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U.S. says still working to reunite 2,053 children with families

By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said it still had 2,053 children in its custody who were separated from their parents under President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, and set out its most detailed plans yet on how it would reunite families. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said late on Saturday it had a "well coordinated" process in place - in the face of criticism from lawyers for parents and children who have said they have seen little evidence of an organized system. A total of 522 children had already been reunited with parents, the agency added in a fact sheet published three days after Trump ended his policy of separating families on the U.S.-Mexico border, after images of youngsters in cages triggered outrage at home and abroad.

Trump defends policies on border, North Korea in visit to Las Vegas

President Donald Trump defended his tough stance on immigrants crossing the U.S. border with Mexico on Saturday, praising his administration for a job well done and saying his approach will make the United States stronger. Trump also said his peace initiative with North Korea was already paying off despite criticism that his Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this month was long on positive imagery but short on specific accomplishments. Trump, who was in Las Vegas to lend support to U.S. Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, a Republican who is facing a stiff challenge to re-election, has been under fire for a policy that separates children from their parents when they illegally cross the U.S. border with Mexico.

South Carolina congressional candidate seriously injured in car crash

South Carolina Republican congressional candidate Katie Arrington, who ousted incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Sanford in a primary this month, was seriously injured in a car crash that killed the driver of a second vehicle, her campaign said on Saturday. Arrington, 47, was the passenger in a car driven by a friend on Friday night when a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction struck them on Highway 17 in Charleston County as they were going to Hilton Head where Arrington was to receive an award from a state medical organization, her campaign said. Tim Scott, a Republican U.S. Senator from South Carolina, told the News & Courier newspaper in Charleston that he visited Arrington on Saturday and spoke with her.

White House press secretary says asked to leave restaurant for working for Trump

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Saturday that she had been asked to leave a Virginia restaurant the night before because she worked for U.S. President Donald Trump. "Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left," Sanders said on the official Press Secretary Twitter account. On Saturday, the owner of the Red Hen confirmed the incident and said she stood by her decision to refuse service to Sanders, the Washington Post reported.

Parted at U.S. border by Trump policy, migrants seek their children

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lilian Merida-Galicia and her 7-year-old daughter were apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and separated by U.S. officials in mid-May. Since then, the 23-year-old Guatemalan has been trying to learn her daughter's whereabouts, according to her attorney, Michael Avenatti. At one point she sent a note to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Octogenarian New England ex-mob boss convicted of 1993 murder

A federal jury on Friday found a former boss of the New England mob and one of his associates guilty of the 1993 murder of a nightclub owner whose remains were discovered buried in Rhode Island two years ago. Jurors in Boston convicted Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, 84, and Paul Weadick, 63, of killing club owner Steven DiSarro because they believed he would cooperate with federal investigators. Steven Boozang, Salemme's lawyer, said he was disappointed and plans to appeal.

Accused N.Y attacker says U.S. court's judgment 'not important'

The Uzbek national accused of killing eight people by driving a speeding truck along a New York City bike path last October spoke of a "war" led by Islamic State at a pre-trial hearing on Friday and dismissed the court's judgment as not important. The statement by Sayfullo Saipov, a legal permanent resident of the United States, came at the end of a hearing at which U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick set an Oct. 7, 2019, trial date in the case. "The Islamic State, in order to impose sharia (Islamic law) on Earth, is leading a war," Saipov said.

Octogenarian New England ex-mob boss convicted of 1993 murder

A federal jury on Friday found a former boss of the New England mob and one of his associates guilty of the 1993 murder of a nightclub owner whose remains were discovered buried in Rhode Island two years ago. Jurors in Boston convicted Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, 84, and Paul Weadick, 63, of killing club owner Steven DiSarro because they believed he would cooperate with federal investigators. Steven Boozang, Salemme's lawyer, said he was disappointed and plans to appeal.

Trump urges Republican lawmakers to drop immigration bill until election

By Doina Chiacu and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers on Friday to drop their efforts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation until after the November elections, sending mixed signals to his party amid an ongoing crisis over his border policies. Trump, faced with a public outcry over his policy that separated children from their migrant parents at the U.S. border with Mexico, has gone back and forth on ways to solve the country's immigration problems, which he blames on Democrats.

No drugs, no alcohol in U.S. celebrity chef Bourdain's body when he died: prosecutor

U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who killed himself in a French hotel room earlier this month, had no narcotics or alcohol in his body when he died, a local prosecutor said on Friday. Bourdain, host of CNN's food-and-travel-focused "Parts Unknown" television series, was 61. "No trace of narcotics, no trace of any toxic products, no trace of medicines, no trace of alcohol," prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny told Reuters.

