Daily news Update Live

 A legal defense fund, set up to support past and present members of the Trump administration and campaign staff with legal expenses incurred via investigations led by special counsel Robert Mueller or House and Senate committees, is now active. The fund, “the Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust LLC,” was formally established as a limited liability corporation based in Delaware, according to a release. As ABC News has previously reported, the fund will be used to provide financial support for any legal bills incurred by any individual who "was an employee, consultant, fundraised or volunteer" on behalf of President Trump’s campaign. The release also says there will be two separate accounts – one for government employees and one for non-government employees. Tuesday’s release also says the fund will be managed temporarily by former Congresswoman Nan Hayworth. Hayworth is a former U.S. Representative from New York who will serve as the interim manager of the fund until a permanent...

 "A lot of people are going with this line of reasoning where they say, people in show business shouldn't speak out about politics," the late-night television personality said in an interview with ABC News' Paula Faris. Oscars 2018: Jimmy Kimmel talks writing jokes for the big show, 'I go from thousands to 30' Oscar 2018 presenters to include Mahershala Ali, Margot Robbie and Chadwick Boseman "And yet ... they elected Donald Trump the president of the United States," he quipped. "So I think that argument has pretty well jumped out the window." Source :- abcnews

When Laura Checkoway caught a bus down to Virginia from New York City to check out the story of Edith Hill and Eddie Harrison, whose picture was being circulated online as "America's oldest interracial couple," she had no idea it would lead her on the road to her first Oscar nomination.  A friend had texted Checkoway, a journalist-turned-filmmaker, a picture of the couple who married in 2014 at ages 96 and 95. "I just kept looking into the picture and looking into their eyes and thinking what it would be like to fall in love at that time in their lives," she told ABC News.  A couple days later, Checkoway was on a bus to meet them. She thought she might film them for one weekend of dancing. "It started as a look at love," she said. "I thought it would be a sweet, tender short portrait, and right away I realized that there was more to the story and that they were fighting to stay together. Little did we know how dramatically things would unfold....

Before his inauguration, when he announced he would hand his company over to his two sons, Eric and Don Jr., then President-elect Donald Trump pledged to donate all profits from foreign government patrons at his hotels and other properties.  For example, foreign dignitaries have been seen at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. On Monday, the Trump Organization announced it had kept Trump's promise and had donated profits from all foreign-government patrons to the U.S. Treasury. George Sorial, executive vice president and chief compliance counsel for The Trump Organization, said that while donating such money was not a legal requirement, “this voluntary donation fulfills our pledge to donate profits from foreign government patronage at our hotels and similar business during President Trump’s term in office.” Source :- abcnews

President Donald Trump has named Brad Parscale, who previously served as the Trump campaign’s digital director, as his 2020 campaign manager.  The announcement comes as the president has said he is ready to dive into campaigning during the 2018 midterms for Republican candidates across the country. On the day of his inauguration, Trump filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee indicating a possible re-election bid in 2020, Tuesday’s move seeks to formalize his intentions to run again. Parscale, joined the Trump campaign as a key player, as the campaign was expanding its digital operations with specific attention to advertising on social media. "I think we used it better than anyone ever had in history," Parscale said of the campaign's use of social media usage in an interview last year with CBS News’ “60 Minutes”. Source :- abcnews

A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who lost his best friend in the Valentine's Day mass shooting says he's "not mentally ready yet" to go back to school.  Julien Decoste's best friend, Joaquin Oliver, was one of the 17 people gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at the Parkland, Florida, school. The suspected gunman, former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, is in custody. School is back in session on Wednesday, but Decoste, an 18-year-old senior, told ABC News on Tuesday that he hasn't decided yet if he will go. Decoste said he just isn't ready, calling it "too emotionally tough" to see the building where Oliver was killed. Source :- abcnews

The Florida police officer who apprehended the suspected school shooter accused of killing 17 people and injuring at least a dozen more on Valentine's Day was reluctant to be described as a hero while being honored at a Broward County Commission meeting on Tuesday.  "It's hard to accept that status or title," Coconut Creek Officer Michael Leonard told ABC News. "... Most officers have the heart to help and service. I think they're all heroes." He added to reporters outside the commission meeting, “It’s hard to accept the title as a hero.”  Leonard was emotional when speaking about the shooting at the meeting, saying his "heart is very heavy" because he has a child who is close in age to the students who were shooting victims. "... And when you come against evil like that, and you have children at home that are about that age, it's very close to my heart," he said to reporters. "And it was difficult. But I'm so honored I w...

 The number of reported threats to schools in the New York area has spiked since the Valentine's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, the FBI said today. The news comes amid a wave of copycat threats and foiled plots around the country. Just in the last week or so, the FBI's New York office has fielded about 40 violent threats to schools, compared to a mere handful during a typical week. "Threats about causing violence in schools are most concerning," said Billy Sweeney, the assistant director-in-charge of the FBI's New York field office. Sweeney declined to specify the nature of each threat but said they ran the gamut. Each threat is initially considered legitimate until it thoroughly investigated. The outcome of those investigations was not clear. Tipster warned FBI school shooting suspect could 'explode' Reports cast doubt on 'good guy with a gun' theory in mass shootings Law enforcement experts analyze Parkland...

 A new -- and familiar -- name has joined the list of candidates running in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District race: Levi Sanders, the son of 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Levi Sanders made the announcement Monday evening after it emerged late last week he was debating entering the race. "After much thought and consultation with my family, friends, and the people of New Hampshire, I am excited to announce today that I am running for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st District," Sanders said in a statement. "This is a unique opportunity to listen to the hard working men and women of New Hampshire about the issues that matter to them." Incumbent Democrat Rep. Carol Shea-Porter is retiring, leaving seven Democrats, three Republicans and one Libertarian seeking her seat. Sanders is the eighth Democrat in one of the most competitive races in the nation. He cited many of the same issues his father has tackled in announcing his run, including a Medic...

