Obama to delay immigration action

Obama to delay immigration action
Ukraine cease-fire holds, exchange of POWs planned
Syrian strikes on Islamic State stronghold kill 25
Sotloff lauded at Florida service as journalist committed to truth
California wildfire near Yosemite prompts evacuation of 700 homes
Pennsylvania mother who gave daughter abortion pill gets prison
Mystery shrouds U.S. couple's crash off Jamaica
Cops: 'Slender Man'-crazed teen set fire to home as family slept
Guns silent as Ukraine truce holds
Plane carrying Americans reaches Dubai after being diverted to Iran
Malaysia to send team to jet crash site in Ukraine
Man who stole hundreds of Army IDs gets 2 years in prison
Ebola: White House asks for $30M for CDC efforts
Veteran CBS, CNN news anchor Bruce Morton dies at 83
Plane landed in Iran over 'bureaucratic issue,' U.S. says
Obama: Key allies ready to join U.S. action in Iraq
Chicago church apologizes after gargoyle falls, kills woman
Oklahoma to halt execution until new protocols in place: governor
Calif. blue whales, once nearly extinct, back at historical levels
WHO urges use of survivors' serum against Ebola

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 10:54 AM PDT

The president decides to delay any executive action until after November elections.

Ukraine cease-fire holds, exchange of POWs planned

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 09:21 AM PDT

Both residents and combatants said they do not expect the ceasefire to last long.

Syrian strikes on Islamic State stronghold kill 25

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 10:45 AM PDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria launched a series of airstrikes targeting a stronghold of the Islamic State extremist group on Saturday, killing at least 25 people, most of whom died when one of the missiles slammed into a crowded bakery, activists said.

Sotloff lauded at Florida service as journalist committed to truth

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 05:09 PM PDT

By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - Nearly 1,000 people including relatives, friends and prominent Florida politicians attended a memorial service on Friday for Steven Sotloff, who was killed by Islamic State militants, recalling him as a journalist committed to revealing the truth. "I'm so proud of my son for living his dream," Sotloff's mother, Shirley, told those in attendance at the Jewish Temple Beth Am. The Islamic State released a video on Tuesday showing the killing of Sotloff, the second American journalist it has beheaded in its confrontation with the United States over American air strikes in Iraq on the militant group's forces. Speakers at the two-hour memorial service recalled Sotloff as a man who displayed empathy and courage.

California wildfire near Yosemite prompts evacuation of 700 homes

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 12:08 AM PDT

(Reuters) - A 300-acre wildfire on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park in central California prompted authorities to order the evacuation of hundreds of homes, officials said on Friday. The blaze, dubbed the "Bridge Fire", began in the afternoon in Mariposa County, some 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) southwest of the national park, forcing evacuations and closures of the surrounding roads, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CalFire). The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that about 700 homes were in the evacuated area. Last month, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency as firefighters battled wildfires across California, including the massive El Portal blaze that charred nearly 4,700 acres on the western edge of Yosemite National Park.

Pennsylvania mother who gave daughter abortion pill gets prison

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 09:24 AM PDT

By David DeKok HARRISBURG Pa. (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy. Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child. Whalen was sentenced on Friday by Montour County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Norton to serve 12 months to 18 months in prison for violating a state law that requires abortions to be performed by physicians. The felony offense called for up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Mystery shrouds U.S. couple's crash off Jamaica

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 09:50 AM PDT

They were taken on a ghostly 1,700-mile journey after apparently becoming incapacitated at the controls.

Cops: 'Slender Man'-crazed teen set fire to home as family slept

Posted:

A 14-year-old girl was arrested after allegedly setting her family's house on fire in what authorities suspect is the latest case of "Slender Man"-inspired violence.

Guns silent as Ukraine truce holds

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 12:53 AM PDT

The guns remained silent over eastern Ukraine on Saturday as a truce between Ukraine and pro-Kremlin insurgents appeared to be holding despite concerns it will fail to halt the separatist drive in the east. The 12-point pact signed on Friday in the Belarussian capital Minsk is the first backed by both the Kremlin and Kiev since bands of Russian-speaking militias seized a string of government buildings across Ukraine's industrial heartland in early April. Highly sceptical Western leaders nonetheless decided to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin over what they see as Moscow's "aggression" in the former Soviet state. Western governments agreed to beef up sanctions on Russian state firms while NATO member states approved a rapid reaction force aimed at reassuring jittery eastern European states.

