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PG&E shares surge 40 percent on report regulator wants to avoid bankruptcy from wildfire

Bloomberg reported the comment by a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) official on a call hosted by Bank of America Corp, citing a person familiar with the matter. A CPUC spokesman said he could not confirm the remarks and Bank of America declined to comment, but the CPUC issued a statement emphasizing that state law requires it to consider a utility's financial health when considering a request to cover costs associated with wildfires. Investors are watching for clues about whether California's government will step in to save PG&E should it eventually be found responsible for the Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise a week ago, and should any potential liability exceeds the utility's resources.

PG&E shares up 37 percent on report regulator does not want bankruptcy

PG&E Corp shares soared 37 percent in after-hours trade on Thursday after a report that a California regulatory official told investors that the agency does not want the utility to go into bankruptcy. Bloomberg reported the comment by a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) official on a call hosted by Bank of America Corp , citing a person familiar with the matter. A CPUC spokesman said he could not confirm the remarks and Bank of America declined to comment.

John Lennon's killer recalls inner 'tug of war' before the murder

Before he pulled the trigger that ended the life of rock icon John Lennon nearly 38 years ago, his killer remembers being in a "tug of war" with himself over what he was about to do, and even praying for a way out of carrying out his plan. In the end, the compulsion to gain notoriety by killing one of the most famous people in the world proved too powerful, a remorseful Mark David Chapman told parole officials at an Aug. 22 hearing that ended in a decision not to release him. "I was too far in," Chapman, 63, said in a transcript of the hearing released on Thursday by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Crews search for California fire victims as list of missing grows

The search for victims of a catastrophic blaze that reduced a northern California town to ashes intensified on Thursday as authorities posted an expanded list of nearly 300 people reported missing in the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. At least 56 people have been confirmed dead so far in the Camp Fire, which erupted a week ago in the drought-parched Sierra foothills 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco and now ranks as one of the most lethal single U.S. wildfires since the turn of the last century. Authorities attributed the high death toll in part to the staggering speed with which the wind-driven flames, fueled by desiccated scrub, raced through the town Paradise, a town of 27,000 residents.

Florida to recount ballots by hand in tight U.S. Senate race

Under state law, the Florida Department of State must trigger a manual recount if an electronic recount of ballots finds a margin of victory of less than 0.25 percent. The order came after U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee, Florida, cleared the way to include ballots from as many as 5,000 people across the state who submitted ballots by mail that were rejected by election officials. A Georgia federal judge issued a similar ruling as that state worked to resolve a close governor's race.

Florida U.S. Senate race triggers hand recount

Florida's hotly contested contest for the U.S. Senate appeared headed on Thursday toward a hand recount with the results still too close to call, the state elections website indicated. Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson trailed his Republican challenger, Florida Governor Rick Scott, by about 12,600 votes, or 0.15 percent of the more than 8 million ballots cast following an electronic recount.

'Design errors' faulted in Florida bridge collapse: U.S. agency

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday that "design errors" were found in a pedestrian bridge that collapsed in March at Florida International University, killing six people and injuring eight. The NTSB said concrete and steel specimens tested met the project’s build plans' minimum requirements. The 950-ton, $14.2 million bridge, which crossed an eight-lane highway adjacent to Florida International University (FIU) in Miami-Dade County and linked the campus to the city of Sweetwater, collapsed five days after it was installed.

FDA to ban flavored e-cigarettes at U.S. convenience stores

The much-anticipated announcement will mean that only tobacco, mint and menthol e-cigarette flavors can be sold at most traditional retail outlets such as convenience stores. The FDA also plans to seek a ban on menthol cigarettes, a longtime goal of public health advocates, as well as flavored cigars. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the moves are meant to prevent young people from continuing to use e-cigarettes, potentially leading to traditional cigarette smoking.

California taps war-zone DNA specialists after wildfire

With many of them likely burned beyond recognition, traditional DNA analysis techniques are inadequate, as they require samples to be shipped to a laboratory and take weeks to produce a DNA match. In addition, traditional tools sometimes fail when extreme heat damages tissue samples. As a consequence, the Butte County Sheriff's office hired a company specializing in Rapid DNA analysis, a technique primarily employed in war zones and crime scenes to generate results in about two hours.

Jurors in 'El Chapo' trial told of Mexico's drug wars, corruption

A key prosecution witness in the U.S. trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Thursday told jurors that there were "a lot of deaths" as the accused Mexican drug lord and his associates built the Sinaloa Cartel in the 1990s through bloody conflict with rival drug traffickers. Jesus Zambada told the jury that his brother, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, and Guzman used armies of sicarios, or assassins, to kill their enemies. One of Guzman's lawyers, Jeffrey Lichtman, told jurors in his opening statement that Ismael Zambada, who remains at large, actually controlled the cartel, and Guzman was a scapegoat framed with the help of corrupt Mexican officials.