Before his inauguration, when he announced he would hand his company over to his two sons, Eric and Don Jr., then President-elect Donald Trump pledged to donate all profits from foreign government patrons at his hotels and other properties.  For example, foreign dignitaries have been seen at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. On Monday, the Trump Organization announced it had kept Trump's promise and had donated profits from all foreign-government patrons to the U.S. Treasury. George Sorial, executive vice president and chief compliance counsel for The Trump Organization, said that while donating such money was not a legal requirement, “this voluntary donation fulfills our pledge to donate profits from foreign government patronage at our hotels and similar business during President Trump’s term in office.” Source :- abcnews

The Florida police officer who apprehended the suspected school shooter accused of killing 17 people and injuring at least a dozen more on Valentine's Day was reluctant to be described as a hero while being honored at a Broward County Commission meeting on Tuesday.  "It's hard to accept that status or title," Coconut Creek Officer Michael Leonard told ABC News. "... Most officers have the heart to help and service. I think they're all heroes." He added to reporters outside the commission meeting, “It’s hard to accept the title as a hero.” Source :- abcnews

 The number of reported threats to schools in the New York area has spiked since the Valentine's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, the FBI said today. The news comes amid a wave of copycat threats and foiled plots around the country. Just in the last week or so, the FBI's New York office has fielded about 40 violent threats to schools, compared to a mere handful during a typical week. "Threats about causing violence in schools are most concerning," said Billy Sweeney, the assistant director-in-charge of the FBI's New York field office. Sweeney declined to specify the nature of each threat but said they ran the gamut. Each threat is initially considered legitimate until it thoroughly investigated. The outcome of those investigations was not clear. Source :- abcnews

 Sen. Bob Corker is staying out of the Tennessee Senate race, his chief of staff tells ABC News. Corker announced his retirement in September in a statement saying, in part, “After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018.” In recent weeks, however, ABC News reported that Corker has "been encouraged to reconsider his decision and is listening closely," according to spokesman Micah Johnson. At a Republican gala in Memphis, Tennessee, on Saturday night when asked if he was jumping back in the race, Corker told reporters, “nothing has changed whatsoever. I really have, at this point, nothing to say.” Source :- abcnews

One of Georgia's top lawmakers has threatened to "kill any tax legislation that benefits Delta" after the airline joined several other companies in ending a discount program associated with the National Rifle Association following a school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.  Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, president of the state Senate, had been a champion of a lucrative proposal that would give the Atlanta-based carrier a sales-tax exemption on jet fuel, but he changed his tune on Monday. "I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA,” Cagle wrote on Twitter. "Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back." Source :- abcnews

 President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is open for business at Trump Tower in Manhattan and the Republican Party is footing the bill. According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, rent payments -- for more than $37,000 a month -- began in late September, shortly after the Republican National Committee was coming under fire for covering legal costs for Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., connected to the Russia probe. Since then, the president has started to pay his own legal fees related to the Russia investigation, White House lawyer Ty Cobb told ABC News in November. It’s not clear whether there is a direct relationship between the timing of the RNC legal fee payments related to the Russia probe and the rent payments. Source :- abcnews

President Donald Trump on Monday provided more fodder to his critics, especially those on the late-night TV circuit, by criticizing the officer who allegedly stayed outside during the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, claiming that he would have "run in there" to stop the shooter.  "You know I really believe, you don't know until you're tested, but I really believe I'd run in there, even if I didn't have a weapon, and I think most of the people in this room would've done that too," Trump said. Trump, who called the officer's alleged behavior "disgusting," made the comments while speaking with governors from across the nation on gun control. Source :- abcnews

 Some independent political candidates are uniting to give themselves something party candidates get from their national organization: support and structure to help run stronger campaigns. Unite America, a nonpartisan group based in Denver, announced its first-ever slate of candidates on Tuesday: five independents running for either governor or U.S. Senate. “Independents have lacked access to the kind of support major party candidates have built literally over the past 100 years,” Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America, said at a news conference at the National Press Club. He noted his group is building a volunteer network, a donor community, and electoral infrastructure for these candidates that he says is “necessary to level the playing field with both political parties.” He noted Unite America includes a grassroots community of 20,000 people across the country. The candidate slate includes Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, the only independent in the nation elected as a gov...

 The announcement comes as the president has said he is ready to dive into campaigning during the 2018 midterms for Republican candidates across the country. On the day of his inauguration, Trump filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee indicating a possible re-election bid in 2020, Tuesday’s move seeks to formalize his intentions to run again. Parscale, joined the Trump campaign as a key player, as the campaign was expanding its digital operations with specific attention to advertising on social media. "I think we used it better than anyone ever had in history," Parscale said of the campaign's use of social media usage in an interview last year with CBS News’ “60 Minutes”. As Parscale told 60 Minutes, the amount of money he started earning with the campaign and the amount he ended with are two polar extremes – he built the campaign’s website for just $1500 and, by the end of the 2016 race, his company was paid $94 million including the money spent on digital a...

 President Donald Trump has reached an "informal" agreement with Boeing for two new Air Force One planes — a $3.9 billion deal. “President Trump has reached an informal deal with Boeing on a fixed price contract for the new Air Force One Program. Thanks to the President’s negotiations, the contract will save the taxpayers more than $1.4 Billion,” deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. Tuesday.  The White House says the original estimates for the project were over $5 billion. Those figures, however, do not seem to square with previous comments by the president when he said that $4 billion was too much to pay and threatened to cancel a planned project for two new presidential planes. A White House official maintained Tuesday that the real savings to taxpayers in the end is $1.4 billion because the $4 billion estimate had since increased to be a little over $5 billion. Source :- abcnews

We shouldn't be banning guns for law-abiding citizens. We should be focusing on making sure that citizens who should not get guns in the first place don't get those guns," House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters. Ryan isn't backing any of the new gun proposals currently being floated. Instead, the Speaker repeatedly stressed that the House already passed a bill to reinforce background checks, the so-called "Fix NICS" legislation, and urged the Senate to do the same. Source :- abcnews

 The suspect in a fatal shooting caught on Facebook Live by the alleged victim has turned himself in, authorities said today. Prentis Robinson was allegedly shot dead by 65-year-old Douglas Cleveland Colson in Wingate, North Carolina, on Monday as Robinson was filming the encounter on Facebook Live, according to the Charlotte Observer.  Before the shooting, Robinson was on Facebook Live, talking about his phone getting stolen, the Observer reported. Robinson went to the Wingate Police Department and spoke with the police chief about his missing phone. As Robinson continued to roll on Facebook Live, Chief Donnie Gay said to the camera, "Bring his phone back so he can get on with his way today," according to the newspaper. Robinson then left the police department and encountered someone else; Robinson seems to say "You on live" several times to that person, the newspaper said. Then gunshots ran out. Colson is in custody and is facing a first-degree murder charge. He i...