Plane carrying Americans reaches Dubai after being diverted to Iran

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 08:14 AM PDT

An Iranian official said on Saturday that an airliner carrying Americans from Afghanistan to Dubai had been forced to land in Iran because the crew had supplied "false information". "The crew used false information so the authorities became suspicious ... Because the information provided was incorrect, we asked the airplane to land so we could gather more information," said Jassem Jaderi, governor of Hormozgan province in southern Iran, according to the official Mehr News Agency.

Malaysia to send team to jet crash site in Ukraine

Posted: 06 Sep 2014 12:48 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia aims to send a search team to the crash site in Ukraine of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 before winter sets in to gather physical evidence to prove that it was shot down, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday.

Man who stole hundreds of Army IDs gets 2 years in prison

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 12:44 PM PDT

Iraq War veteran Keith Michael Novak stole IDs from hundreds of fellow soldiers.

Ebola: White House asks for $30M for CDC efforts

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:40 PM PDT

Request for CDC would help agency ramp up production, testing of experimental drug ZMapp.

Veteran CBS, CNN news anchor Bruce Morton dies at 83

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 01:42 PM PDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran TV political correspondent Bruce Morton, who covered the Vietnam War and the United States' space program, died Friday in Washington, D.C., at age 83.

Plane landed in Iran over 'bureaucratic issue,' U.S. says

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:39 PM PDT

Fly Dubai charter plane flying from Bagram Air Field to Dubai was re-routed to Bandar Abbas.

Obama: Key allies ready to join U.S. action in Iraq

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 01:37 PM PDT

President Barack Obama said key NATO allies stood ready to join the United States in military action to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq as he vowed to 'take out' the leaders of a movement he said was a major threat to the West. Obama said the Washington would hunt down and dismantle the organization, which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, in the same way it had tackled al Qaeda since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and was doing to al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Chicago church apologizes after gargoyle falls, kills woman

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 11:44 AM PDT

A historic Chicago church apologized on Friday, a day after pieces of a gargoyle fell off the building's facade and killed a mother-of-two who was walking along the street. Sara Bean, 34, was killed on Thursday while walking to lunch with her fiancé, who is her longtime boyfriend and father of her children, local media reported. The Second Presbyterian Church in the South Loop neighborhood just outside downtown Chicago expressed its sympathy to Bean's family in a statement on Friday and said it was "deeply sorry at the death." The church, which does not have outstanding complaints over its structure but has had violations in the past, was putting up protective scaffolding on Friday to prevent any more accidents. According to the Chicago Department of Buildings, a metal decorative piece on the exterior of the building gave away on Thursday and dislodged part of a gargoyle on the steeple and the broken piece fell and struck Bean, who worked at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.

Oklahoma to halt execution until new protocols in place: governor

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 11:45 AM PDT

Oklahoma will put future executions on hold until new procedures are in place as recommended in a report about a troubled execution that exposed shortcomings in the death chamber, officials said on Friday. A doctor and a paramedic failed nearly a dozen times to place an IV during an Oklahoma inmate's April execution and were unprepared for how to proceed once the line they secured to deliver a lethal injection began leaking drugs, the report released on Thursday said. "I expect the Department of Corrections to implement the proposed improvements in protocols to ensure that future executions are performed effectively," Governor Mary Fallin said, adding that the department has started to draw up the measures.

Calif. blue whales, once nearly extinct, back at historical levels

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 12:07 PM PDT

California blue whales, the largest animals on Earth once driven to near extinction by whaling, have made a remarkable comeback to near historic, 19th-century levels, according to a University of Washington study released on Friday. The recovery makes California blue whales - which study authors say now number about 2,200, or 97 percent of historical levels - the only population of blue whales known to have recovered from whaling. "The recovery of California blue whales from whaling demonstrates the ability of blue whale populations to rebuild under careful management and conservation measures," said Cole Monnahan, a University of Washington doctoral student and lead author of the study. Despite the comeback, the whales - which as adults can reach nearly 100 feet (30 meters) in length and weigh 190 tons (172 tonnes), twice as much as the largest known dinosaur - are still being struck by ships off the California coast at numbers above allowable U.S.