Analyst news

• Trump claims Obama wiretapped him during campaign; Obama refutes it

  04-03-2017 23:46 via yahoo.com
  
  By David ShepardsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump accused predecessor Barack Obama on Saturday of wiretapping him during the late stages of the 2016 election campaign, but offered no evidence for an allegation which an Obama spokesman said was "simply false".Trump made the accusation in a series of early morning tweets just weeks into his administration and amid rising scrutiny of his campaign's ties to Russia."How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the ver
  
  Read more

• Rep. Bost apologizes for comparing town halls to a 'cleansing' by 'Orientals'

  04-03-2017 23:42 via yahoo.com
  
  Some Republican lawmakers seem to dread their own town hall meetings, where constituents have started expressing their concerns over President Trump’s choices.Recommended:InfographicRace equality in America: How far have we come?
  
  Read more

• Trump expected to sign revised travel ban Monday: US media

  04-03-2017 23:41 via yahoo.com
  
  President Donald Trump is expected to sign a revised travel ban on Monday, just over a month after his original decree sowed controversy across the United States and chaos at airports, US media reported.The president will sign the new executive order at the Department of Homeland Security, according to Politico, which cited senior government officials.It was unclear what changes Trump planned to make, according to the publication.
  
  Read more

• France's Fillon alleges intimidation as fights to keep bid alive

  04-03-2017 23:22 via yahoo.com
  
  French conservative candidate Francois Fillon told supporters on Saturday they were victims of a a bid to "intimidate" them as he battled to keep his presidential hopes alive.Marking his 63rd birthday, Fillon struggled to turn the page on a nightmare week that saw a haemorrhage of support after he disclosed he would face charges over allegations he gave his family fake parliamentary jobs.With some members of his own rightwing Republicans party urging him to drop out of the campaign, Fillon ruefu
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Prosecutors: NY man aimed to fight with Islamic extremists

  04-03-2017 23:04 via yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man repeatedly traveled to the Middle East to try to join the Islamic State or another extremist group in Syria and later told authorities he'd been prepared to strap on a bomb to sacrifice himself for jihad, prosecutors said Saturday.
  
  Read more

• At least two killed in new drone strikes on al Qaeda in Yemen: residents

  04-03-2017 22:44 via yahoo.com
  
  Drones fired missiles at suspected al Qaeda targets in two separate attacks in Yemen on Saturday, local sources said, in what appeared to be a third successive day of U.S. strikes against militants in the Arab country.Tribal sources and residents said one of the pilotless aircraft unleashed its missiles on a vehicle traveling on the outskirts of the southern city of Ahwar, killing two suspected al Qaeda members inside.Another fired at a crowd of suspected al Qaeda militants in al-Saeed, in the a
  
  Read more

• Expert says Islamic State has badly damaged major Palmyra monument

  04-03-2017 22:43 via yahoo.com
  
  By Firas MaqdisiPALMYRA, Syria (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have severely damaged a major Roman monument in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, an antiquities official said after visiting the site on Saturday.Under heavy Russian air cover, the Syrian army and allied militias drove the jihadist group out of the UNESCO world heritage site on Thursday, two months after it had seized it in a surprise advance.It was the second time the city had been recaptured from the militants in the course
  
  Read more

• Mexico opens migrant defense centers at U.S. consulates

  04-03-2017 22:25 via yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Mexico opened legal aid centers at its 50 consulates across the United States on Saturday to defend its citizens, the Mexican government said, amid worries of a crackdown on illegal immigration under U.S. President Donald Trump.Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray exhorted the U.S. government to respect the rights of Mexicans and called for the United States to allow a path to legality for undocumented migrants.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Body of Indianapolis Woman Found Near River After She Was Reported Missing

  04-03-2017 22:11 via yahoo.com
  
  Police have not ruled the case a homicide yet.
  