 Ambassador Joseph Yun, the special representative for North Korea Policy, is retiring this week after more than 30 years in the Foreign Service. Yun is yet another member of the Senior Foreign Service who is leaving while the department is still under a hiring freeze and many top roles have not been filled. There has been growing frustration among the diplomatic ranks over the Trump administration's handling of foreign policy and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's "redesign" plan of the department. Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement Yun was retiring for "personal reasons and the Secretary has reluctantly accepted his decision and wished him well." North Korea open to talks with United States, South Korea says Olympics pulled back the veil on North-South Korea relations: Reporter's notebook "We are sorry to see him retire, but our diplomatic efforts regarding North Korea will continue based on our maximum pressure campaign to isolate th...

 Britain is facing an increased threat from far-right terrorism, the outgoing head of U.K.’s counterterrorism command said. In a Monday valedictory speech a few weeks before he leaves his post, Mark Rowley, London’s assistant commissioner for specialist operations of the Metropolitan Police Service, said police have foiled four such plots by right-wing extremists in the past year.  One-third of referrals to the government’s anti-radicalization program are now related to far-right terrorism, he added. “The right-wing terrorist threat is more significant and more challenging than perhaps public debate gives it credit for,” Rowley said. He said, “For the best part of 18 months in the U.K., we have a homegrown, white supremacist, neo-Nazi terrorist organization that is pursuing all of the ambitions of any other terrorist organization committed to violence … that should be a matter of great concern for all of us.” Source :- abcnews

White House communications director Hope Hicks appeared before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday for a closed-door interview related to Russian interference in the 2016 election, but refused to answer questions about her time in the White House, according to Republicans and Democrats on the panel. Hicks, who was behind closed doors with the committee for more than nine hours, initially refused to answer any questions from investigators about the presidential transition or her time in the White House, with her lawyer telling the panel she was doing so under instructions from the White House. Source :- abcnews

 New video played in court today shows the driver in a deadly 2016 bus crash with a cellphone in his hand, prosecutors say. Johnthony Walker, 25, was driving a school bus when it crashed on Talley Road in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Nov. 21, 2016. Thirty-seven students were on the bus at the time of the crash; six died and many others were injured. Walker is charged with 34 counts, including six counts of vehicular homicide. His trial began today and he has pleaded not guilty. Source :- abcnews

Some areas of Puerto Rico will not see power until as late as the end of May, about eight months after Hurricane Maria pummeled the island.  In a series of tweets, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said today that “achieving 95% restoration in areas with challenging terrain like Arecibo and Caguas, will take until mid-April and late-May respectively.” About 95 percent of the island will see energy restoration by the end of March, the Army Corps of Engineers previously said. The island’s 3.5 million residents were plunged into complete darkness when Maria made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 20. US Army's top engineer 'not satisfied' with Puerto Rico's post-Maria recovery Nearly all of Puerto Rico could have power restored by next month: Officials FEMA to end emergency food and water operations in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria death toll rises to 58 Source :- abcnews

 A legal defense fund, set up to support past and present members of the Trump administration and campaign staff with legal expenses incurred via investigations led by special counsel Robert Mueller or House and Senate committees, is now active. The fund, “the Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust LLC,” was formally established as a limited liability corporation based in Delaware, according to a release. As ABC News has previously reported, the fund will be used to provide financial support for any legal bills incurred by any individual who "was an employee, consultant, fundraised or volunteer" on behalf of President Trump’s campaign. The release also says there will be two separate accounts – one for government employees and one for non-government employees. Tuesday’s release also says the fund will be managed temporarily by former Congresswoman Nan Hayworth. Hayworth is a former U.S. Representative from New York who will serve as the interim manager of the fund until a permanent...

 An American citizen from California has been arrested overseas on charges of providing material support to terrorists, according to a law enforcement official. The official told ABC News that Bernard Raymond Augustine, 20, was arrested in Tunisia while in the process of trying to enter Libya to join the Islamic State terrorist group. Augustine was returned to the United States on charges of attempting to provide material support to terrorism and was expected to make his first appearance in federal court in Brooklyn sometime today, the official said. Augustine, who lives Central California farming community of Keyes, just outside of Modesto, was originally arrested in Tunisia 2016 when he arrived on a flight that originated in San Francisco, the official said. Court records show that he told U.S. Customs officials upon departure he was intending to travel to Tunisia for vacation. Someone from Augustine’s hometown told authorities, “There was no legitimate reason for Augustine to tr...

The president's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been stripped of his temporary, high-level security clearance under new rules imposed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly designed to crack down on West Wing staff with long-pending background investigations, sources tell ABC News. That means Kushner, whose portfolio includes the solving the Middle East peace process, will no longer have regular access to the nation's most closely guarded secrets as the FBI continues its nearly 15-month review of his application for permanent clearance. Kelly's action was not limited to Kushner alone, the sources said.  The White House would not comment on the record about Kushner’s clearance. Kushner, who was on Capitol Hill earlier in the day, declined to answer reporters' repeated questions about his security clearance. A spokesperson for Kushner said the move will not affect Kushner's ability to carry out tasks assigned by the president. "As to his securit...

The FBI and NCIS are investigating a hazmat incident Tuesday at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall next to Arlington National Cemetery and close to the Pentagon.  The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service were called in, a Marine official said, after 11 Marines were affected by an unknown substance found when an envelope was opened. Local fire department hazmat teams responded to the scene within minutes.  Three Marines were transported for treatment with non-life threatening conditions, the official said, and eight others who had symptoms ranging from itching to nasal irritation were being assessed. After the envelope containing the unknown substance was opened at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the official said, personnel in the building immediately evacuated the building. The FBI was taking the envelope and suspicious substance to its Quantico lab for testing, a law enforcement said. Source :- abcnews

 Florida Rep. Brian Mast was enjoying a peaceful day at the pool with his kids last week, legally carrying his concealed pistol, when a scary thought struck him. "I'm looking at all the balconies and thinking of [the massacre] in Las Vegas. I was sitting there with my conceal carry 9mm Glock, and thinking that I would be a sitting duck, and my children would be sitting ducks, for anybody that was sitting up on one of those balconies, and had barricaded themselves in a room, and were ready to go out there, and induce that kind of carnage," he told ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. That vulnerable moment triggered him to ask President Donald Trump to push the pause button on certain gun sales, Mast said. "Let’s pause on selling these weapons that have been used in these incidents, just like the travel ban," he said. "We’re going to pause 30, 60, 90 days and let’s see who has access. Let’s present some solutions." Slain football coach...

