DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft killed at least 16 people on Friday in an attack in northwest Pakistan, two Pakistani intelligence officials.
Lone Wolf strikes again 16 killed
The attacks targeted three walled compounds in the Shawal Valley, which is in the South Waziristan region on the border with Afghanistan, the officials said. The area has long been known as a sanctuary for militants.
The drone attacks are highly controversial in Pakistan, where there is anger over civilian casualties and what is perceived as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.
But U.S. officials say that Pakistan does not control the militant-held territory where the drones strike. The United States considers drones a key weapon in the war against al Qaida and Taliban insurgents. (Reporting by Saud Mehsud; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Robert Birsel)
A group of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents filed a lawsuit against their own agency Thursday, arguing that the Obama administration is not letting them fully identify and deport illegal immigrants.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says her department does not have the manpower or money to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants in the USA, so she issued a memorandum last year ordering immigration officials to focus their efforts on dangerous illegal immigrants. In June, Obama announced a program that will allow up to 1.7 million illegal immigrants brought to the USA as children to have deportations deferred for at least two years.
The 10 ICE agents suing Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton say those directives violate the Constitution and federal immigration law. "We are federal law enforcement officers who are being ordered to break the law," said Chris Crane, an ICE agent and president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union for ICE employees. "This directive puts ICE agents and officers in a horrible position."
ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein did not comment on the lawsuit but said more than half of the nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants deported in 2011 had been convicted of crimes, the largest number in the agency's history. He said that shows the decision to focus on the most dangerous illegal immigrants is a policy that works, and June's decision to defer deportation for young illegal immigrants enhances that strategy.
A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Obama may have overstepped his authority by ordering the deportation deferments, and Romney would forge a long-term solution with Congress instead of relying on Obama's "stop-gap measure."
"The courts will have to sort this out, but this kind of uncertainty is unacceptable as these young people brought here as children are seeking clarity on their long-term status," spokesman Ryan Williams said.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a Dallas federal court, requests that a judge strike down the two directives and protect the agents from any retribution for their lawsuit.
The death of 2-year-old Reilee Lovell on the Yankton Reservation in Wagner has put a renewed focus on meth use by Native Americans.
Authorities say Taylor and Laurie Cournoyer were using meth and other drugs while Lovell was in their care. Her body was found inside a closet in a home on the reservation, at least 36 hours after she died.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe isn't alone in its struggle against methamphetamine abuse. And while local statistics are hard to come by, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report shows meth is disproportionately devastating Native American communities like Wagner.
According to the report, 74 percent of tribal police officer rank meth as the number one drug problem on reservations.
The Reilee Lovell case simply puts a face on what is believed to be a bigger problem. Because nearly half of all tribal police believe an increase in child neglect and abuse cases are linked to increased meth use.
Nationally, 40 percent of all violent crime on tribal land is also believed to be linked to meth use.
And officials as many as two-thirds of all domestic violence cases on the country's reservations could be linked to the use of the drug.
On Wednesday, a cleaning crew armed with coveralls and breathing masks is fighting back.
Joe Newcomb, with Santi-Kleen Environmental Solutions, oversees the cleanup and says traces of meth have contaminated nearly every surface of Taylor and Laurie Cournoyer's former home.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — John Lennon's killer was denied release from prison in his seventh appearance before a parole board, New York corrections officials said.
Mark David Chapman, 57, was denied parole by a three-member board after a hearing Wednesday, the state Department of Corrections said Thursday. The transcript of his latest hearing wasn't immediately released.
Chapman shot Lennon in December 1980 outside the Manhattan apartment building where the former Beatle lived. He was sentenced in 1981 to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The musician, singer and songwriter was 40.
"Despite your positive efforts while incarcerated, your release at this time would greatly undermine respect for the law and tend to trivialize the tragic loss of life which you caused as a result of this heinous, unprovoked, violent, cold and calculated crime," board member Sally Thompson wrote. Board members Joseph Crangle and Marc Coppola agreed
TUCSON - The DPS officer who left his police dog in a hot patrol car will face an animal neglect charge in Tucson.
City Attorney Mike Rankin tells News 4 Tucson Officer Kory Lankow will face the misdemeanor charge, but it has not yet been filed.
Pima County chose not to pursue charges against Lankow for leaving his dog, Jeg, in the hot car for more than an hour.
Jeg later had to be euthanized.
A class one misdemeanor can carry a fine of up to $2,500 and up to 180 days in jail.
On the 911 recording, Deanna Cook pleads to her ex-husband to stop attacking
her.
“Delvecchio, why are you doing this?” she screams during the Friday morning
call, according to police documents. “Red, please stop, I didn’t do anything to
you.”
Two Dallas police officers were sent to her home in the Rylie area of
southeast Dallas. No one answered the door, and they left.
Two days later, her family found Cook, 32, dead in her home. Her ex-husband,
35-year-old Delvecchio Patrick, who had repeatedly threatened to kill her and
been convicted of prior family violence attacks on her, finally succeeded in
taking her life, authorities say. He is being held at Lew Sterrett Justice
Center in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Friends and family of Cook, who said she went by “De-de,” criticized police
for not doing more to try to help her on Friday.
“That’s negligence,” said friend Lakesha Davis, 37. “They kick in your door
for everything else … It needs to be investigated.”
Dallas Police Chief David Brown did not respond to a request for comment, but
the department issued a statement Monday evening stating that it is conducting a
“comprehensive review” of how communications personnel and patrol officers
handled the call.
