Toyota settles $1.2 billion over concealing defects
NEW YORK — A U.S. judge signed off on Toyota Motor Corp's $1.2 billion settlement of criminal charges that it concealed safety problems in its vehicles, an accord that could serve as a model for a similar probe into General Motors Co.U.S. District Judge William Pauley approved the Japanese automaker's deferred prosecution agreement at...California man arrested near U.S.-Canada border on terrorism charge
SEATTLE — A California man who prosecutors say was on his way to Syria to join an al Qaeda splinter group was arrested on Monday near the U.S.-Canada border in Washington state on a terrorism charge, federal officials said.The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that 20-year-old Nicholas Teausant, an American-born convert...UN questions U.S. on it’s widespread practice of imprisoning children with adults
GENEVA – Last week, the UN Human Rights Committee concluded review and questioning of the U.S. Government on its human rights record in Geneva. During the two day review, the Committee repeatedly expressed concern over the US’ practice of imprisoning children in adult correctional facilities and asked what measures would be...NSA records all calls in targeted foreign nation
WASHINGTON — The U.S. National Security Agency has created a surveillance system that is recording all the phone calls in an undisclosed foreign country, allowing it to play back any conversation up to 30 days later, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.The newspaper cited unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the system as well...Reid: CIA appears to have been snooping on Senate investigation
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has asked the sergeant at arms to determine if the CIA snooped on an Intelligence Committee investigation.Reid requested that Terrance W. Gainer, the chief of law enforcement for the Senate, review the computers used by committee staffers reviewing CIA interrogations, the...llinois Supreme Court overturns state’s eavesdropping law
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois' eavesdropping law is too broad, barring the recording of conversations that could not be considered private, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.The law, the strictest in the United States, requires anyone who is recorded to have given consent. The court said people could be prosecuted for recording fans...
CIA accused of spying on U.S. Senate intelligence committee
March 14th, 20140 WASHINGTON - A bitter dispute between the CIA and the U.S. Senate committee that oversees it burst into the open on Tuesday when the committee chairwoman accused the agency of spying on Congress and possibly breaking the law.Veteran Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said the CIA had searched computers used by committee staffers...Rescuers seek survivors of NY building collapse, seven dead
NEW YORK - Search crews picked through still-smoldering rubble on Thursday, looking for survivors of a gas explosion that caused the collapse of two New York apartment buildings a day earlier, killing seven people and injuring about 60.Facing thick smoke and bitter cold, dozens of firefighters, police officers and a team from the...U.S. border agents told to be less aggressive against stone-throwers
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Border Patrol told its agents on Friday that when they confront suspected illegal immigrants crossing the frontier who throw rocks at them, they should try to take cover or move away rather than immediately open fire.Michael J. Fischer, head of the Border Patrol, said in a conference call with reporters that...Immigrant detainees on hunger strike in Washington state
OLYMPIA - Hundreds of detainees at an immigration holding center in Tacoma have gone on hunger strike to demand better conditions at the facility and an end to U.S. deportations, their attorney said on Saturday.While advocates for the strikers put their numbers at 1,200, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement...Bin Laden son-in-law goes on trial in U.S. on terrorism charges
NEW YORK — Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, went on trial in New York on Monday, becoming one of the highest-profile defendants to face terrorism charges in the United States.Prosecutors have accused the Kuwaiti-born Abu Ghaith, 48, of recording videos in Afghanistan on behalf of al Qaeda immediately following the...New federal budget includes $1.5 billion for Syria and neighbors
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama proposed spending $1.5 billion next year for the Middle East and North Africa, largely to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Syria as Washington steps up efforts to deal with three-year-long civil war.Besides funding for Syria, the $1.5 billion is intended to promote reforms and...Los Angeles moves to ban e-cigarettes, joining NY, Chicago
Los Angeles — The Los Angeles City Council voted this week to ban the use of electronic cigarettes, also known as "vaping," from restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other public spaces in the nation's second-largest city. Los Angeles will join a growing list of cities, including New York, Boston and Chicago, that restrict the use of...U.S. Supreme Court declines immigration cases
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected attempts by towns in Texas and Pennsylvania to revive local laws that cracked down on illegal immigration.The court decided against hearing appeals filed by the towns of Farmers Branch, Texas, and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which were seeking to overturn appeals court rulings that...U.S. Senate Democrats block Obama’s nominee for civil rights lawyer
WASHINGTON — Seven Democrats in the U.S. Senate broke ranks on Wednesday, March 6, and joined Republicans to block President Barack Obama's nominee to a top Justice Department job after complaints that the lawyer, Debo Adegbile, had helped represent a "cop killer."The seven voted with 44 Republicans to sustain a procedural......
Google ordered to remove anti-Islamic film from YouTube
February 28th, 20140 A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday, February 26, ordered Google Inc to remove from its YouTube video-sharing website an anti-Islamic film that had sparked protests across the Muslim world.By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google's assertion that the removal of the film "Innocence of Muslims"...Second wave of retired cops and firefighters arrested over 9/11 fraud charges
This week, nearly 30 retired New York City firefighters and police officers have been arrested for falsely claiming Social Security benefits in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.The news comes on the heels of over 100 arrested retired firefighters and police officers in January, as a result of a......
MPAC: Court ruling in favor of NYPD surveillance threatens civil liberties
WASHINGTON D.C. — This week, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) expressed its disappointment with a federal ruling that the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey was “a lawful effort to prevent terrorism.” Eight plaintiffs brought the suit against New York City, claiming that the...Washington state expected to enact college aid for undocumented immigrants
WASHINGTON — Washington is set to become the fifth state to offer college financial aid to students brought into the country illegally by their parents.Democratic Governor Jay Inslee is expected on Wednesday to sign legislation that provides grants to students whose families meet income and residency guidelines. California, Illinois,...U.S. hate groups in decline as radical ideas go mainstream
The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center released its annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, which tallied 939 active hate groups and 1,096 patriot groups in 2013, for a total of 2,035, which the organization said remained a relatively high number historically. It represented a 14 percent decline over the 2,367 groups counted in...Elderly nun sentenced to nearly three years for Tennessee nuclear break-in
TENNESSEE — A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee military facility used to store enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.Two others accused in the case, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, were sentenced to 62 months in prison. The three were convicted......
Washington state lawmakers pass measure giving immigrants college aid
Washington — Washington state lawmakers have voted to make students brought to the United States illegally by their parents eligible for need-based college financial aid.Passage of the measure, which supporters have labeled the Dream Act, after failed U.S. legislation of 2010, marks a victory for immigrant-rights advocates and a shift...Facebook to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock, as the world's largest social network looks for ways to boost its popularity, especially among a younger crowd.The acquisition of the hot messaging service with more than 450 million users around the world......
U.S. moves to revive stalled Afghan peace talks
Washington — The Obama administration is taking steps it hopes could lead to a resumption of peace talks to end the Afghan conflict, including reviving a proposed swap of Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay in return for a U.S. prisoner of war.According to Western officials familiar with the matter, President Barack Obama's senior...
U.S. soldier convicted of Iraq rape, murders found hanged in prison
February 21st, 20140 Tucson, Arizona — A former U.S. Army soldier sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing of her parents and sister, was found hanged in his cell, The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday, citing prison officials.The death on Saturday of Steven Dale Green, 28, at the United States......