 The Boston Police Department is facing criticism from civil rights activists after video emerged appearing to show a tense exchange between a white police officer and the black pedestrian he stopped and questioned for more than two minutes. The man says he was walking to the barbershop last week in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood when he noticed an unmarked police cruiser circle around him and stop, ABC Boston affiliate WCVB reported. In the video, recorded on the man's cellphone, the officer in the passenger seat of the car asks the man if his name is Kevin. "You look like someone we're looking to speak to," the officer is seen saying in the video. Source :- abcnews

A former Arkansas district judge has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges that included granting leniency to defendants in his court if they gave him sexual favors in return, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday. Joseph Boeckmann, 71, pleaded guilty to charges including wire fraud and witness tampering as well as corruptly using his official position as a district judge, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Boeckmann, a judge in Wynne, Arkansas, resigned in 2016 after a state judicial review commission accused him of taking thousands of lewd photographs of young male defendants and sometimes spanking them. In return, it said, he reduced their sentences or paid their fines from his personal funds. In a 21-count federal indictment unsealed a few months after he stepped down, U.S. prosecutors said Boeckmann offered to dismiss the case of two young men in exchange for the defendants being photographed naked or being paddled on their bare buttocks, the indictment said. Source ...

 U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years in the pulpit, died on Wednesday at the age of 99, a spokesman said. Graham died at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, according to Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. According to his ministry, he preached Christianity to more people than anyone else in history, reaching hundreds of millions of people either in person or via TV and satellite links. Graham became the de facto White House chaplain to several U.S. presidents, most famously Richard Nixon. He also met with scores of world leaders and was the first noted evangelist to take his message behind the Iron Curtain. Source :- yahoonews

A video of a man cutting his semi-automatic weapon in half has gone viral following last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school, prompting a social media movement decrying easy access to high-powered assault rifles. Scott Pappalardo of New York state is the star of a clip posted on Facebook that had been shared more than 360,000 times as of Tuesday afternoon. It shows him taking a power saw to the barrel of an AR-15 assault rifle, saying he wanted to make sure it would never be used in a massacre like the one in Florida that killed 17 students and faculty last week. "This isn't the answer to solve all the problems. Quite frankly there is no one answer. There will always be people that will want to kill and will do it one way or another," Pappalardo says in the video. "But they are not going to do it with this gun. And I'm hoping that maybe someone will see it and say: 'Maybe I'll do the same thing.'" Pappalardo, a gun rights supporter ...

 Students galvanized by the deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school confronted lawmakers on Wednesday with demands to restrict sales of assault rifles, while President Donald Trump suggested arming teachers as a way to stop more U.S. rampages. The unprecedented lobbying effort by groups of teenagers and parents at the White House and at the Florida statehouse in Tallahassee played out as fellow students staged classroom walkouts and rallies in cities across the country. Trump held an emotional, hour-long meeting with students who survived the Florida shooting and a parent whose child did not. He said arming teachers and other school staff could help prevent future mass shootings, voicing support for an idea backed by the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby. The Republican president, who has championed gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA during the 2016 campaign, said he would move quickly to tighten background checks for gun buyers and would consider raising the ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billy Graham became the best-known preacher in the United States during 70 years in the pulpit. Following are reactions to his death on Wednesday. "The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man." - U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff at U.S. government buildings, including military bases, naval ships and embassies, on the day Graham is interred. "Billy Graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many - and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans." - Former President Barack Obama in a tweet. Source :- yahoonews

In an attempt to thwart "incursion and invasion," Guyana set up two army bases this week on its jungle frontier with ailing Venezuela, following similar moves by larger neighbors Colombia and Brazil. Venezuelan soldiers are entering Guyanese territory in search of food, while civilians are seeking medical attention and selling drugs and whatever else they can, according to authorities in the tiny former British colony on the northeastern shoulder of South America. Brazil and Colombia tightened their borders with Venezuela early this month, as they grapple with a mounting influx of hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants fleeing a worsening economic and social crisis. Colombia imposed stricter migratory controls and deployed security personnel while Brazil deployed more troops and started relocating tens of thousands of Venezuelan refugees. Guyana's 500-mile (800-km) border with Venezuela is mostly impenetrable jungle. Venezuela claims some two-thirds of Guyana, a disp...

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a Columbia University student's lawsuit accusing the school of acting with deliberate indifference after she was sexually assaulted twice as a freshman in her dormitory room. U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said Amelia Roskin-Frazee failed to show that Columbia responded in a "clearly unreasonable manner" after learning about the October and December 2015 incidents, which she formally reported to its Student Conduct and Community Standards office in August 2016. The case is one of several in recent years accusing U.S. colleges of improperly handling reports of sexual assaults and harassment. The judge said Columbia's actions complied with federal guidelines and its own sexual misconduct policy, including in January 2016 when it honored Roskin-Frazee's request not to investigate her rape claims after contacting her about them. Daniels also said Columbia could have reasonably decided that searching for the assai...

BMW AG agreed to pay more than $2.2 million to settle U.S. government claims that it failed to provide required refunds to 492 military personnel who lawfully terminated their vehicle leases because they were called to duty. In the first case of its kind, the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said BMW Financial Services NA violated the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by having since August 2011 refused to reimburse so-called capitalized cost reductions to service members who ended their leases early. BMW's payout includes $2.17 million to compensate the 492 service members, plus $60,788 to the U.S. Treasury. The German automaker did not admit or deny wrongdoing. Capitalized cost reductions are upfront payments made to reduce monthly lease payments, and typically amount to thousands of dollars. In papers filed with the federal court in Newark, New Jersey, the government said BMW violated the law by refusing as a matter of policy to refund such payments to service member...

