USA

Top immigration official: Border crossings dropping

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — The acting secretary of Homeland Security said Friday that he expected 25% fewer migrants to cross the border this month, as officials in Yuma unveiled the newest temporary facility meant to detain children and families.

That number of illegal crossings would still be too high, but it was a start, Kevin McAleenan said, crediting Mexico with a concentrated effort to stop Central Americans before they arrived even to Mexico — a push prompted by threats of tariffs from President Donald Trump.

Supreme Court to rule on Trump bid to end ‘dreamers’ program

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adding a high-stakes immigration case to its election-year agenda, the Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether President Donald Trump can terminate an Obama-era program shielding young migrants from deportation.

The justices’ order sets up legal arguments for late fall or early winter, with a decision likely by June 2020 as Trump campaigns for re-election. The president ordered an end to the program known as DACA in 2017, sparking protests and a congressional effort to salvage it.

Life sentence for Charlottesville's Whitist terrorist

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — An avowed white supremacist who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized to his victims Friday before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.

James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in March to 29 of 30 hate crimes in connection with the 2017 attack that killed Heather Heyer and injured more than two dozen others.

US urges new Syria peace strategy for UN

28 June 2019; DW: The US on Thursday urged the UN to find a new way forward for the Syrian conflict, saying its efforts to establish a political solution have so far failed to gain traction.

"It is time to admit that not only has progress stalled, it is likely to remain out of reach for some time, because that's where the regime wants it to be," said acting US Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Cohen.

UN slams Taliban’s threat against Afghan media

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 28 (APP): The head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has denounced the Taliban for publicly threatening to turn media outlets in the war-torn country into military targets, stressing freedom of the press is critical and civilians should never be deliberately targeted with violence.

NASA plans to send a drone to Saturn’s largest moon

USA, (AP) --- Get ready to see another world from the eyes of a dragonfly — at least, a robotic one.

NASA said Thursday that it’s sending a drone called Dragonfly to explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Using propellers, the drone will fly and land on several spots on the icy moon to study whether it can support microbial life.

The nuclear-powered mission is part of NASA’s competitive New Frontiers program, which launched the New Horizons spacecraft that became the first to visit dwarf planet Pluto.

Facebook enlists plain English to clarify how it makes money

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook is updating its terms and services guidelines to clarify how it makes money from the personal information of its users. The changes reflect its ongoing attempts to satisfy regulators in the U.S. and Europe, which have urged the company to make sure users know what they are signing up for.

The guideline changes, announced Thursday, are largely cosmetic. The updates don’t change Facebook’s underlying policies.

Subscribe to USA