California

Angela Merkel tells Harvard grads to 'tear down walls'

31 May 2019; DW: The chancellor has addressed students at the elite university, encouraging them to shape the future. Her halting speech appeared to contain a few digs at President Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a commencement speech to Harvard graduates on Thursday after being greeted with rousing applause when introduced as "one of the most respected and influential leaders of the postwar era."

NASA's Curiosity rover finds clay minerals on Mars

LOS ANGELES, May 30 (Xinhua) -- NASA's Curiosity rover has found the highest amounts of clay minerals since its landing on Mars in August of 2012, according to a release of NASA on Wednesday.

Two samples the rover recently drilled at rock targets called "Aberlady" and "Kilmarie" have revealed the highest amounts of clay minerals ever found during the mission, said the release.

Both drill targets appear in a new selfie taken by the rover on May 12, the 2,405th Martian day of the mission.

Authorities: Army vet thought Muslims among people in crash

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An Army veteran who served in Iraq ran his car into a crowd of pedestrians in California because he believed two of the people looked like they were Muslim, authorities said Thursday.

The disclosure came as prosecutors filed two hate crime allegations against 34-year-old Isaiah Peoples.

He is also facing eight counts of attempted murder after police said he deliberately plowed his car into people on April 24 at the Sunnyvale crosswalk and showed no remorse afterward. The hate crime allegations carry up to six additional years in prison each.

California approves wide power outages to prevent wildfires

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California regulators on Thursday approved allowing utilities to cut off electricity to possibly hundreds of thousands of customers to avoid catastrophic wildfires like the one sparked by power lines last year that killed 85 people and largely destroyed the city of Paradise.

Zuckerberg security chief accused of misconduct

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal security chief faces accusations of sexual misconduct and making racist and homophobic comments, according to a report Thursday by a business news site.

In a detailed article, Business Insider cited legal letters reportedly written by former employees of Zuckerberg’s household staff. The letters reportedly described pervasive discriminatory conduct and severe levels of sexual harassment and battery, including racist and homophobic comments about members of Zuckerberg’s staff and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

World's smallest baby released from San Diego hospital

30 May 2019; DW: Baby Saybie weighed little more than an apple when she was born. Doctors said she wouldn't survive long. But after five months in intensive care, she's been given the all-clear to go home with her family.

A baby thought to be the world's tiniest surviving infant has been discharged from a San Diego hospital after five months in intensive care.

Pelosi slams Facebook for not removing altered video

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Facebook on Wednesday for not removing a doctored video that has spread widely on the social network in which she appears to slur her words.

The altered video had been slowed down , giving the false appearance that Pelosi was drunk, ill or otherwise impaired. Facebook did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Girl believed to be tiniest newborn weighed as much as apple

SAN DIEGO (AP) — When she was born, the baby girl weighed about the same as an apple.

A San Diego hospital on Wednesday revealed the birth of the girl and said she is believed to be the world’s tiniest surviving micro-preemie, who weighed just 8.6 ounces (245 grams) when she was born in December.

The girl was born 23 weeks and three days into her mother’s 40-week pregnancy. Doctors told her father after the birth that he would have about an hour with his daughter before she died.

Suspected mountain lion attack injures California boy

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wildlife officers said Tuesday that they killed a mountain lion in a San Diego County nature preserve and will try to determine if it was the animal that injured a 4-year-old boy during a group hike a few hours earlier.

The boy was hospitalized following the attack Monday and treated for head injuries that were not life-threatening, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lt. Scott Bringman said at a press conference.

Trump says he plans to appeal judge’s ruling

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Latest on U.S. judge blocking President Donald Trump from building sections of a border wall with money secured under his declaration of a national emergency (all times local):

1:10 p.m. Saturday

President Donald Trump pledged to make an expedited appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California that blocks him from building sections of his long-sought border wall with money secured under his declaration of a national emergency.

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