ICE ups ante in standoff with NYC: 'This is not a request'

Federal authorities are turning to a new tactic in the escalating conflict over New York City's so-called sanctuary policies, issuing four “immigration subpoenas” to the city for information about inmates wanted for deportation. This is not a request — it's a demand,” Henry Lucero, a senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, told The Associated Press. This is a last resort for us.

Two More Bodies Found at Tijuana Property Where Missing California Couple Were Buried Under the Dirt Floor

Two more bodies have been discovered at a Tijuana, Mexico, property where investigators earlier found the remains of a missing California couple buried under the dirt floor of a house on Friday. Jesús Rubén López Guillén, 70, a U.S. resident, and his wife Maria Teresa Guillén, 65, a naturalized U.S. citizen, were reported missing by their daughter Norma López after they traveled from Garden Grove to Tijuana on Jan. 10 to collect more than $6,400 in overdue rent from their 37-year-old son-in-law. Police in Garden Grove launched a missing persons investigation after López said she could no longer track her parents' movements through the Find My Phone app.

Rep. Ilhan Omar Says ‘We Must Stop Detaining’ Illegal Immigrants

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar on Thursday called for the U.S. government to cease detaining illegal immigrants. Omar tweeted an ABC News story about a tiny Georgia town having more detained illegal immigrants than residents. Her takeaway: America shouldn't be detaining those who cross the border illegally.

Bless Virginia for passing the Equal Rights Amendment, but blame women for taking this long

Enough women — and men — have chosen political ideology over protecting gender equality, and that's shameful. Last week, Virginia became the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment — which would be enough to finally ratify the amendment. But enough women and men have snubbed it for nearly five decades that now this milestone may already be legally DOA.

Ex-Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line workers reveal the things they couldn't live without on board

The workers' former employers were Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and American Cruise Lines. A cruise ship is an unusual work environment, keeping employees away from their homes for months at a time. Six former cruise-ship workers told Business Insider what they couldn't live without during their contracts.

Trump's Russia adviser 'escorted from White House' amid investigation

President Trump's latest Russia expert has reportedly been escorted from the White House amid claims of a security-related investigation.

Philippine volcano recharging, scientist says, as shops, hotels told to keep shut

A restive volcano in the Philippines has a high risk of eruption as it is "recharging" with fresh magma and rising emissions of toxic gas, a top scientist said on Monday, while authorities ordered commercial establishments to stay shut. Earthquakes were still happening at the Taal volcano, which shot giant clouds of ash miles into the air on Jan. 12, and levels of the gas were rising, a sign of magma "recharging" and "resupplying" beneath it, a Philippine vulcanologist said. "If it reaches the crater, it could cause a strong explosion," Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), told DZMM radio.

The 25 Best PSP Games

Console-sized action. On-the-go goodness.From Popular Mechanics

California Elementary Teachers Sue Delta After Plane Dumps Jet Fuel Over School

Teachers who were at a Cudahy, Calif., elementary school when a Delta aircraft dumped fuel overhead on Tuesday have filed a lawsuit against the airline, accusing it of negligence. The teachers, who asked not to be named, felt “sick, dizzy and nauseated” after being covered with the fuel, prominent women's rights attorney Gloria Allred said at a press conference after filing the lawsuit on Friday. Allred said the school children began to scream and cry, and the teachers rushed them inside.

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  'Sick, dizzy and nauseated:' Teachers sue Delta over jet's fuel dump over schools

  USA TODAY
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  Delta is being sued by teachers after dumping 15,000 gallons of jet fuel over LA schools

  Quartz

2 more Puerto Rico officials fired after warehouse break-in

Gov. Wanda Vázquez fired the heads of Puerto Rico's housing and family departments Sunday in the latest fallout over the discovery of a warehouse filled with emergency supplies dating from Hurricane Maria. The removal of Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar came a day after the governor fired the director of Puerto Rico's emergency management agency. Vázquez fired him hours after a Facebook video showed angry people breaking into the warehouse in an area where thousands have been in shelters since a recent earthquake.