  Read more

• Why Keystone XL pipeline won't buy US steel, despite Trump's order

  04-03-2017 21:26 via yahoo.com
  
  From the start of President Trump’s election campaign, two aspects of his political identity – the businessman and the populist – have dueled for dominance.At least in the case of the Keystone XL pipeline, the businessman appears to be winning out.Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Friday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the pipeline, which has been in the works for a decade, will be exempt from an executive order Mr. Trump signed
  
  Read more

• Check out stunning 360-degree views of NYC straight from your browser

  04-03-2017 21:15 via rocketnews.com
  
  We all spend plenty of time complaining about whatever wireless carrier we shell out money to every month to keep us connected while on the go, but rarely do wireless customers ever consider how difficult it actually is to provide coverage in any specific area. New York City is one particularly challenging location when it comes to mobile connectivity, and AT&T just launched a pretty cool web experience to explain just why that’s the case and what they’re doing to make the netwo
  
  Read more

• Tens of thousands flee clashes between Syria army, IS

  04-03-2017 21:02 via yahoo.com
  
  Tens of thousands of Syrian civilians have fled ferocious fighting between Russian-backed regime forces and Islamic State group jihadists over the past week in the country's ravaged north.Supported by Russian air power and artillery, Syrian government forces have waged a fierce offensive against IS, seizing around 90 villages since mid-January.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the advance took government forces to around 14 kilometres (9 miles) from IS-held Khafsah, the main station p
  
  Read more

• Sikh Man Shot At Home By White Man After 'Go Back To Your Own Country' Comment

  04-03-2017 20:56 via rocketnews.com
  A 39-year-old homeowner in Washington said he was shot by an unknown man in his own neighborhood Friday because he is a Sikh man. The victim said the shooter told him to “go back to your own country,” the Seattle Times reported. 
  Kent police said they were searching for the gunman, described as a white man wearing a mask to cover his face, and were working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The shooting was being investigated as a possible hate crim
  
  Read more

• Sikh Man Shot At Home By White Man After 'Go Back To Your Own Country' Comment

  04-03-2017 20:56 via yahoo.com
  
  The victim said the shooter told him to “go back to your own country.”
  
  Read more

• Clock ticking for N.Ireland rivals after fractious vote

  04-03-2017 20:13 via rocketnews.com
  Belfast (AFP) – Northern Ireland’s main political parties on Saturday were facing a three-week deadline to mend fences after snap elections aimed at sorting out the bad blood between them left them deadlocked.
  In a historic shake-up, unionist parties lost their absolute majority in Northern Ireland’s legislature for the first time since the province’s creation in 1921.
  And if the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, the Irish republican party, canno
  
  Read more

• Opel takeover by Peugeot comes after years of crisis

  04-03-2017 20:10 via yahoo.com
  
  The imminent takeover of General Motors' European subsidiary Opel by French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen comes after almost two decades of crisis for the historic manufacturer.Recent woes cast a pall over the firm's storied history, dating back to its founding in 1862 by Adam Opel as a sewing-machine and later bicycle manufacturer.Based in Ruesselsheim outside Frankfurt, the company was Germany's largest carmaker for decades before being overtaken by northern rival Volkswagen.
  
  Read more

• Trump accuses Obama of tapping his phones during campaign

  04-03-2017 20:06 via yahoo.com
  
  "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!" Trump wrote on Twitter, without providing evidence of the explosive charge."How low has President Obama gone to tapp (sic) my phones during the very sacred election process.Bad (or sick) guy!" he wrote in another tweet, referring to the political scandal that toppled president Richard Nixon in 1974.
  
  Read more

• Trump administration to propose 'dramatic reductions' in foreign aid

  04-03-2017 19:51 via yahoo.com
  
  By David ShepardsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget director confirmed Saturday that the Trump administration will propose "fairly dramatic reductions" in the U.S. foreign aid budget later this month.Reuters and other news outlets reported earlier this week that the administration plans to propose to Congress cuts in the budgets for the U.S. State Department and Agency for International Development by about one third."We are going to propose to reduce foreign aid and we are going to
  
  Read more

• US police agencies with their own DNA databases stir debate

  04-03-2017 19:48 via rocketnews.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of police departments around the U.S. are amassing their own DNA databases to track criminals, a move critics say is a way around regulations governing state and national databases that restrict who can provide genetic samples and how long that information is held.
  The local agencies create the rules for their databases, in some cases allowing samples to be taken from children or from people never arrested for a crime. Police chiefs say having their own collectio
  
  Read more

• Undocumented Immigrant Supports Trump Policies

  04-03-2017 19:39 via yahoo.com
  
  The undocumented immigrant praised Trump's immigration actions with cellmates in an immigrant detention center in February.
  
