| Obama urges Americans remain vigilant against homegrown threats Posted: 18 Dec 2015 12:16 PM PST  By Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans to remain vigilant against the potential threat of homegrown Islamic State militants on Friday due to the difficulty of tracking "lone wolf" attackers like those who went on a shooting spree in California. Obama appeared in the White House press briefing room for a year-end news conference shortly before traveling to San Bernardino, California, where the Dec. 2 shootings took place, on his way to spending the holidays in Hawaii. "All of us can do our part by staying vigilant, by saying something if we see something that is suspicious, by refusing to be terrorized and by staying united as one American family," Obama said.
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| Chicago police officer to seek change of venue for murder trial Posted: 18 Dec 2015 10:53 AM PST  The defense attorney for Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, indicted on six counts of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a black teenager, told reporters on Friday he would seek a change of venue for the officer's trial. Van Dyke was in court with his lawyer Daniel Herbert for a very brief hearing, after a grand jury formally indicted him this week on charges related to the October 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke, 37, is out on bail and wore a gray suit for the hearing before Cook County Circuit Judge James Brown, who set arraignment for Dec. 29.
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| Congress OKs year-end budget deal, sends to Obama Posted: 18 Dec 2015 09:19 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan but deficit draining year-end budget package that boosts federal agency spending and awards tax cuts to both families and a sweeping array of business interests.
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| U.S. House passes bill to fund government, export crude oil Posted: 18 Dec 2015 06:54 AM PST  The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday overwhelmingly passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep government agencies open and funded through September 2016 and lift the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports. The bipartisan vote sends the bill to the Senate, where Republican and Democratic leaders have agreed to combine it with a package of tax breaks passed on Thursday. The Senate will then take up the combined package in a series of procedural and a final vote expected by early Friday afternoon.
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| Virginia county closes schools after controversial Islam homework: CNN Posted: 18 Dec 2015 05:15 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Schools in Augusta County, Virginia, were shut down as a safety precaution on Friday after a homework assignment on Islam prompted an angry backlash from parents, CNN reported. |
| After California shootings, Muslim American families struggle with identity Posted: 18 Dec 2015 04:10 AM PST  Mirvette Judeh began covering her hijab with a hoodie two weeks ago while in the car with her two young children. "Now I have to have these conversations with my kids," said Judeh, 39, who lives in southern California. As an anti-Muslim backlash swells across the United States following the Dec. 2 massacre by a young Muslim couple inspired by Islamic State in San Bernardino, California, many young Muslim families say they fear for their safety and are struggling with their American and Muslim identities.
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| Obama to visit San Bernardino as shooting investigation continues Posted: 18 Dec 2015 03:23 AM PST  By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will reprise his role of "consoler-in-chief" on Friday evening when he is expected to meet with families of those murdered in the San Bernardino, California, shootings. Fourteen people died on Dec. 2 when radicalized Muslims Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire on Farook's co-workers at a holiday party. Obama's visit will be "patterned after" a similar trip to Roseburg, Oregon, in October when he met for about an hour with families of victims of a shooting at a community college there, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday.
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| Pope approves miracle for Mother Teresa's canonization Posted: 18 Dec 2015 01:32 AM PST  The move clears the path for the nun to be elevated to sainthood next year.
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| World's refugees and displaced exceed record 60 million: U.N. Posted: 17 Dec 2015 11:23 PM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The number of people forcibly displaced worldwide is likely to have "far surpassed" a record 60 million this year, mainly driven by the Syrian war and other protracted conflicts, the United Nations said on Friday. The estimated figure includes 20.2 million refugees fleeing wars and persecution, the most since 1992, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a report.
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| Adelson family confirms ownership of Las Vegas newspaper Posted: 17 Dec 2015 06:53 PM PST  LAS VEGAS (AP) — The family of billionaire casino mogul and GOP kingmaker Sheldon Adelson revealed that it bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal, ending a week of speculation and demands by staff, media watchdogs and politicians to know the identity of the new boss.
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| California shooters' ex-neighbor charged with supporting terrorists Posted: 17 Dec 2015 05:53 PM PST  WASHINGTON/RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Reuters) - A former neighbor accused of supplying assault rifles to the couple who massacred 14 people in San Bernardino, California, appeared in court on Thursday charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Enrique Marquez, 24, a friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who launched the Islamic State-inspired rampage on Dec. 2 with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, also told investigators he and Farook plotted earlier mass casualty attacks, prosecutors said. U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said the two men conspired to commit "vicious" assaults on targets including a California community college and a state highway during rush hour.
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| Exec who jacked up price of a lifesaving drug is arrested Posted: 17 Dec 2015 02:55 PM PST  Martin Shkreli, a 32-year-old former hedge fund manager and relentless self-promoter who has called himself "the world's most eligible bachelor" on Twitter, was arrested in a gray hoodie and taken into federal court in Brooklyn, where he pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors said that between 2009 and 2014, Shkreli lost some of his hedge fund investors' money through bad trades, then looted Retrophin, a pharmaceutical company where he was CEO, for $11 million to pay back his disgruntled clients. Shkreli "engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said in a statement.
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| NYC's mayor launches new program to help quell tide of homelessness Posted: 17 Dec 2015 02:07 PM PST  By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a new program on Thursday to reduce New York's rising population of people living on the streets, following criticism of his handling of the issue and days after the abrupt departure of his top advisor on homelessness. The program will dedicate a team of city workers to make contact with and help the 3,000 to 4,000 people living on the streets and will be the most comprehensive homeless outreach plan deployed in a major U.S. city, de Blasio said in a speech. "No matter how long it takes, we will reach every single person." The NYC Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement Street Action Team, or HOME-STAT, which aims to be fully operational by March, is part of a $2.6 billion plan by the mayor to address homelessness.
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