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  Warehouse filled with Hurricane Maria supplies discovered in Puerto Rico; Government official ousted

  KTRK – Houston
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  Puerto Rico governor fires director of emergency services after warehouse found with supplies

  CBS News Videos

TSA issues apology to Native American woman who had braids pulled by agent

The federal Transportation Security Administration has apologized to a Native American woman who said an agent at Minneapolis-St Paul international airport “pulled her braids” and said “giddy up!” when she took a flight from there this week. “The agent said she needed to pat down my braids,” tweeted Tara Houska, an indigenous rights advocate and attorney. According to the Washington Post, women of color have long experienced problems at TSA checkpoints, because natural, braided or twisted hair prompt “flags” on security devices, spurring “more invasive screenings”.

China Thinks It Can Nuke American Cities. Should We Worry?

Key Point: Despite the developments related above, the balance of opinion in Beijing seems impressively moderate on the prospects for a major nuclear buildup by China. When one reads enough Chinese naval literature, diagrams of multi-axial cruise missile saturation attacks against aircraft carrier groups may begin to seem normal. Targets include the biggest cities on the East and West Coasts, as well as in the Midwest, as one would expect.

Iran says it will examine the plane it shot down domestically — but a national air safety director admitted that the agency hasn't been able to open black boxes previously

Reuters An accident investigation director for the Iranian government told state media on Jan. 19 that the downed plane's black boxes will be examined domestically. That refutes a statement he made to state media the previous day — that Iran was unable to investigate the black box alone and that Iran would send the black box to Ukraine, where investigators from France, Canada, and the US would assist in the inspection. On Jan. 8, two missiles brought down Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752.

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  Iran considers dual nationals on downed Ukrainian plane to be Iranians: TV

  Reuters
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  Ukraine to press for plane crash black boxes as Iran minister visits

  Reuters

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown 'fine' with Hunter Biden testifying in Trump impeachment trial

As the Senate prepares for the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, one Democratic senator says he is open to former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, testifying if that is what it takes to have new witnesses called. "Fine," Sen. Sherrod Brown said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" when asked if he was prepared for Hunter Biden to testify. It remains an open question whether new witnesses can be called in the trial that will determine whether Trump remains in office after being impeached in the Democratic-controlled House on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

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  Trump Lawyers to Senate: Reject ‘Defective’ Impeachment Articles to Protect the ‘Will of the American People’

  The Daily Beast
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  Trump impeachment news – live: President’s controversial legal team branded ‘absurd’ after saying he cannot be removed from office for abuse of power ahead of Senate trial

  The Independent

Police arrest organizer of Hong Kong protest after rally turns violent

A prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist was arrested by police, his organization said on Monday, after a protest he helped organize in the financial district a day earlier turned violent with officers firing tear gas to disperse the crowds. Ventus Lau was arrested on Sunday evening on charges of "obstruction of police administration" and violating terms set when permission was granted for the protest, the Hong Kong Civil Assembly Team said in a statement. The organizers initially applied for a permit - known as a letter of no objection - for a march, but the police only agreed to a static rally in a park in the city's Central district.

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  Police cracking down on protesters at pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong

  ABC News Videos
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  Bloodied Older Man Knocked to the Ground Amid Clashes at Hong Kong Suffrage Protest

  Storyful

Document trove shows how 'Africa's richest woman' stole fortune: ICIJ

An award-winning investigative team published a trove of files Sunday allegedly showing how Africa's richest woman syphoned hundreds of millions of dollars of public money into offshore accounts. The New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) worked with newspapers such as Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung to reveal the "Panama Papers" tax haven scandal in 2016. Its latest series called "Luanda Leaks" zeros in on Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former Angola president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

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  Africa's richest woman accused of corruption and siphoning off state assets

