “terrorist”
January 31st, 20180 WASHINGTON - The State Department said on Wednesday it had designated Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas Movement, as a "terrorist". The State Department said in a statement that Haniyeh, along with two active groups in Egypt and one in the Palestinian territories, were listed as specially designated "global terrorists". It...
DHS extends TPS for current Syrian holders, but refuse to re-designate Syria
January 31st, 20180 WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took a decision to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 7,000 Syrian beneficiaries residing in the U.S. Today’s decision only allows current TPS holders to renew their status and remain temporarily in the U.S. However, DHS refuse to......
Syrians with temporary U.S. protection brace for Trump decision
January 26th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Targeted by the Syrian government after providing humanitarian supplies to civilians fleeing air strikes, Mohammad Alala and his wife escaped in 2012, eventually obtaining student visas to enter the United States. They received a form of temporary protected status (TPS) extended to Syrians in the United States...
U.S. drops to eighth place on ‘best countries’ list
January 26th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. has dropped to eighth place in U.S. News and World Report's "Best Countries" ranking. This is the second straight year that the U.S. has dropped in the rankings. In 2017, the U.S. came in seventh place. Switzerland came in at the top spot for the second year in a row. U.S. News said the drop can be...
Coach tells ex-USA Gymnastics doctor Nassar in court to ‘go to hell’
January 19th, 20180 LANSING — A coach who sent dozens of young girls for treatment to USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes, told the disgraced physicians on Wednesday to "go to hell" for his crimes. Thomas Brennan, a youth gymnastics coach, confronted Nassar in a Michigan courtroom on the second day...
Growing pains for #MeToo as Ansari tale sparks backlash talk
January 19th, 20180 LOS ANGELES — Less than four months after the #MeToo movement inspired a national conversation about sexual misconduct and led to the downfall of dozens of powerful American men, a backlash seems to be underway. Women are divided among themselves, men are beginning to speak out, and words like "revenge porn" and "witch hunt" are......
Trump administration bars Haitians from U.S. visas for low-skilled work
January 19th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Haitians will no longer be eligible for U.S. visas given to low-skilled workers, the Trump administration said on Wednesday, bringing an end to a small-scale effort to employ Haitians in the United States after a catastrophic 2010 earthquake. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the change less than...
California parents who starved, tortured 13 children face life in prison
January 19th, 20180 RIVERSIDE, CA — The California parents accused of imprisoning their 13 children in the family's squalid home beat, starved and chained them to their beds for years, taunting them with apple pie, according to a prosecutor on Thursday who called it a case of "human depravity." The father, 57-year-old David Turpin, is also accused of......
Ex-CIA officer arrested for retaining classified information
January 19th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former Central Intelligence Agency officer was arrested at an airport on Monday night in connection with charges that he illegally retained highly classified information, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a U.S. citizen who now lives in Hong Kong, used to maintain a top secret clearance...
Trump administration to provide $60 million in Palestinian aid, withhold $65 million
January 16th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The United States will give a U.N. agency $60 million in aid for Palestinians but will withhold a further $65 million “for future consideration,” a U.S. official said on Tuesday. In keeping back some of the aid, Washington appeared to carry out a threat made by President Trump in a Twitter post on Jan. 2 in which he......
