Islamic State uses theology to justify rape, enslavement of Yazidi women

Islamic State uses theology to justify rape, enslavement of Yazidi women
Kerry, presiding over U.S. flag ceremony in Cuba, urges political change
How St. Louis police added Twitter to its arsenal
AP EXCLUSIVE: Top secret Clinton emails include drone talk
In speech, Rubio slams Obama's outreach to Iran and Cuba
Japanese leader Abe stops short of apology for World War II
State of emergency ends in Ferguson, Missouri, as violence recedes
Court throws out Arizona sheriff's immigration policy challenge
Kentucky clerk defying court on gay marriage licenses to file response
Jeb Bush leaves door open for use of torture by government
Donald Trump owns thousands of secret Web addresses
Notorious inmate's lawyer says officials knew he was target
Judge OKs settlement with families of Newtown massacre victims

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 05:37 AM PDT

A wrenching look by The New York Times into the Islamic State's enslavement and rape of women from the Yazidi minority group has shed light on one of the most disturbing aspects of its rule in Syria and Iraq. The practice, according to reporter Rukmini Callimachi, was formalized a year ago, when IS announced it was bringing institutionalized slavery back. To handle them, the Islamic State has developed a detailed bureaucracy of sex slavery, including sales contracts notarized by the ISIS-run Islamic courts.

Kerry, presiding over U.S. flag ceremony in Cuba, urges political change

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 10:29 AM PDT

By Daniel Trotta and Lesley Wroughton HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declared a new era in relations as he celebrated restored diplomatic ties in Havana on Friday, but he also urged political change in Cuba, telling Cubans they should be free to choose their own leaders. The first U.S. secretary of state to visit the Caribbean island in 70 years, Kerry presided over a ceremony raising the U.S. flag over the newly reopened American embassy. The event at the seaside building was another symbolic step in a path opened last December when President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro announced they would seek to restore diplomatic ties, reopen embassies and work to normalize ties.

How St. Louis police added Twitter to its arsenal

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 05:33 AM PDT

The St. Louis County Police Department has significantly altered its approach to social media since Michael Brown's death last year.

AP EXCLUSIVE: Top secret Clinton emails include drone talk

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 05:23 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The two emails on Hillary Rodham Clinton's private server that an auditor deemed "top secret" include a discussion of a news article detailing a U.S. drone operation and a separate conversation that could point back to highly classified material in an improper manner or merely reflect information collected independently, U.S. officials who have reviewed the correspondence told The Associated Press.

In speech, Rubio slams Obama's outreach to Iran and Cuba

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 04:53 AM PDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is slamming President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran and Cuba, calling his diplomacy with the two nations evidence of "every flawed strategic, moral and economic notion" that has driven his foreign policy.

Japanese leader Abe stops short of apology for World War II

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 07:08 AM PDT

TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged Friday that Japan inflicted "immeasurable damage and suffering" on innocent people in World War II, but stopped short of offering his own apology and said future generations of Japanese should not have to make them either.

State of emergency ends in Ferguson, Missouri, as violence recedes

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 08:20 AM PDT

Ferguson saw a fresh wave of demonstrations beginning last weekend, marking the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man shot by a white police officer last August. The killing of Brown was found to be justified, but that incident and the deaths of other unarmed black and Hispanic men that followed in Baltimore, New York City, Washington state and elsewhere inspired a national movement over policing and race relations. Most of the protests in Ferguson were peaceful, but on Sunday night gunfire broke out and police shot and injured a black man, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris, who they say shot at them.

Court throws out Arizona sheriff's immigration policy challenge

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 07:40 AM PDT

A federal appeals court on Friday threw out a lawsuit brought by an Arizona sheriff who argued that President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration were unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a district court judge's finding that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio lacked standing to sue, a provision in U.S. law that means he has to prove he has been directly harmed.

Kentucky clerk defying court on gay marriage licenses to file response

Posted: 14 Aug 2015 07:54 AM PDT

Attorneys for a Kentucky county clerk who has stopped issuing marriage licenses to avoid serving same-sex couples are expected to file a response on Friday to the court. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her office stopped issuing all marriage licenses following the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling legalizing gay marriage, and she has continued with that stance despite an injunction on Wednesday by a federal judge ordering her office to begin issuing licenses again. Davis previously said her religious beliefs as an Apostolic Christian prevented her from issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Jeb Bush leaves door open for use of torture by government

Posted: 13 Aug 2015 06:23 PM PDT

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Thursday declined to rule out resuming the use of torture under some circumstances by the U.S. government.

Donald Trump owns thousands of secret Web addresses

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Notorious inmate's lawyer says officials knew he was target

Posted: 13 Aug 2015 05:27 PM PDT

Hugo Pinell, a notorious killer with ties to the 1960s and 1970s black revolutionary movement, spent the last 45 years in California's prison isolation units partly for his own protection. Just days after he was moved into the general prison population, fellow inmates stabbed him death in an exercise yard.

Judge OKs settlement with families of Newtown massacre victims

Posted: 13 Aug 2015 02:10 PM PDT

A Connecticut judge on Thursday approved the largest portion yet of a settlement in which the estate of the mother of the gunman who carried out a 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school will pay out $1.5 million to families of 16 victims. Probate Court Judge Joseph Egan in Bethel, Connecticut approved deals with the families of six of the 20 first-graders killed in the Dec. 14, 2012, rampage, according to a court clerk and attorneys who were present at the closed hearing. Two survivors of the attack, which also killed six educators, joined the initial lawsuit but were not part of the final settlement, which represents the amount of a homeowners' insurance policy that gunman 20-year-old Adam Lanza's mother had held on her Newton, Connecticut home.