A group of Haitian and Salvadoran immigrants on Thursday filed a lawsuit claiming that the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to terminate the protections that allowed them to remain in the country was racially motivated. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston seeks to challenge the Trump administration's decision to terminate the temporary protective status enjoyed by thousands of immigrants from Haiti and El Salvador. The lawsuit cited statements it said showed the Republican president's "dislike and disregard for Latino and Black immigrants," most recently in reported remarks in January by Trump saying immigrants from Africa and Haiti come from "shithole countries." "The animus directed towards Latino and Black immigrants is a clear and unfortunate thread running throughout President Trump's statements - and is actualized by his Administration’s policies, such as the ones challenged by this lawsuit," the compl...

A Florida eye doctor linked by prosecutors to New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez in an unsuccessful bribery case against him was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison after an unrelated Medicare fraud conviction, the U.S. Justice Department said. Ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen was also ordered to repay $42 million to Medicare following an eight-week jury trial, in which he was convicted last April on 67 counts of health care fraud and related charges, U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida Benjamin Greenberg said. The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra in West Palm Beach, Florida, also calls for three years of supervised release after Melgen serves his prison time, and the possibility of more restitution to insurance companies and patients, Greenberg said. Prosecutors had accused Melgen, 63, of fraudulently taking as much as $105 million from Medicare. He gave patients unneeded tests and treatments from 2008 to 2013 that could not help them, and filed numerous claims...

The body of evangelist Billy Graham will lie in honor under the U.S. Capitol rotunda next week as Congress pays tribute to a clergyman who counseled presidents and preached the Gospel to millions worldwide, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday. Graham, who died at his home near Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday at age 99, will arrive at the white-domed Capitol on Feb. 28 and lie in honor there until the following day, Ryan said in a statement. "Members of the public and Capitol Hill community are invited to pay their respects to the late reverend while he lies in rest," the speaker of the House of Representatives said. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will take part in a bicameral service when Graham's coffin arrives, the statement said. A spokeswoman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, said by phone that the family had approved a request from McConnell and Ryan for the public tribute. Source :- yahoonews...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday emphasized that he wants to see trained teachers able to carry concealed guns to ward off potential school shooters, and said he has recently spoken with the National Rifle Association about his ideas. During an hour-long meeting with state and local officials on school safety in the wake of last week's mass shooting in Florida, Trump brushed aside a suggestion of mandatory active-shooter drills for schools, and said he did not like the idea of having more armed guards in schools. Trump also said he wanted to explore the idea of reopening closed mental institutions and said violence in movies watched by children should also be examined. Source :- yahoonews

 Intel Corp did not inform U.S. cyber security officials of the so-called Meltdown and Spectre chip security flaws until they leaked to the public, six months after Alphabet Inc notified the chipmaker of the problems, according to letters sent by tech companies to lawmakers on Thursday. Current and former U.S. government officials have raised concerns that the government was not informed of the flaws before they became public because the flaws potentially held national security implications. Intel said it did not think the flaws needed to be shared with U.S. authorities as hackers had not exploited the vulnerabilities. Intel did not tell the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, better known as US-CERT, about Meltdown and Spectre until Jan. 3, after reports on them in online technology site The Register had begun to circulate. US-CERT, which issues warnings about cyber security problems to the public and private sector, did not respond to a request for comment. Details o...

Puerto Rico should "start from scratch" rebuilding its already outdated power infrastructure after deadly Hurricane Maria last year devastated it and left citizens marooned, the U.S. central banker overseeing the island territory said on Thursday. New York Fed President William Dudley did not comment on U.S. interest rates in a presentation of research on the effects of the storm that struck on Sept. 20. It was the worst natural disaster in 90 years and the largest government bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose district includes the Caribbean island, said Maria wiped out about 4 percent of its jobs, the fifth-worst among U.S. disaster regions in recent decades. Dudley said it will likely take "many more months" to restore electricity and critical infrastructure to Puerto Rico, adding it was unclear how many of the tens of thousands of residents who fled will eventually return. Given the already outdated and inefficient power plant...

Takata Corp's U.S. unit agreed Thursday to settle a probe by 44 state attorneys general into claims it concealed a deadly safety defect with air bag inflators. TK Holdings Inc, which is in bankruptcy reorganization proceedings, agreed in the settlement to a $650 million civil penalty over the defect linked to at least 22 deaths. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement that because Takata does not have the money, the states "agreed not to collect this civil penalty in order to maximize the recovery available to consumers who were the victims." In February 2017, Takata pleaded in a U.S. federal court to a felony charge as part of a $1 billion settlement that included compensation funds for automakers and victims of its faulty air bag inflators in connection with the largest automotive recall in history. The company’s air bag inflators can inflate with too much force and spray metal fragments. Three former senior Takata executives were charged in Janu...

Puerto Rico's governor said on Thursday he has tapped researchers at the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., to lead an independent probe into his administration's controversial tally of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria. Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a statement it was "of great interest to the state to identify how many lives were lost" in Maria, announcing an investigation led by Carlos Santos-Burgoa, director of the Global Health Policy Program at GWU's Milken Institute School of Public Health. After Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico in September, decimating infrastructure and leaving the island's 3.4 million residents without power, Rossello's administration pegged the death toll at 64. The governor faced criticism from funeral directors, families and media outlets who reported dozens - or in some cases hundreds - of deaths that were not counted as being caused by the storm. Source :- yahoonews

A North Carolina jury on Thursday convicted a white homeowner of first-degree murder for the 2016 shooting death of an unarmed black man, an attorney for the slain man's family said. Chad Copley, 40, was found guilty of fatally shooting 20-year-old Kouren Thomas outside his Raleigh home, said attorney Justin Bamberg, who was in the Wake County courtroom for the two-week trial. An email message left for Copley's attorney was not immediately returned. However, during closing arguments defense lawyer Raymond Tarlton said Copley had acted in self-defense and the police investigation of the incident was shoddy, according to the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper. Copley faces life without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on Friday. Bamberg called Copley "George Zimmerman 2.0," referring to the man who fatally shot black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer who maintained he killed the unarmed Martin in se...

