With barbs and bluster, Trump barges into 2016 White House race

With barbs and bluster, Trump barges into 2016 White House race
Rachel Dolezal: ‘I identify as black’
Al-Qaida says U.S. strike killed leader of Yemen branch
Tropical Storm Bill bears down on Texas coast
Blackhawks win Stanley Cup at home for first time in 77 years
NAACP official who resigned says she identifies as black
Alaska wildfires destroy dozens of homes, menace highway
Six Irish visitors killed in California balcony collapse
Jeb Bush jumps in GOP race, both guns blazing
Million-dollar identity theft insurance for government workers
Can Rachel Dolezal really be 'transracial'— or Is white privilege to blame?
Beachgoers lose limbs in shallow-water shark attacks
Jeb Bush faces challenges in ‘16 bid
Head of Spokane NAACP quits amid furor over racial identity

Posted: 16 Jun 2015 11:21 AM PDT

By Alana Wise NEW YORK (Reuters) - Real estate mogul and TV personality Donald Trump barged his way into the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Tuesday in a blitz of boasts, inflammatory comments and attacks on both fellow Republicans and President Barack Obama's administration. Trump wallowed in political incorrectness as he insulted everyone from Mexican immigrants to Jeb Bush and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia in announcing his bid for the Republican nomination. "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created," Trump predicted in a long, combative speech in the atrium of Trump Tower on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.

Rachel Dolezal: ‘I identify as black’

Posted: 16 Jun 2015 05:15 AM PDT

The former NAACP leader who resigned as president of the organization's Spokane, Wash., chapter after being accused of lying about her race says she identifies as an African-American.

Al-Qaida says U.S. strike killed leader of Yemen branch

Posted: 16 Jun 2015 11:24 AM PDT

The group confirms the death of its No. 2 figure and head of its powerful Yemeni affiliate.

Tropical Storm Bill bears down on Texas coast

Posted: 16 Jun 2015 02:11 AM PDT

Tropical Storm Bill hurtled toward the Texas coast from the Gulf of Mexico early on Tuesday with heavy rains and strong winds, the National Weather Service said, weeks after floods killed about 30 people in the state. Flash flood watches were in effect for central Texas and the Houston area, regions where floods last month swallowed thousands of vehicles and damaged homes. The storm was projected to hit the coast at Matagorda Bay and churn through central Texas toward Austin.

Blackhawks win Stanley Cup at home for first time in 77 years

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NAACP official who resigned says she identifies as black

Posted: 16 Jun 2015 07:12 AM PDT

Washington state civil rights advocate Rachel Dolezal, who has been accused of falsely claiming she is African-American, said on Tuesday she identifies as black and has been doing so since she was 5 years of age. Dolezal, in an interview on NBC's "Today" television show, said a major shift in her identity came when she was doing human rights work in Idaho and newspaper stories described her as transracial, biracial and black. "I never corrected that," she said, "... because it's more complex than being true or false in that particular instance." Dolezal, 37, who grew up with adopted black siblings, resigned on Monday as president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading U.S. civil rights organization, amid reports that her parents are white.

Alaska wildfires destroy dozens of homes, menace highway

Posted: 15 Jun 2015 10:55 PM PDT

By Steve Quinn JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - Two fast-spreading Alaska wildfires have forced a series of evacuations, destroyed up to 45 homes and forced authorities to restrict traffic on a major highway connecting two of the state's largest cities, state officials said on Monday. As many as 200 firefighters have been battling a 6,500-acre fire about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage since Sunday afternoon. About 137 miles (220km) south of Anchorage, crews are fighting a much smaller, but equally dangerous blaze that threatens nearly 200 homes.

Six Irish visitors killed in California balcony collapse

Posted: 16 Jun 2015 10:55 AM PDT

An apartment balcony collapsed early on Tuesday near the University of California at Berkeley, killing six people, all believed to be visiting college students from Ireland, and injuring several others, authorities said. The victims, most if not all of whom were working in the San Francisco Bay area on temporary visas for summer vacation, had been celebrating a friend's 21st birthday when the tragedy occurred, according to Irish government officials in Dublin. Pictures from the scene showed that the fourth-floor balcony gave way and pancaked onto the third-story balcony just beneath it at the Library Gardens apartment complex, about two blocks from the UC Berkeley campus across the bay from San Francisco.

Jeb Bush jumps in GOP race, both guns blazing

Posted: 15 Jun 2015 07:52 PM PDT

Appearing before a raucous rally in front of thousands of supporters here Monday afternoon, former Florida governor Jeb Bush showed he is a force to be reckoned with in the presidential election as he officially launched his campaign.

Million-dollar identity theft insurance for government workers

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The public may never know the full national security repercussions of a pair of catastrophic hacking attacks on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that were disclosed earlier this month.

Can Rachel Dolezal really be 'transracial'— or Is white privilege to blame?

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Beachgoers lose limbs in shallow-water shark attacks

Posted: 15 Jun 2015 08:55 PM PDT

OAK ISLAND, N.C. (AP) — Beachgoers cautiously returned to the ocean Monday after two young people lost limbs in separate, life-threatening shark attacks in the same town in North Carolina.

Jeb Bush faces challenges in ‘16 bid

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Bush launched a GOP presidential bid months in the making Monday with a vow to get Washington "out of the business of causing problems."

Head of Spokane NAACP quits amid furor over racial identity

Posted: 15 Jun 2015 07:12 PM PDT

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Rachel Dolezal resigned as president of the NAACP's Spokane chapter Monday just days after her parents said she is a white woman posing as black — a dizzyingly swift fall for an activist credited with injecting remarkable new energy into the civil rights organization.