Pentagon fails its first-ever audit, official says

Results of the inspection - conducted by some 1,200 auditors and examining financial accounting on a wide range of spending including on weapons systems, military personnel and property - were expected to be completed later in the day. "We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it," Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told reporters, adding that the findings showed the need for greater discipline in financial matters within the Pentagon. "It was an audit on a $2.7 trillion dollar organization, so the fact that we did the audit is substantial," Shanahan added.

U.S. mail bomb suspect pleads not guilty to all charges

If convicted, Cesar Sayoc faces a sentence of life in prison. He had previously faced five counts carrying a maximum prison sentence of 48 years.

Proposed U.S. Space Force budget could be less than $5 billion: deputy defense secretary

The proposed U.S. Space Force, a new military service backed by President Donald Trump, could have an initial budget of less than $5 billion, the deputy defense secretary said on Thursday. The U.S. Air Force estimated start up costs for a proposed U.S. Space Force will be around $13 billion in the first five years. The Air Force is the U.S. military branch that currently has responsibility for space.

Exclusive: U.S. troop levels at Mexico border likely at peak - commander

The number of U.S. troops at the border with Mexico may have peaked at about 5,800, the U.S. commander of the mission told Reuters, noting he would start looking next week at whether to begin sending forces home or perhaps shifting some to new border positions. The outlook by Lieutenant General Jeffrey Buchanan, while not definitive, suggests that the high-profile military mission could soon achieve its goal of helping harden the border ahead of the expected arrival of caravans of Central American migrants in the coming weeks. The deployment, which critics have called a pre-election political stunt by President Donald Trump, was initially expected to reach more than 7,000 troops, acting in support of U.S. Customs and Border , or CBP.

After 2,000 miles they crossed the U.S. border; then tragedy struck

TUCSON, Ariz./AGUACATE, Guatemala (Reuters) - The 911 emergency call came in to the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson station around midnight. Gomez said he was lost. The Border Patrol tallied 294 deaths in fiscal year 2017, the last year for which data is available.

Cadaver dogs lead grim search for victims in California fire

A shaggy male Australian shepherd named IC darted nervously through the charred remnants of a house in Paradise, California, sniffing for victims of the deadliest blaze in the state's history. "He’s getting an overload of scent," said his handler, Trish Moutard, a volunteer with CARDA, the California Animal Rescue Dog Society, while searching properties on Forest Glen Road in Paradise. IC was among several cadaver dogs brought in to look for victims of the Camp Fire, which has so far killed 48 people and burned 135,000 acres (55,000 hectares).

Michael Avenatti arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of domestic violence

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Jeff Lee said no further details were immediately available, but he said Avenatti was released on bail after he was formally booked in the case. "They'll take a look at it and see if there's enough evidence to proceed." The celebrity news website TMZ, which broke the news of Avenatti's arrest, reported that it stemmed from a physical confrontation between him and a woman at an apartment building Tuesday night in the Century City district of Los Angeles. Avenatti, who has indicated that he might run for president in 2020 as a Democrat, denied wrongdoing in a statement issued through his law firm and in a statement to reporters outside the LAPD West Los Angeles police station following his release.

Chicago's focus turns to pensions after budget approval

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday gave overwhelming approval to the final budget proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who leaves office next year, and who said he will address looming pension funding challenges in December. "Our work is not done but we can say given where we were at a fiscal cliff seven years ago, financial drain on the city, we can say with confidence we're back on solid ground," Emanuel told the council following its 48-1 vote on his $10.67 billion budget for fiscal 2019. Chicago's unfunded pension liability was $28 billion in 2017, down from $35.7 billion in the prior year.

'Progress is being made' against California's deadliest wildfire

The confirmed death toll from the Camp Fire stood at 48 as the footprint of the fire grew by 5,000 acres to 135,000 acres(55,000 hectares), even as diminished winds and rising humidity allowed firefighters to carve containment lines around more than a third of the perimeter. "Progress is being made," said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) at a news conference flanked by Governor Jerry Brown, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and other officials. The escalating search for additional human remains in the fire zone is focused on what little is left of Paradise, California, in the Sierra foothills about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, which was mostly incinerated last Thursday.

Mattis defends Mexico border deployment in first troop visit

President Donald Trump's politically charged decision to send U.S. troops to the Mexico border came ahead of U.S. midterm congressional elections last week, as Trump sought to strengthen border security as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump's supporters, including Republicans in Congress, have embraced the deployment. "It's very clear that support to border police or border patrol is necessary right now," Mattis said, noting that that was the assessment of the Department of Homeland Security.