  Read more

• U.S. suspends fast processing of high-tech visa applications

  04-03-2017 19:10 via yahoo.com
  
  Foreigners aiming for temporary jobs at high-tech U.S. companies will undergo a longer visa approval process after the Trump administration announced it will temporarily suspend expedited applications for H-1B visas.The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Friday that starting April 3 it will suspend "premium processing" for up to six months.Under this expedited procedure, applicants can be eligible for visa approvals within 15 days, instead of a regular review period that c
  
  Read more

• Obama denies Trump claim he wiretapped him during campaign

  04-03-2017 19:02 via yahoo.com
  
  By David ShepardsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spokesman for Barack Obama on Saturday rejected claims from U.S. President Donald Trump that the former president had wiretapped him in October during the late stages of the presidential election campaign.Any suggestion otherwise is simply false," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement.Trump had suggested Obama had improperly tapped his phones, without citing evidence, in a series of tweets on Saturday morning.
  
  Read more

• Obama launched cyberwar to sabotage NKorea missile program: report

  04-03-2017 18:56 via yahoo.com
  
  Former US president Barack Obama in 2014 launched a cyberwar against North Korea's missile program but it has failed to make significant gains, The New York Times reported Saturday.North Korea's threats remain so dangerous that when Obama left office he warned Trump that this would likely be the most urgent problem he'd face, the Times said.
  
  Read more

• Teen Who Learned CPR in High School Class Saved Toddler's Life While At Work

  04-03-2017 18:51 via yahoo.com
  
  The toddler is now doing well.
  
  Read more

• You have one day left to snag Bluetooth earbuds with a built-in heart rate monitor for $20

  04-03-2017 18:45 via yahoo.com
  
  Earlier this week, we shared news of a limited-time sale with our readers that covered an awesome pair of Bluetooth earbuds that feature terrific sound and a built-in heart rate monitor. The response was tremendous, with dozens of people emailing us to say thanks. Since we got such great response, we wanted to put these hot in-ear headphones in front of you one last time before this sale is done. For one more day on Amazon, you can pick up the AUKEY Bluetooth Headphones with Heart Rate Monitor f
  
  Read more

• Senegal and Gambia announce new era of ties

  04-03-2017 18:43 via yahoo.com
  
  Senegal and The Gambia on Saturday affirmed a "new dynamic" between the two countries since the fall of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, and vowed to strengthen economic and military co-operation.New President Adama Barrow has described French-speaking Senegal, which almost entirely surrounds his Anglophone nation, as The Gambia's "best friend", breaking with fractious years under his predecessor Yahya Jammeh.Barrow's three-day visit to Senegal at the invitation of President Macky Sall wound
  
  Read more

• Philippine defence chief visits US carrier in S. China Sea

  04-03-2017 18:20 via rocketnews.com
  Manila (Philippines) (AFP) – The Philippines’ defence secretary on Saturday visited a US aircraft carrier patrolling the South China Sea, hailing the “strong relationship” with Washington despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot away from Manila’s traditional ally.
  The US Navy said the USS Carl Vinson had been engaging in “routine operations in the South China Sea” since last month to assert freedom of navigation in the strategic waterway claimed
  
  Read more

• Here's How Much The World Spends On Defense

  04-03-2017 18:08 via yahoo.com
  
  Russia has the world's second biggest military, with more than 1 million troops, 3,500 war planes and 15,000 tanks. China is the world's third biggest military with roughly 2.3 million soldiers and 3,000 war planes.
  
  Read more

• To catch a terrorist: Why extreme vetting may be an outdated solution

  04-03-2017 18:02 via yahoo.com
  
  Extreme vetting may be a solution in search of a problem, according to an internal Homeland Security intelligence report.This result suggests a shift in the nature of the threat from Al Qaeda like "terrorism-directed" activity to the ISIS "terrorism-inspired" activity.
  
  Read more

• Undocumented immigrants: Will Trump administration separate parents from children?