France should follow U.S. President Donald Trump's lead and fight for "France first", Marion Marechal-Le Pen, seen as a potential leader of France's far right, told U.S conservatives on Thursday in her first public appearance in months. The 28-year-old former lawmaker, granddaughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of party leader Marine Le Pen, temporarily withdrew from politics after her aunt's presidential election defeat last May. But she has long been viewed in France as a possible future leader of the National Front, and the fact that she was a keynote speaker at a conference that both Trump and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence were addressing was widely commented on in French media as posing a challenge for Marine Le Pen. "I'm not offended when I hear President Donald Trump say 'America first'. In fact, I want America first for the American people, I want Britain first for the British people and I want France first for th...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. budget deal adopted by Congress on Friday includes what advocates call a landmark compromise to provide an estimated $1.5 billion over 10 years to try to keep struggling families together, including those with babies born dependent on opioids. The provision allows assistance on mental health, substance abuse and parenting whenever any child is deemed at imminent risk of entering foster care. It also offers support for relatives who unexpectedly assume responsibility for a child when a parent cannot. The funding is part of a bipartisan budget deal passed by lawmakers which alleviates spending fights that marked President Donald Trump's first year in office, but sets the stage for a battle over immigration and exploding deficits ahead of November's congressional elections. The measure is intended to help newborns whose mothers were addicted to opioids, including heroin, during pregnancy. More than 110 babies died between 2010 and 2015 after being bor...

Insurer Chubb Ltd on Friday said that it will stop underwriting a National Rifle Association-branded insurance policy for gun owners. Chubb gave notice three months ago of its plan to stop participating in the NRA insurance program, known as "NRA Carry Guard," a Chubb spokesman said. (Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn) Source :- yahoonews

The head of a federal commission who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being replaced at the behest of Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House. Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who currently serves as its chairman, has been passed over for a second four-year term as one of the agency's four commissioners. "The appointment expired in December and we are going in a different direction for our nomination. We nominate people for a variety of positions and generally speaking choose our own folks," AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said by email on Thursday. Strong rejected the notion that Masterson was being removed or shoved aside, characterizing the change as routine. Source :- yahoonews

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens was briefly taken into custody on Thursday after being indicted on a felony invasion of privacy charge in connection with an extramarital affair and a blackmail allegation involving the Republican politician, officials said. Kimberly Gardner, the top prosecutor in the city of St. Louis, said in a statement that the indictment involves an incident that took place on March 21, 2015. Greitens said he did not break the law and that the charge was a "misguided political decision" by a "reckless liberal prosecutor." "As I have said before, I made a personal mistake before I was governor. I did not commit a crime," Greitens said in a statement. "I look forward to the legal remedies to reverse this action," he added. Greitens photographed a woman identified as K.S., who was fully or partially nude, without her knowledge or consent in a place where she could expect privacy, according to the indictment and Gardner's spok...

The armed sheriff's deputy assigned to the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead has resigned rather than face suspension after an internal investigation showed he failed to enter the school to confront the gunman during the attack, the county sheriff said on Thursday. Deputy Scot Peterson, who was on duty and in uniform as the resource officer posted at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was the only law enforcement officer present on Feb. 14 when the rampage started, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. Peterson's actions were caught on video during the massacre, which ranks as the second-deadliest shooting ever at a U.S. public school, carried out by a lone gunman wielding a semiautomatic AR-15-style assault rifle. “What I saw was a deputy arrive at the west side of Building 12, take up a position and he never went in,” Israel said, referring to the building on campus, popularly known as the "freshman building," where authorities said the bulk ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will consider for the second time in two years whether to choke off a critical funding stream for public-employee unions, potentially reducing organized labor's influence in the workplace and at the ballot box. The nine justices will hear a challenge backed by anti-union groups to the legality of fees that workers who are not members of unions representing teachers, police, firefighters and certain other government employees must pay to help cover the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments. Two dozen states require payment of these so-called agency fees, covering roughly 5 million public-sector workers, that provide millions of dollars annually to unions. Their disappearance would deliver another blow to a U.S. organized labor movement already in a diminished state compared to past decades. The justices considered a similar case in 2016, and after hearing arguments appeared poised to overturn a 1977 Supreme Court precedent t...

The Trump administration is considering a hike in the gasoline tax, but no decision has been made, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday. "We haven't had an increase in the gas tax in a long time. It's one of the things that we're looking at," Mnuchin said in response to a question about a possible 25 cent hike in the tax. He added officials "haven't made any decision." Source :- yahoonews

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - The armed deputy assigned to the campus of a Florida high school during a deadly shooting last week stayed outside the building during the attack and failed to engage the shooter, the county sheriff said on Thursday. As a consequence, Scott Peterson, on duty as the school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, resigned from the department, said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who earlier has suspended the officer from the force. He did not say if Peterson would face criminal charges. Israel said he decided to suspend Peterson after viewing a video that showed the deputy's actions during the rampage that killed 17 people. A former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, is accused of carrying out the attack with an AR-15-style assault weapon. “What I saw was a deputy arrive at the west side of Building 12, take up a position and he never went in,” said Israel. The building is popularly known as "the freshman building....

Symantec Corp said on Friday it has stopped a program with the National Rifle Association that offered discounts for its LifeLock identity theft product. Symantec is the latest of several companies to cut marketing ties with the gun advocacy group following last week's Florida school shooting massacre, as social media users and gun safety activists intensify calls for a boycott. Source :- yahoonews

A Florida golf club owned by U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on Friday to pay $5.45 million to settle claims by former members that it wrongfully refused to refund their deposits when they wanted to resign. The payout is more than 94 percent of the $5.77 million that U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, who must approve the settlement, last February had ordered the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, to pay. Lawyers for the golf club and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The club had been scheduled to argue its appeal of Marra’s ruling in May, court records show. "In our view, the class prevailed," Brad Edwards, a lawyer for the former club members, said in an email. The lawsuit began after Trump changed membership rules for the club, which he had acquired from Ritz-Carlton in November 2012. Source :- yahoonews

Michelle Obama's forthcoming memoir, "Becoming," is set for worldwide release on Nov. 13, at which time the former first lady will embark on a global tour to promote the book, publisher Penguin Random House said on Sunday. The volume fulfills half of the deal the company reached with former U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife the month after he left office calling for the couple to each publish one book, reportedly for a sum worth more than $60 million. Michelle Obama's book will chronicle her life from a childhood growing up on Chicago's South Side through her years inside the White House as a mother of two and the nation's first African-American first lady, the publisher said. "Writing 'Becoming' has been a deeply personal experience. It has allowed me, for the very first time, the space to honestly reflect on the unexpected trajectory of my life," the former first lady said in a statement. "Becoming" is to be published simul...