Supreme Court restricts police on cellphone location data

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday imposed limits on the ability of police to obtain cellphone data pinpointing the past location of criminal suspects in a major victory for digital privacy advocates and a setback for law enforcement authorities. In the 5-4 ruling, the court said police generally need a court-approved warrant to get the data, setting a higher legal hurdle than previously existed under federal law. The court said obtaining such data without a warrant from wireless carriers, as police routinely do, amounted to an unreasonable search and seizure under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

Uber car's 'safety' driver streamed TV show before fatal crash: police

By Heather Somerville and David Shepardson SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The safety driver behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber car in Tempe, Arizona, was streaming a television show on her phone until about the time of a fatal crash, according to a police report that deemed the March 18 incident "entirely avoidable." A report by the Tempe Police Department said the driver, Rafaela Vasquez, repeatedly looked down and not at the road, glancing up a half second before the car hit Elaine Herzberg, 49, who was crossing the street at night. The report said police concluded the crash, which has dealt Uber Technologies Inc a major setback in its efforts to develop self-driving cars, would have been "entirely avoidable" if Vasquez had been paying attention.

Tesla recycling machine catches fire at Fremont, California campus

The fire occurred after a cardboard baling machines that is used for recycling overheated, and was contained, Fremont Fire Department Division Chief Diane Hendry said on Friday. In a tweet earlier this week, Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk touted a new tent on the campus that is being used for the production of the Model 3. The Tesla spokeswoman said the production tent was not affected by the fire.

Reality Winner to change her plea on leaking Russian interference report

Reality Leigh Winner pleaded not guilty in June, 2017 after she was charged with passing the top secret National Security Agency report to The Intercept last year while working with Pluribus International Corp, which provides analytical services for U.S. defense and intelligence. Attorneys for Winner, a 26-year-old from Augusta, Georgia, filed on Thursday a request in the Southern District of Georgia to change her not guilty plea, a court document showed. A plea agreement, detailing her new plea, was also filed with the court, but was not made public.

Conservative U.S. commentator Charles Krauthammer dies

By Bill Trott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Krauthammer, who gave up a psychiatric career to become one of the leading conservative political commentators in the U.S. media, died on Thursday at the age of 68, the Washington Post and Fox News said. Krauthammer was a fixture on the Fox News Channel as well as on editorial pages of the Washington Post and other U.S. newspapers. "My fight is over." Less than a month earlier, Krauthammer had told a Fox colleague that the worst appeared to be behind him.

U.S. House again postpones vote on Republican immigration bill

By Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives delayed for a second time - likely to next week - a vote on an immigration bill they had originally planned to take up on Thursday. The vote on the so-called compromise Republican plan had earlier been delayed to Friday to allow members additional time to review it. The Republican-controlled House earlier on Thursday defeated another, more conservative immigration bill designed to significantly reduce visas for legal immigration to the United States and to temporarily protect from deportation young "Dreamers" brought to the country illegally as children.

Trump tries to defuse immigrant crisis, but policy hit by confusion

By Richard Cowan and Steve Holland WASHINGTON/MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies on Thursday to begin reuniting immigrant families recently separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, but his efforts to roll back a policy that drew global condemnation were beset by confusion. Despite Trump's order, it remained unclear how and when more than 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents in the past few weeks would be reunited with them, and where the families would be held while the parents face criminal charges. It was also not clear if the government would keep prosecuting cases against people caught crossing the border illegally.

Melania Trump's jacket mixes message during visit to detained immigrant children

Melania Trump, the wife of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Thursday visited children displaced by the country’s immigration crisis in Texas, only a day after Trump reversed course and ordered families to be kept intact when entering the United States illegally from Mexico. According to her spokesperson, Melania Trump decided to visit detention centers housing children because she deeply cares about the controversial issue. The trip to Texas was the most high-profile public appearance Melania Trump had made since undergoing a surgical procedure for a kidney condition on May 14.

Parents in California torture case ordered to stand trial: prosecutors

A judge on Thursday ordered a married couple to stand trial on 49 counts of torture, false imprisonment and abuse over the treatment of 13 siblings who were found imprisoned and starving in their suburban California home, prosecutors said. David and Louise Turpin were bound over for trial after a two-day hearing in Riverside County Superior Court in which the court heard tape of an emotional 911 call by a 17-year-old girl who climbed out a window and dialed police on a borrowed and deactivated cell phone, said John Hall of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. Officers who went to the Turpins’ home in Perris, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, found 12 siblings ranging in age from two to 29 inside, suffering from malnourishment, muscle wasting and other signs of severe abuse.

Illinois, Iowa, Rhode Island urge rejection of Sinclair-Tribune tie-up

In April, Sinclair said it would sell 23 television stations to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals of the Tribune transaction. Sinclair, based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, said that if the deal was approved it would reach nearly 59 percent of the nation’s television households.