• Privacy, cost concerns check drive for more surveillance cameras

    Law enforcement agencies in cities across the United States are campaigning to increase surveillance on city streets, impressed with the effectiveness of video surveillance in helping the Boston Police identify the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings. This campaign to expand law enforcement’s surveillance power is likely to run into stiff opposition, as Americans have proven suspicious of allowing the government powers which would infringe on privacy. Expanding surveillance networks also costs money, and these are tight budgetary times.

  • Texas becomes gun-friendlier

    Texas is already considered one of the most gun-friendly states in the nation, and on Saturday it became even more so when the State House passed twelve different gun bill which would make it easier to own and carry guns in the state. Some of the bills – for example, the one which would punish police officers or government officials by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine if they attempt to enforce federal firearms limits in Texas – may be found to be unconstitutional.

  • U.S. sharply disputes UN official's claim that Syrian rebels used chemical weapons

    The United States sharply challenged claims by a UN official – who is not a member of the UN investigative commission looking into to the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria – that the rebels, rather than the Assad regime, used sarin nerve gas near the city of Aleppo on 19 March. The UN investigative commission looking into the incident distanced itself from the official’s comments.

  • Sponsors: Immigration bill addresses visa flaws highlighted by the Boston bombing

    Lawmakers behind the bipartisan Senate immigration say bill directly addresses some of the security flaws that may have been exploited by the foreign student who helped Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dispose of evidence after the Boston Marathon bombings.

  • Iowa sex offenders allowed to keep guns

    A law enacted two years ago has made it possible for more than fifty sex offenders in Iowa to apply for gun permits. Sheriffs and some lawmakers are uncomfortable with the situation, but advocates for sex offender rehabilitation say such offenders are not necessarily dangerous criminals.

  • U.S. may acquire additional land for constructing border fence

    A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) draft plan regarding the final sections of the border fence that separates the United States from Mexico could impact about 100 people, most reside in a nursing home, according to federal documents.

  • Heavy Israeli air strikes near Damascus destroy Iranian missile shipment to Hezbollah

    Israel launched heavy airstrikes Friday and Sunday on a military base near Damascus, destroying shipments of sophisticated Iranian Fateh-110 missiles to Hezbollah. These were the second and third such strikes in as many months. Israel’s first strike on Syrian targets took place on 30 January. That strike destroyed advanced SA-17 surface-to-air missiles the Assad regime was trying to ship to Hezbollah on orders of Iran.

  • Chicago-area would-be terrorist to remain in jail

    Last Friday a federal judge reversed the ruling of  another judge and ordered that a Chicago-area teen  accused of attempting to join al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria be kept in jail until his trail rather than be released to his family.

  • Obama says same-sex amendment to immigration bill not likely to pass

    President Barack Obama announced at a news conference in Costa Rica on Friday that he backs a proposal which would allow Americans to seek legal immigration for their same-sex partners. Obama said that it was “the right thing to do,” but he acknowledged that the provision has little chance of making it into the final immigration package.

  • Obama warning liberals to be flexible on immigration bill

    Many in Washington have been worried about Republican objections to the immigration overhaul bill, but President Obama and leading Democrats have begun a quiet campaign to assuage the concerns of liberal groups which argue that the bill excludes too many immigrants and makes the path to citizenship too arduous.

  • U.S. to keep Cuba on list of states sponsoring terrorism

    The State Department said Wednesday that the Obama administration will not remove Cuba from the list of states sponsoring terrorism. Other countries on the list include Iran, Syria, and Sudan. The list is updated annually. Cuba sheltered Colombian and Basque terrorists, but with peace negotiations in Colombia, and with the Basque separatists announcing the end of their armed struggle, some analysts thought Cuba would be removed from the list this year.

  • White House closer to decision on providing arms to rebels in Syria

    White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to deny reports that President Barack Obama is seriously considering providing arms and other military gear to rebel groups in Syria. The president last year said that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would constitute crossing of a “red line” and would be a game changer.” Still, haunted by how false intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq led to the 2003 invasion of the country, the Obama administration appears to demand a higher level of evidence about the chemical weapon use in Syria.

  • House panel to hold hearings on marathon bombing

    Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said theHouse Homeland Security Committee will meet next week to hear testimony from Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis and discuss the Boston Marathon bombing response methods and its implications for homeland security. “This will be the first in a series of hearings, as part of a broader investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings,” McCaul told reporters.

  • Woman who killed N.J. trooper in 1973 makes the FBI’s most wanted list

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    Joanne Chesimard, a former member of the Black Liberation Army who killed a New Jersey state trooper in 1973, has become the first woman to make the FBI’s most wanted list. The reward  for her capture and arrest has doubled to $2 million. In 1979 Chesimard escaped jail, and since 1984 has been living in Cuba, using the name Assata Shakur.

  • California braces for out-of-control wildfires

    The lack of precipitation over the past two winters has California and federal officials concerned about the impact wildfires could have in the summer months. California has already recorded 845 wildfires this year, a 60 percent increase compared with the average for the previous five years.