  The Telegraph
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  All the companies tied to Isabel dos Santos

  Quartz

Illegal crossings plunge as US extends policy across border

Adolfo Cardenas smiles faintly at the memory of traveling with his 14-year-old son from Honduras to the U.S.-Mexico border in only nine days, riding buses and paying a smuggler $6,000 to ensure passage through highway checkpoints. Father and son walked about 10 minutes in Arizona's stifling June heat before surrendering to border agents. Instead of being released with paperwork to appear in immigration court in Dallas, where Cardenas hopes to live with a cousin, they were bused more than an hour to wait in the Mexican border city of Mexicali.

The most iconic tourist attraction in 26 countries around the world

China: the Great Wall of China At over 13,000 miles long, the Great Wall of China is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is the most popular with tourists, just two hours outside Beijing. India: the Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal was built by the emperor Shah Jahan between 1631 and 1648.

Why White-Collar Sex Creeps Keep Getting VIP Treatment From Manhattan Prosecutors

As a former sex crimes prosecutor, I often encountered an inherent bias among law enforcement and prosecutors that favored more lenient treatment of “white-collar” defendants charged with sex crimes. Sometimes, that was due to wealthier clients getting more attention because their high-priced lawyers demanded it from the prosecutors. Vance's office already faced criticism for its initial reluctance to prosecute Harvey Weinstein—even conducting its own “oppo research” on one of his accusers—and its attempt to seek a lower sex-offender registration status for Epstein (which Vance later said was a mistake by an unauthorized assistant district attorney).

Russia Is Worried About Britain's Astute-Class Submarines

Key point: The Astutes are the largest SSNs ever operated by the Royal Navy, half again as large as the Trafalgar class. Since the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought in 1963, the Royal Navy has maintained a formidable force of nuclear attack submarines. The latest nuclear attack subs, the Astute class, have become a critical component of the future of the Royal Navy—but, given Russia's resurgence, are they enough?

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  Is Singapore's New Naval Addition A Threat to China?

  The National Interest
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  Here's Everything Israel's Super Long-Range Torpedo Can Do

  The National Interest

China says mysterious Sars-like virus is 'controllable' as 17 new cases emerge ahead of Lunar New Year

China has insisted that the outbreak of a Sars-like virus which risks spreading across the country during Lunar New Year celebrations is "controllable", as 17 fresh cases were reported in the city of Wuhan. In its first statement since the virus was detected, China's National Health Commission said the disease's source was unknown but vowed to "step up monitoring" of any mutations during Chinese New Year period. The disease, also known as the coronavirus, is alarming because of its connection to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong from 2002-2003.

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  S. Korea confirms first case of SARS-like virus from China

  AFP Relax News
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  Cases of new viral pneumonia in China surpass 200

  Associated Press

A plane slid off the runway and more than 800 flights were canceled as winter weather hit the Midwest

Nam Y. Huh/AP Winter storms wreaked havoc on airports and roads throughout the Midwest into the weekend. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport saw nearly 700 canceled arriving and departing flights Friday night before around 200 flights were canceled Saturday morning. Authorities issued alerts for areas across the Northeast as blizzard conditions were forecasted to move across the Great Lakes to New York and New England over the weekend.

Cut off from family, unable to travel: how US sanctions punish Iranian Americans

Following the US assassination of a top Iranian general earlier this month and Iranian airstrikes against US military bases in Iraq, Donald Trump once again imposed biting sanctions against the regime in Tehran. To Iranian Americans, many of whom have lived under sanctions in Iran or have family members there suffering through economic hardship, the fresh round of penalties is a painful reminder of the collateral consequences of escalating conflict. Iranian Americans across the United States told the Guardian about their worries for their family members and friends affected by US sanctions.

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  It Wasn't Luck That No U.S. Soldiers Were Killed In Iran's Strikes On Iraq

  The National Interest
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  Four decades of conflict with Iran, explained

  The Week