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday finalized rules that will require "quiet cars" like electric vehicles and hybrids to emit alert sounds to warn pedestrians of their approach, extending to 2020 the deadline for full compliance. The long-delayed rules, which were first demanded by Congress in 2010, will require automakers like Tesla Inc, Nissan Motor Co and General Motors Co to add sounds to vehicles when they are moving at speeds of up to 18.6 miles per hour (30 km per hour) to help prevent injuries among pedestrians, cyclists and the blind. The regulation requires the sounds be added to all "quiet" vehicles by September 2020 - a year behind the schedule announced by the administration of former President Barack Obama in November 2016. Automakers must have the sounds in 50 percent of vehicles by September 2019. To meet emissions requirements from California and other states, automakers need to sell more electrically powered vehicles, and those vehicles...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday told governors at the White House they should not be afraid to fight the National Rifle Association after a Florida attacker killed 17 people in one of the country's deadliest school shootings this month. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby, endorsed Trump in the presidential election, and many, though not all, of Trump's policy suggestions in the wake of the Florida shooting have also been recommended by the NRA. Trump said in the meeting that he had recently had lunch with the officials from the group. But Trump also signaled a willingness to confront his allies when he told governors at a White House meeting, with reporters present, that if the NRA did not back their ideas at times, they should not be afraid to fight them. "Don't worry about the NRA. They're on our side. Half of you are so afraid of the NRA. There's nothing to be afraid of," said Trump. "And you know what, if they're not with you, we have to figh...

The U.S. Department of Education will investigate how Michigan State University handled reports of sex abuse made by female athletes against former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, the department said on Monday. Nassar, who worked at the East Lansing school and treated athletes there, has pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes under the guise of medical treatment. He was sentenced in January and February in two separate hearings to 40 to 175 years and 40 to 125 years in prison. Around 200 women, including Olympic gold medal-winning gymnasts Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, gave courtroom statements at the sentencing hearings about Nassar's abuse, leading to the resignation of the USA Gymnastics' board. Michigan State's president and athletic director have resigned. The Department of Education said in a statement that its probe would center on whether Michigan State met requirements under Title IX, a federal law that bars sexual discrimination in schools that rece...

 The head of a federal commission who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being replaced at the behest of Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House. Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who currently serves as its chairman, has been passed over for a second four-year term as one of the agency's four commissioners. "The appointment expired in December and we are going in a different direction for our nomination. We nominate people for a variety of positions and generally speaking choose our own folks," AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said by email on Thursday. Strong rejected the notion that Masterson was being removed or shoved aside, characterizing the change as routine. The commissioner post that Masterson, a former Ohio state official, currently holds is picked by the House speaker and formally nomin. Source :- yahoonews

Two weeks before a gunman fatally shot 17 people at a Florida high school, Bill Lee, the president of the state's school administrators association, warned lawmakers that Florida's schools were vulnerable to just such an attack. "It's not a matter of if, but when," he wrote in the Orlando Sentinel on Jan. 29, urging legislators to boost spending on school security after two school shootings in other states in January. "Florida is one instance away from becoming the next Kentucky or Texas, and we must do something about it." Following last week's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Lee has renewed calls for more funding for matters ranging from mental health counseling to emergency lockdown systems. State lawmakers, facing pressure from angry students, have signaled they will boost security funding after failing to do so for years. "I wish the words had not been so prophetic," Lee said in an interview ...

First National Bank of Omaha will not renew a contract with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to issue an NRA-branded Visa card, the bank said on Thursday. "Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA," said First National Bank of Omaha spokesman Kevin Langin. The bank declined further comment. Source :- yahoonews

 The world's largest asset manager put U.S. gunmakers on notice on Thursday that it is no longer business as usual in the wake of a shooting that killed 17 at a Florida high school. BlackRock Inc said it will speak with weapons manufacturers and distributors "to understand their response" to the second-deadliest shooting at a public school in U.S. history, putting pressure on companies such as Sturm Ruger & Company Inc and American Outdoor Brands Corp. BlackRock is the largest shareholder in both gunmakers and has more than $6 trillion in assets under management. It stopped short of saying it would divest its funds of gun companies, however. Underlining how the Valentine’s Day massacre at the Florida high school has rattled the finance industry’s relationship with gunmakers, First National Bank of Omaha said separately on Thursday it would not renew a contract with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to issue a NRA-branded Visa card. The NRA did not immediately respo...

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens was briefly taken into custody on Thursday after being indicted on a felony invasion of privacy charge in connection with an extramarital affair and a blackmail allegation involving the Republican politician, officials said. Kimberly Gardner, the top prosecutor in the city of St. Louis, said in a statement that the indictment involves an incident that took place on March 21, 2015. Greitens said he did not break the law and that the charge was a "misguided political decision" by a "reckless liberal prosecutor." "As I have said before, I made a personal mistake before I was governor. I did not commit a crime," Greitens said in a statement. "I look forward to the legal remedies to reverse this action," he added. Greitens photographed a woman identified as K.S., who was fully or partially nude, without her knowledge or consent in a place where she could expect privacy, according to the indictment and Gardner's spok...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - The armed sheriff's deputy assigned to the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead has resigned rather than face suspension after an internal investigation showed he failed to enter the school to confront the gunman during the attack, the county sheriff said on Thursday. Deputy Scot Peterson, who was on duty and in uniform as the resource officer posted at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was the only law enforcement officer present on Feb. 14 when the rampage started, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. Peterson's actions were caught on video during the massacre, which ranks as the second-deadliest shooting ever at a U.S. public school, carried out by a lone gunman wielding a semiautomatic AR-15-style assault rifle. “What I saw was a deputy arrive at the west side of Building 12, take up a position and he never went in,” Israel said, referring to the building on campus, popularly known as the "freshman building,...

