Secret Service director resigns under fire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned under fire on Wednesday after a series of security lapses came to light that exposed gaping holes in the protective cocoon around President Obama.Pierson, in her position for just 18 months, faced mounting calls from lawmakers to step down in the fallout from a...
Muslim Scholars release open letter to IS, blasting ideology
September 26th, 20140 Nihad Awad, center, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, and more than 10 Muslim-American leaders endorse a letter written by more than 100 Islamic scholars that denounces ISIS.WASHINGTON — More than 120 Muslim scholars from around the world joined an open letter to the “fighters and followers” of the...U.S. Attorney General Holder to step down
United States Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference announcing updates in the Justice Department's investigation of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in Washington September 4.WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, an unapologetic liberal voice and one of President Obama's closest allies,...
In U.N. speech, Obama appeals for broadcoalition against “Islamic State”
September 26th, 20140 UNITED NATIONS — President Obama made his case to the United Nations on Wednesday for a more forceful, coordinated global response against Islamic militants in the Middle East that would seek to dismantle their "network of death."In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Obama used graphic language to condemn the methods of...New York man charged with trying to help “Islamic State”
NEW YORK — A Rochester, New York, man has been indicted on charges of trying to provide material support to the "Islamic State" militant group and attempting to murder U.S. soldiers, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.A federal grand jury in Rochester handed down a seven-count indictment against Mufid Elfgeeh, 30, following...U.S. to help train people to spot potential violent extremists
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government launched a program on Monday to reach out to key members of communities across the country to try to stop radicalized young people joining "Islamic State "and other extremist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq."Today, few threats are more urgent than the threat posed by violent extremism," Attorney...Children’s respiratory illness spreads to a dozen U.S. states: CDC
WASHINGTON — A serious respiratory illness sickening U.S. children has spread to 12 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, as it predicted that more states will report cases in coming weeks.The growing list of states with confirmed cases now includes Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,...“Islamic State” attracts several female jihadis from Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. law enforcement is investigating a new phenomenon of women from the American heartland joining Islamic State as President Obama vows to cut off the militants' recruiting at home.At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may...U.S. Army soldier accused of smuggling immigrants
TEXAS — A U.S. Army soldier has been accused of smuggling two undocumented immigrants across the Texas-Mexico border while in uniform, according to a federal criminal complaint.Eric Alexander Rodriguez, 20, a private in the Army, was charged with felony "bringing in and harboring certain aliens" on Friday in United States District...Ted Cruz gets booed off stage at Middle East Christian event
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was booed off the stage at an event hosted by a Christian organization in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.The conservative firebrand delivered the keynote address at an event hosted by In Defense of Christians (IDC), an organization that raises awareness of persecuted Christian and minority communities in...New York man pleads guilty to trying to join al Qaeda
NEW YORK — A New York man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attempting to join the militant group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, considered to be one of the most active wings of the network, prosecutors said.Marcos Alonso Zea, 26, was arrested last October at his Long Island home in a joint investigation by local and federal...U.S. to alert retailers to bomb materials to counter home-grown threat
WASHINGTON — The government plans to give U.S. retailers a list of materials that can be used in explosives and ask them to look out for suspicious behavior as a way to combat domestic terrorism, the homeland security secretary said on Wednesday.On the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Jeh Johnson said the...
Obama’s anti- “Islamic State” strategy met with skepticism
September 12th, 20140 WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s new strategy to "degrade, and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State is being met with widespread skepticism among both hawks and doves, as well as regional specialists.While Congress is expected to acquiesce, if not formally authorize, the plans he outlined in his nationally televised...Obama, victims’ families pause to remember those lost on 9/11
NEW YORK — Politicians, dignitaries and victims' relatives gathered in New York City, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania on Thursday to remember the nearly 3,000 people killed in al Qaeda's attack on the United States 13 years ago on Sept. 11.President Obama spoke at the Pentagon during a private ceremony for relatives of the...Number of Americans paying student loans soars
BOSTON — The rising cost of higher education is dogging Americans into retirement, with people aged 65 and older still carrying some $18.2 billion in unpaid student loans, according to a federal report released on Wednesday.While the Government Accountability Office report noted that relatively few U.S. households headed by......
Obesity rates reach historic highs in more U.S. states
WASHINGTON — Rates of adult obesity increased in six U.S. states and fell in none last year, and in more states than ever - 20 - at least 30 percent of adults are obese, according to an analysis released on Thursday.The conclusions were reported by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and were based...U.S. fast-food workers arrested in protests for wage hike
NEW YORK — U.S. fast-food workers staged protests in some 150 cities on Thursday in a fight for higher pay, and organizers said dozens were arrested from Manhattan's Times Square to Las Vegas to Detroit.About 400 protesters clogged Times Square during morning rush hour in the latest of ongoing actions aimed at raising their wage to......
California high school drops offensive ‘Arab’ mascot
The Coachella Valley Unified School District confirmed Friday that it has retired the school’s controversial Arab mascot that prompted objections from The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee last year.The Arab mascot costume was a cartoonish, headscarf-wearing man with a hooked nose, a thick beard and a devilish mustache. He...
Sotloff family mourns beheaded son as gentle soul
September 5th, 20140 A video purportedly showing U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff kneeling next to a masked Islamic State fighter holding a knife in an unknown location.WASHINGTON — The family of Steven Sotloff, the second American journalist beheaded by Islamic State militants, said on Wednesday he was no hero and no war junkie but "a mere man who tried to...American released by Syrian militants thanks Qatar, U.S. officials
CAMBRIDGE Mass. — A U.S. writer freed this week after being held captive for two years by Syrian insurgents on Wednesday thanked those who had worked for his release and said he was emotionally overwhelmed by his welcome home.Peter Theo Curtis, who was held by Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official wing in Syria, said he had no idea that...U.S. government sues Minneapolis suburb for rejecting Islamic center
Minneapolis — The U.S. government sued a small Minneapolis suburb on Wednesday, accusing it of religious discrimination after local leaders denied a Muslim group the right to open a center in the municipality.The Justice Department filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis against St. Anthony Village, where council......
U.S. judge signals he may order more Abu Ghraib photos released
NEW YORK — A federal judge signaled on Wednesday he may order the U.S. government to release as many as 2,000 photographs depicting the alleged harsh treatment of detainees in U.S. custody at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other sites.U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York ruled the U.S. Department of Defense had failed...U.S. mother pleads to “Islamic State” leader for her son’s release
Shirley Sotloff, the mother of American journalist Steven Sotloff.BOSTON — The mother of an American journalist held captive by militant group "Islamic State" released a video on Wednesday appealing directly to the group's leader for his release."I am sending this message to you, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Quraishi al-Hussaini, the......
9-year-old girl accidentally kills Arizona shooting instructor
Shooting instructor Charles Vacca stands next to a 9-year-old girl at the Last Stop shooting range in White Hills, Arizona near the Nevada border, on August 25.TUCSON Ariz. — A 9-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed her shooting instructor at an Arizona range with an Israeli-made Uzi submachine gun when the weapon's strong...Girl plunges 550 feet to her death at Yellowstone National Park
WYOMING – An 8-year-old girl plunged some 550 feet (168 meters) to her death at Yellowstone National Park on Sunday after stepping off a trail overlooking a 1,200-foot (366-m) canyon and losing her footing, a park official said on Monday.The victim was identified by park officials as Zahra Allahyari of Poway,......