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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 forces, acting in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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.

Man convicted on terrorism charge in 2017 Michigan airport stabbing

A jury in Flint, Michigan, found Amor Ftouhi guilty on charges of committing an act of violence at an international airport, interference with airport security and committing an act of terrorism, the court said.

Iowa senator says expect fewer biofuel waivers from Wheeler's EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may issue fewer biofuel waivers to small refineries under Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler than it did under its previous leadership, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said on Tuesday. "I sense that Wheeler has a feeling that (former Administrator Scott Pruitt) was very liberal on his issuing of waivers," Grassley told a conference call.

U.S. top court to review Virginia voting districts in race case

The high court will hear an appeal by the Republican-led state House of Delegates of a June ruling by a federal three-judge panel that said the 11 state House districts in question all violated the rights of black voters to equal protection under the law under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. Democrats have accused Republicans in Virginia and other states of crafting such legislative maps in a way that crams black and other minority voters into certain districts in order to reduce their overall sway in the state. The justices said the lower court had not sufficiently analyzed the consideration of race by the Republican legislators in the process of drawing Virginia's electoral map.

U.S. court orders Georgia to continue review of governor's race

Georgia voters will wait until at least Friday for the final word on who will be their next governor after a U.S. federal judge ordered state election officials to review provisional ballots cast in last week's election. In an order late on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg urged county election officials to conduct a "good faith" or "independent" review of ballots cast by voters on a provisional basis in the race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican and former Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Colorado voters reject tougher rules on oil and gas drilling

The measure was defeated in an election that saw oil companies pour millions of dollars into efforts to combat the proposal and was one of several ballot initiatives that sought to curb fossil fuels use. Shares in producers active in the state gained ground on Wednesday, including Anadarko Petroleum Corp , which rose 5.7 percent, and Noble Energy Inc , which climbed 4.2 percent. It garnered 43 percent of votes, according to final data from the Colorado Secretary of State's office.

U.S. plans new limits on heavy-duty truck emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will announce plans to propose new rules to significantly decrease emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxide from diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks, an agency official said. Industry groups and state environmental officials have urged the EPA to set new nationwide rules as the state of California has been moving forward with plans to set new state emissions limits. California also wants nationwide rules, in part because more than half of all trucks delivering goods in the state are registered in other states.

Trump seeks end of Florida recount; Democrats win Arizona Senate seat

TAMPA, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Florida election officials to end a recount and declare his fellow Republicans the winners of disputed races in last week's elections, while Democrats picked up a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona. U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema declared victory and Republican opponent Martha McSally conceded after multiple media outlets called the closely contested Arizona race for the Democrat. Sinema will succeed Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic, who did not seek-election.

Fewer foreign students coming to United States for second year in row: survey

The number of international students entering U.S. colleges and universities has fallen for the second year in a row, a nonprofit group said on Tuesday, amid efforts by the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on foreigners studying in the United States. Visa and immigration policy changes by the Trump administration have deterred some international students from enrolling, college administrators and immigration analysts said. A strong dollar has made U.S. college tuition relatively more expensive, Canadian and European universities are competing fiercely for the same students and headlines about mass shootings also may have deterred some students, said Allan Goodman, president of IIE.

Carpenter erects wooden crosses in honor of shooting rampage victims

Mourners returned on Monday to the scene of a shooting rampage at a bar in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks, where a Chicago-area carpenter erected wooden crosses dedicated to each of the 12 victims. Greg Zanis, who has been building crosses to remember shooting victims for more than two decades, said he arrived in Thousand Oaks, 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, early on Sunday morning to meet the families and put up the crosses. A former U.S. Marine combat veteran opened fire last week in the Borderline Bar and Grill bar, which was packed with line-dancing college students, killing 12 people in a mass shooting that stunned Thousand Oaks, a bucolic Southern California community with a reputation for safety.

Northern California officials fear record wildfire death toll could rise

The deadly Camp Fire also ranked as California's most destructive ever in terms of property losses, having incinerated more than 6,700 homes and other buildings in the Sierra foothills of Butte County, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco. Most of the devastation and loss of life was in and around the town of Paradise, where flames reduced most of the buildings to ash and charred rubble on Thursday night, just hours after the blaze erupted. At least 29 fatalities have been confirmed so far, a tally that ranks as the most ever from a single northern California wildfire - surpassing the 25 lives lost in the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm - and ties the all-time statewide record set in 1933 by the Griffith Park blaze in Los Angeles.