Puerto Rico's governor said on Thursday he has tapped researchers at the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., to lead an independent probe into his administration's controversial tally of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria. Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a statement it was "of great interest to the state to identify how many lives were lost" in Maria, announcing an investigation led by Carlos Santos-Burgoa, director of the Global Health Policy Program at GWU's Milken Institute School of Public Health. After Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico in September, decimating infrastructure and leaving the island's 3.4 million residents without power, Rossello's administration pegged the death toll at 64. The governor faced criticism from funeral directors, families and media outlets who reported dozens - or in some cases hundreds - of deaths that were not counted as being caused by the storm. In December, Rossello said he would launch an inte...

A North Carolina jury on Thursday convicted a white homeowner of first-degree murder for the 2016 shooting death of an unarmed black man, an attorney for the slain man's family said. Chad Copley, 40, was found guilty of fatally shooting 20-year-old Kouren Thomas outside his Raleigh home, said attorney Justin Bamberg, who was in the Wake County courtroom for the two-week trial. An email message left for Copley's attorney was not immediately returned. However, during closing arguments defense lawyer Raymond Tarlton said Copley had acted in self-defense and the police investigation of the incident was shoddy, according to the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper. Copley faces life without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on Friday. Bamberg called Copley "George Zimmerman 2.0," referring to the man who fatally shot black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer who maintained he killed the unarmed Martin in se...

Symantec Corp said on Friday it has stopped a program with the National Rifle Association that offered discounts for its LifeLock identity theft product. Symantec is the latest of several companies to cut marketing ties with the gun advocacy group following last week's Florida school shooting massacre, as social media users and gun safety activists intensify calls for a boycott. Source :- yahoonews

Insurer Chubb Ltd on Friday said that it will stop underwriting a National Rifle Association-branded insurance policy for gun owners. Chubb gave notice three months ago of its plan to stop participating in the NRA insurance program, known as "NRA Carry Guard," a Chubb spokesman said. Source :- yahoonews

The head of a federal commission who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being replaced at the behest of Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House. Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who currently serves as its chairman, has been passed over for a second four-year term as one of the agency's four commissioners. "The appointment expired in December and we are going in a different direction for our nomination. We nominate people for a variety of positions and generally speaking choose our own folks," AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said by email on Thursday. Strong rejected the notion that Masterson was being removed or shoved aside, characterizing the change as routine. The commissioner post that Masterson, a former Ohio state official, currently holds is picked by the House speaker and formally nominated by the president. The three othe...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott commuted the death sentence of a convicted murderer less than an hour before he was set to be executed on Thursday, after the death row inmate's family begged for mercy and won a rare clemency recommendation. Florida executed a man convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of a college student, the state's Department of Corrections said. Alabama halted its planned execution on Thursday of a convicted murderer who has spent more than three decades on death row after his lawyers warned his failing health left him with veins that were unusable for a lethal injection. In Texas, Thomas Whitaker, 38, was convicted of masterminding a 2003 plot against his family in which his mother Tricia, 51, and brother Kevin, 19, were killed. His father Kent was shot in the chest but survived. Kent Whitaker, a devout Christian and retired executive, said he had forgiven his son and that his family did not want him to be executed. The father said in a clemency petition it was ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Atlanta-based company that failed to deliver millions of emergency meals to Puerto Ricans struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria may have plagiarized its winning bid to secure a $156 million food supply contract, U.S. lawmakers said on Friday Democrats on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs said in a statement that the nine-page proposal made by Tribute Contracting appeared largely to have been “plagiarized from several sources readily available on the internet.” The allegation marked the latest twist in the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s contract with Tribute, which the agency known as FEMA eventually canceled. Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee earlier this month revealed Tribute had signed up to deliver 30 million meals in Puerto Rico, but provided just 50,000 before FEMA scrapped the deal. The issue has become a referendum of sorts on the federal government's response in Puerto Rico, where ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will consider for the second time in two years whether to choke off a critical funding stream for public-employee unions, potentially reducing organized labor's influence in the workplace and at the ballot box. The nine justices will hear a challenge backed by anti-union groups to the legality of fees that workers who are not members of unions representing teachers, police, firefighters and certain other government employees must pay to help cover the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments. Two dozen states require payment of these so-called agency fees, covering roughly 5 million public-sector workers, that provide millions of dollars annually to unions. Their disappearance would deliver another blow to a U.S. organized labor movement already in a diminished state compared to past decades. The justices considered a similar case in 2016, and after hearing arguments appeared poised to overturn a 1977 Supreme Court precedent t...

The Trump administration is considering a hike in the gasoline tax, but no decision has been made, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday. "We haven't had an increase in the gas tax in a long time. It's one of the things that we're looking at," Mnuchin said in response to a question about a possible 25 cent hike in the tax. He added officials "haven't made any decision." (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by) Source :- yahoonews

The armed deputy assigned to the campus of a Florida high school during a deadly shooting last week stayed outside the building during the attack and failed to engage the shooter, the county sheriff said on Thursday. As a consequence, Scott Peterson, on duty as the school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, resigned from the department, said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who earlier has suspended the officer from the force. He did not say if Peterson would face criminal charges. Israel said he decided to suspend Peterson after viewing a video that showed the deputy's actions during the rampage that killed 17 people. A former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, is accused of carrying out the attack with an AR-15-style assault weapon. “What I saw was a deputy arrive at the west side of Building 12, take up a position and he never went in,” said Israel. The building is popularly known as "the freshman building." Israel said he would not releas...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended federal funding for Puerto Rico to help remove debris and provide emergency protections following last year's devastating storms that battered the U.S. territorial island. In a statement, the White house said federal funding for debris removal would last for another 90 days, while federal funds for emergency protective measures would be extended for 60 days. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) Source :- yahoonews

PARKLAND, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott urged state lawmakers on Friday to increase restrictions on buying guns and to strengthen school safety after a gunman killed 17 people at a school last week, proposals that gun control advocates said did not go far enough. Scott said he would work with legislators during the next two weeks to raise the minimum age for buying any kind of gun in Florida from 18 to 21, with some exceptions for younger military or law enforcement officers. Echoing similar calls by U.S. President Donald Trump, Scott also said he wanted to change laws to make it "virtually impossible for anyone who has mental issues to use a gun." The Republican governor's proposals come amid a reignited national debate on gun rights, led in part by some of the student survivors of the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Students calling for tougher gun controls have traveled to meet with politicians in Tallahassee,...