  04-03-2017 17:31 via yahoo.com
  
  As the Department of Homeland Security steps up immigration law enforcement and announces its plans to solicit bids for constructing a border wall, it is also revisiting another suggestion intended to discourage migrants from making the journey: Separating parents and children when they are apprehended at the border.Children, meanwhile, would be allowed into the US and either sent to stay with relatives or placed in state custody.The approach is designed to eliminate what some Republican legisla
  
  Read more

• Iraq minister criticises UN efforts for Mosul displaced

  04-03-2017 17:14 via rocketnews.com
  Baghdad (AFP) – An Iraqi minister on Saturday sharply criticised UN efforts to aid civilians fleeing fighting in west Mosul, even as the United Nations insisted that providing such assistance was the “top priority”.
  Tens of thousands of people have fled west Mosul since Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake it from the Islamic State jihadist group on February 19, pushing into the area from the south.
  “Unfortunately, there is a clear shortfall in the work of these
  
  Read more

• Gay Mardi Gras lights up Sydney

  04-03-2017 17:05 via yahoo.com
  
  Organisers estimated around a quarter of a million people turned out to watch the colourful spectacle, as some 180 floats made their way down Oxford Street, Sydney's gay hub, awash with rainbow flags and sequins.The flamboyant displays included a giant sparkling gold women's shoe inspired by Andy Warhol."From pure celebration and creative self-expression, to floats with a wild and witty protest call to action, the 2017 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade will be bursting at the seams with p
  
  Read more

• US and Canadian scientists to study cross-border flooding

  04-03-2017 16:46 via yahoo.com
  
  MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — U.S. and Canadian scientists are planning to spend the next five years studying flooding on Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River, which drains the lake north into Quebec, and whether methods can be developed to control future flooding.
  
  Read more

• Jordan hangs 10 for attacks linked to Islamic extremism

  04-03-2017 16:30 via yahoo.com
  
  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan on Saturday executed 10 prisoners with ties to Islamic extremism who carried out five shootings and a bombing since 2003, the government spokesman said. It was the largest round of executions in the kingdom in at least a decade.
  
  Read more

• Immigration courts: record number of cases, many problems

  04-03-2017 16:28 via rocketnews.com
  ATLANTA (AP) — Everyone was in place for the hearing in Atlanta immigration court: the Guinean man hoping to stay in the U.S., his attorney, a prosecutor, a translator and the judge. But because of some missing paperwork, it was all for nothing.
  When the government attorney said he hadn’t received the case file, Judge J. Dan Pelletier rescheduled the proceeding. Everybody would have to come back another day.
  The sudden delay was just one example of the inefficiency witnessed by an A
  
  Read more

• Libya's NOC reviewed loading schedules after clashes near oil ports

  04-03-2017 16:15 via yahoo.com
  
  Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) held an urgent meeting to review crude loading schedules and emergency measures to protect oil facilities after clashes around the major terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, it said in a statement on Saturday.The meeting on Friday studied "how to maintain the safety of employees and of oil assets and tanks and facilities within the ports, and to study and review the crude loading plans in accordance with the scheduled tables for export operations", the stat
  
  Read more

• Texas town looks to tell story of Mexican guest workers

  04-03-2017 16:13 via yahoo.com
  
  DALLAS (AP) — A Texas border town is working to restore what is believed to be the only remaining site that once helped process the millions of Mexicans who came to the U.S. as temporary guest workers under a program that started during World War II.
  
  Read more

• The Best Time To Do Your Taxes Is...

  04-03-2017 16:10 via yahoo.com
  
  ... soon. The earlier you file, the faster you'll get your refund.
  
  Read more

• Elephant All-Nighters? Giant Beasts Sleep Only 2 Hours

  04-03-2017 15:20 via yahoo.com
  
  A sample size of two is small, but if the two matriarchs are representative of their species, African elephants may be the shortest-sleeping mammals on Earth, the researchers said."Elephants really don't sleep all that much, and this appears to be related to their large size," said study lead researcher Paul Manger, a professor in the School of Anatomical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.Previous studies have described elephant sleep, but many of those studies have
  
  Read more

• Rows over reforms, election bog down Albania's EU accession talks

  04-03-2017 15:15 via yahoo.com
  
  By Benet KolekaTIRANA (Reuters) - Albania's political parties snuffed out hopes on Saturday for a compromise that would keep open the Balkan state's path to European Union membership after Brussels warned that an opposition boycott of parliament put accession talks at risk.The Democratic Party's two-week-long protest in a tent outside Prime Minister Edi Rama's office and its boycott of parliament have stalled the creation of bodies that would vet 750 judges and prosecutors.Reform of the judiciar
  
  Read more

• Rex Tillerson's human-rights report no-show: A sign of indifference?