Possible witnesses against 'El Chapo' revealed at U.S. trial

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said as part of his opening statement that he expected prosecutors to call Cesar Gastelum, Damaso Lopez and Miguel Angel Martinez, former drug traffickers who are now cooperating with authorities. Gastelum moved tons of cocaine a week through Central America to Mexico for Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel, the U.S. Treasury Department said in 2014.

U.S. safety board holds hearing on fatal Southwest engine explosion

Dallas-based Southwest has been under scrutiny since an engine on a flight headed from New York to Dallas blew apart in mid-air over Pennsylvania, shattering a plane window, flinging shrapnel and killing passenger Jennifer Riordan, one of 149 people aboard. The hearing in Washington turned to a detailed summary of the engine failure on flight 1380, including details of the fan blade design and development history of the engine type that failed, a CFM56-7B made by CFM International, a transatlantic joint-venture between General Electric Co and France's Safran SA . The hearing also focused on engine fan blade inspection methods.

U.S. seeks to strike El Chapo lawyer's opening statement

U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday asked a federal judge to strike the opening statement made a day earlier by the lawyer for accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on the first day of his trial in Brooklyn for drug smuggling. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan, prosecutors said the lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, tried improperly to sway the jury by arguing that Guzman had been selectively targeted for prosecution, an argument the court had barred him from making.

Teams 'look for skulls' in ashes of California's deadliest wildfire

The intensified effort to locate victims came on the sixth day of a blaze that incinerated over 7,000 homes and other buildings, including most of the town of Paradise in the Sierra foothills of rural Butte County about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco. County Sheriff Kory Honea said 228 people were listed as missing, and his office also was conducting "well-being checks" on nearly 1,300 individuals whose loved ones had reported concern for their whereabouts. By Tuesday, the killer blaze dubbed the Camp Fire had blackened 125,000 acres (50,500 hectares) of drought-parched scrub and brush, up 8,000 acres from the night before, but crews had carved containment lines around nearly a third of the fire's expanding perimeter.

El Chapo is a scapegoat for drug lord who bribed Mexico's president: lawyer

"He's blamed for being the leader while the real leaders are living freely and openly in Mexico," attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said on the first day of Guzman's trial for drug smuggling in Brooklyn federal court, which is expected to last up to four months. Mayo Zambada did." Lichtman also said that Zambada had been left free because he "bribes the entire government of Mexico including up to the very top, the current president of Mexico," Enrique Pena Nieto. Pena Nieto's spokesman said of the accusation: "That is false." Lichtman's statement came after Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels laid out the U.S. government's case, describing how prosecutors would prove that Guzman rose from a low-level marijuana trafficker in the 1970s to lead the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.

House Democrats to probe Trump impact on FBI, Justice: lawmaker

Representative Jerrold Nadler, now the panel's top Democrat, gave acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and FBI Director Christopher Wray until Dec. 31 to respond to more than 100 letters House Democrats have already sent concerning Trump's behavior toward U.S. law enforcement, including verbal attacks on senior officials. "I write with growing concern over President Trump's repeated attacks on the integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI," Nadler told Whitaker and Wray in the Nov. 13 letter that was made public.

Motorists drove 0.8 percent fewer miles on U.S. roads in September: DOT

Motorists drove 0.8 percent fewer miles on U.S. roads and highways in September versus last year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Travel for the month is estimated to be 260.6 billion vehicle miles, DOT says, down from 262.6 billion miles last year. Motorists increased miles traveled on U.S. roads and highways for the sixth consecutive year in 2017, according to DOT.

U.S. judge to hold hearing on CNN White House lawsuit

In its lawsuit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, the cable news network said the White House violated the First Amendment right to free speech as well as the due process clause of the Constitution providing fair treatment through judicial process. Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, dismissed the action as "just more grandstanding from CNN, and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit." U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to respond to the lawsuit by 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) on Wednesday and he set a hearing for 3:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) that day on the request for a restraining order. Kelly, a former lawyer for the Senate Judiciary Committee, was nominated to the bench by Trump last year.

U.S. anti-Semitic hate crimes spiked 37 percent in 2017: FBI

The release of the data comes just weeks after a gunman burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot dead 11 worshippers while shouting "All Jews must die." According to the FBI's annual Hate Crime Statistics report, there were a total of 7,175 hate crime incidents reported last year by law enforcement agencies, up from 6,121 incidents in 2016. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said in a statement that hate crimes were "despicable violations" of America's values. "I am particularly troubled by the increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes," Whitaker said.