Leonard Nimoy, who was best-known for his role as Mr. Spock in the “Star Trek” franchise, died at his home on Friday in Los Angeles, his wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed to the New York Times. He was 83.
According to his wife, Nimoy’s death was due to end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The star had been open about his condition, and spoke publicly about it last year. “Just can’t walk distances. Love my life, family, friends and followers,” he wrote on Twitter a week after announcing his diagnosis.
Nimoy had been hospitalized earlier this week, and many of his former co-stars, including George Takei, sent public well wishes.
The Senate made its first move on Wednesday to prevent a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, with just two days remaining until the agency runs out of money.
The upper chamber voted 98-2 on a procedural hurdle that would pave the way for a “clean” funding bill to be brought to the floor, following a deal announced by Senate Democratic leaders earlier in the day. Only Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) voted against moving forward with the agreement, which would fund DHS without any measures to block President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration.
The vote marked the first cracking of the impasse that has for weeks threatened DHS funding. Under the agreement, which was suggested on Tuesday by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate will resolve the DHS funding issue and then vote on a separate bill from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to block Obama’s executive actions, which would grant temporary deportation relief and work authorization to as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants.
TSA agents would remain in airports, patrol agents would still be manning the border and Coast Guard officers would continue monitoring the waters if the Department of Homeland Security were to shut down.
But out of the public eye, there would be major problems, DHS officials warned Monday, as the Feb. 27 deadline to fund the department creeps closer.
“A shutdown of DHS would have serious consequences and amount to a serious disruption in our ability to protect the homeland,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said at a press conference at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services headquarters.
U.N. investigators said Friday they are considering publishing their secret list of alleged war criminals in Syria to press for justice for the thousands of victims.
In a strong indication that they will do just that, the investigators expressed hope that releasing the names would put alleged perpetrators of torture, executions and kidnappings “on notice,” act as a deterrent and help to protect people at risk of abuse.
“It is unconscionable that Syrians should continue to suffer as they have for the last four years and have to live in a world where only limited attempts have been made to return Syria to peace, and to seek justice for the victims,” said Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who heads the independent commission charged with investigating alleged human rights violations since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.
Tiny amounts of lead, chemical flame retardants and organophosphate pesticides, among other toxins, course through the blood of nearly every American. But just how much worry is a little poison worth?
A lot, especially when considering the cumulative effects of this chemical cocktail on children, warns a video unveiled Thursday during an environmental health conference in Ottawa, Canada. The seven-minute project, “Little Things Matter,” draws on emerging scientific evidence that even mild exposures to common contaminants can derail normal brain development — lowering IQs and raising risks of behavioral conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
“The chemical industry argues that the effect of toxins on children is subtle and of little consequence,” co-producer Bruce Lanphear, an environmental health expert at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, states in the video. “But that is misleading.”
An Oregon couple involved in online pornography has been arrested on charges of murder by abuse after an autopsy determined their 7-week-old baby boy died of starvation.
Douglas County sheriff’s deputies said Wednesday that 26-year-old Stephen Michael Williams Jr. and 21-year-old Amanda Marie Hancock were arrested Tuesday at their home in Glendale. They were to be arraigned Wednesday.
A probable-cause affidavit filed by deputies says the parents told investigators they did pornography, which involved the mother self-lactating while others paid to watch online. The two also said they fed the baby milk but never took him to a doctor, despite signs he was losing weight.
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This Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015 booking photo provided by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office shows Stephen Williams Jr., 26, of Glendale, Ore., and Amanda Hancock. Williams and Hancock were arrested Tuesday at their home in Glendale, Ore., on charges of murder by abuse after their seven-week-old baby boy, Data Hancock, was determined to have died of starvation. | AP Photo/Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
Low temperatures gripped much of the South, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Wednesday, freezing and refreezing snow and ice and making roads hazardous for those who’d ventured out. In many areas, the cold was expected to stay for days.
The refreeze has already played out over and over in New England, where mountains of snow are piled high.
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A kid drags his sled up a hill in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) | ASSOCIATED PRESS
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday that will temporarily prevent the Obama administration from moving forward with its executive actions on immigration while a lawsuit against the president works its way through the courts.
The order, by Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas, was an early stumble for the administration in what will likely be a long legal battle over whether President Barack Obama overstepped his constitutional authority with the wide-reaching executive actions on immigration he announced last November.
While the injunction does not pronounce Obama’s actions illegal, it prevents the administration from implementing them until the court rules on their constitutionality.
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Reform Would Save $410 Billion Over The Next 10 Years – The immigration reform bill proposed by the “gang of eight” senators would save $410 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis from Gordon Gray, the director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. The savings would come largely from a boost in GDP resulting from undocumented immigrants gaining citizenship and in turn likely making more money.
Jon Stewart will step down as host of “The Daily Show,” he announced during Tuesday night’s taping. Comedy Central confirmed the news in a tweet.
Stewart has been at the helm of the beloved satirical news program for over 15 years. He will continue hosting the show until later this year.
According to a tweet from CBS News, Stewart told fans he had felt “restless.”
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AUSTIN, TX – OCTOBER 28: Host Jon Stewart at ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ covers the Midterm elections in Austin with ‘Democalypse 2014: South By South Mess’ at ZACH Theatre on October 28, 2014 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Comedy Central)
Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday in swift retribution for the extremists’ beheading of a group of Egyptian Christian hostages on a beach, shown in a grisly online video released hours earlier.
At the same time, Egypt called for international intervention in Libya against the Islamic State group. Loyalists of the Syria and Iraq-based group have risen to dominate several cities in the chaos-riven North African nation.
Italy, just across the Mediterranean Sea, says it is prepared to lead international action in Libya.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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Reform Would Save $410 Billion Over The Next 10 Years – The immigration reform bill proposed by the “gang of eight” senators would save $410 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis from Gordon Gray, the director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. The savings would come largely from a boost in GDP resulting from undocumented immigrants gaining citizenship and in turn likely making more money.
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James' World 2 