  04-03-2017 14:59 via yahoo.com
  
  Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida tweeted his disapproval of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s decision not to attend the rolling-out of the State Department’s annual human rights report, considered the department’s crown-jewel analysis of conditions in most of the world’s countries.“For 1st time in a long time @StateDept #humanrights report will not be presented by Secretary of State.The senator’s remarks reflected some State Department employees and
  
  Read more

• Air strikes kill 11 civilians in central Syria: monitor

  04-03-2017 14:42 via yahoo.com
  
  At least 11 civilians were killed and dozens more wounded on Saturday in air strikes on a central Syrian village that a monitor said were likely carried out by Russia."The raids targeted a livestock market in the village of Oqayrabat, held by the Islamic State group in Hama province," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Oqayrabat lies northwest of Palmyra, the ancient desert city that was recaptured by Russian-backed government forces from IS on Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• 100 Years of Women in Politics: How They've Served

  04-03-2017 14:37 via yahoo.com
  
  One-hundred years ago today, on March 4, 1917, Rep. Jeannette Rankin, R-Mt., became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress."I may be the first woman member of Congress," she said following her election in 1916, according to the History, Art & Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives.Rankin's prediction came true: She certainly wasn't the last woman to serve in Congress.
  
  Read more

• Years Later, Casey Anthony Still Grabs Headline

  04-03-2017 14:20 via yahoo.com
  
  The judge who presided over the case believes Anthony may have killed her daughter by accident.
  
  Read more

• US agents in aggressive sweep for unauthorized migrants

  04-03-2017 14:19 via rocketnews.com
  New York (AFP) – US immigration agents increasingly are detaining unauthorized migrants in or near places once considered “safe” like courthouses and churches, spreading panic among migrants and outrage among activists.
  Since taking office on an “America First” agenda, President Donald Trump has made immigration a policy cornerstone, granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents broad authority to detain and deport unauthorized migrants.
  The massive dep
  
  Read more

• ‘This is Nixon/Watergate’: Without evidence, Trump accuses Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower before election

  04-03-2017 14:17 via yahoo.com
  
  “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory.It wasn’t clear what, exactly, Trump was referring to as he raged against his predecessor, whom he labeled a “bad (or sick) guy!” He also said a talented lawyer could make a “great case” out of the situation.The White House did not immediately clarify from whom Trump had “just learned” this new information, and Obama’s office categori
  
  Read more

• Syrian government says agenda agreed, seeks united opposition at next Geneva talks

  04-03-2017 13:49 via yahoo.com
  
  By Yara Abi Nader and Issam AbdallahGENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's chief negotiator said on Saturday that the "only thing" achieved at 10-day talks in Geneva was an agreed agenda and that the government wanted a unified opposition delegation as its negotiating partner.In his first remarks since talks ended on Friday, Syria's ambassador to the U.N. Bashar al-Ja'afari said the agenda agreed through U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura gave equal weight to four subjects, including the government's own prio
  
  Read more

• Sinn Fein surge creates new Northern Ireland landscape

  04-03-2017 13:37 via rocketnews.com
  DUBLIN (AP) — Northern Ireland’s snap election has left the rival extremes of politics virtually neck and neck for the first time — and facing a bruising battle to put their Catholic-Protestant government back together again in an increasingly polarized landscape.
  The big winner from Saturday’s final results to fill the Northern Ireland Assembly is the Irish nationalist party that triggered the vote, Sinn Fein.
  Already the major voice for the Catholic side, Sinn Fein red
  
  Read more

• President Accuses Obama Of 'Wire Tapping' Trump Tower

  04-03-2017 13:11 via yahoo.com
  
  President Donald Trump, in a series of tweets early Saturday, accused Barack Obama of wire tapping Trump Tower last October.
  
  Read more

• Do White Vegetables Have Health Benefits?

  04-03-2017 13:00 via yahoo.com
  
  “Eat a variety of brightly colored veggies” and “Avoid white foods” have been dietitians' mantras for many years. But if that advice has led you to bypass white vegetables—such as cauliflower, ga...
  
  Read more

Follow @news_analyst on Twitter!