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Record 47 million expected to travel for U.S. July Fourth holiday: AAA

U.S. travelers will hit the roads, rails and airports in record numbers this Fourth of July holiday, despite higher gasoline prices, the nation's largest automotive advocacy group said on Thursday. Some 46.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles (80 km) over the upcoming July Fourth holiday, the fifth consecutive annual increase and highest travel volume since the group began tracking data 18 years ago, according to the AAA, or American Automobile Association. The holiday period is defined this year as July 3 to July 8.

Trump says North Korea has returned remains of 200 U.S. war dead

President Donald Trump said North Korea had returned on Wednesday the remains of 200 U.S. troops missing from the Korean War, although there was no official confirmation of the move from military authorities. "We got back our great fallen heroes, the remains sent back today, already 200 got sent back," Trump told a crowd of supporters during a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that in coming days North Korea would hand over a "sizeable number" of remains to United Nations Command in South Korea, and they would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

Tent city for migrant children puts Texas border town in limelight

By Jon Herskovitz TORNILLO, Texas (Reuters) - A small Texas farming community near El Paso with no traffic lights, a cotton gin and two dollar stores has found itself playing the uncomfortable host to a U.S. government tent city for children suspected of illegal border crossings. In a quiet corner of Texas with vast desert spaces, dusty roads and cotton fields, Tornillo was thrust into the limelight when the first tents went up last week. The tent city has come under scrutiny amid outcry at home and abroad over the Trump administration's policy of separating parents and children after families cross the border from Mexico illegally.

Trump backs down on separating immigrant children, legal problems remain

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday backed down and abandoned his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents on the U.S.-Mexico border, after images of youngsters in cages sparked outrage at home and abroad. Trump signed an executive order requiring that immigrant families be detained together when they are caught entering the country illegally for as long as their criminal proceedings take. While the change may end a policy that drew a rebuke from Pope Francis and everyone else from human rights advocates to business leaders, it may also mean immigrant children remain in custody indefinitely.

Organizer of deadly Virginia rally plans follow-up in Washington

The organizer of a far-right rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly is planning to hold a rally near the White House in Washington on the first anniversary of the event, federal officials said on Wednesday. Jason Kessler filed an application last month and it has been approved to hold what he described as a "white civil rights rally" on Aug. 11-12, although a permit has not yet been issued, Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said in an email. Kessler organized the Aug. 12, 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville that drew international attention when a suspected white nationalist crashed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman.

Flash floods punish Texas border towns, Gulf coast area

(Reuters) - Heavy downpours lashed Texas' Gulf Coast and unleashed flash floods on Wednesday, submerging vehicles, swamping homes and forcing numerous water rescues in towns still recovering from last year's Hurricane Harvey. Residents waded shoulder deep through flood waters running down their streets in Mercedes, Texas, about 5 miles (8 km) north of the Mexico-U.S. border, while water was rising in nearby Weslaco. Some 121 miles northeast on the Texas Gulf coast, a flash flood watch was in effect for towns around Corpus Christi after more than a foot of rain had fallen, the National Weather Service said.

U.S. airlines ask government not to put separated migrant children on flights

Four major U.S. airlines have asked the federal government not to use their flights to transport migrant children who have been separated from their parents as part of the Trump administration's policy on illegal immigration. American Airlines Group Inc, United Continental Holdings Inc and Frontier Airlines issued statements on Wednesday before U.S. President Donald Trump backed down from the policy and signed an executive order to end the immediate separation of families detained at the U.S.-Mexico border for entering the country illegally. "The family separation process that has been widely publicized is not at all aligned with the values of American Airlines - we bring families together, not apart," the company said.

Speeding to auction record? 1962 Ferrari could fetch $45 million

Auctioneers RM Sotheby's said on Wednesday that the red Ferrari was one of just 36 examples of the 250 GTO model built by the famed Italian car maker. It has been owned since 2000 by American car collector and Numerix software company chairman Dr. Greg Whitten, who has raced it in vintage events, the auction house said. "The GTO was essentially the final true road racer, marking the end of an era when drivers really got their hands dirty," RM Sotheby's car specialist Shelby Myers said in a statement.

New York sues 3M, five others over toxic chemical contamination

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state sued 3M Co and five other companies to recover the cost of cleaning up environmental contamination caused by toxic chemicals in firefighting foam that they manufactured. Governor Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Barbara Underwood said on Wednesday the lawsuit seeks more than $38.8 million plus punitive damages and is the first of its type by a U.S. state. New York said the use of the foam at five military and civilian airports in the state caused "extensive contamination" to nearby fish, soil and water and increased the risk to people of immune system damage and other health problems.

Tent city for migrant children puts Texas border town in limelight

By Jon Herskovitz TORNILLO, Texas (Reuters) - A small Texas farming community near El Paso with no traffic lights, a cotton gin and two dollar stores has found itself playing the uncomfortable host to a U.S. government tent city for children suspected of illegal border crossings. In a quiet corner of Texas with vast desert spaces, dusty roads and cotton fields, Tornillo was thrust into the limelight when the first tents went up last week. The tent city has come under scrutiny amid outcry at home and abroad over the Trump administration's policy of separating parents and children after families cross the border from Mexico illegally.

Canada PM pressured to suspend U.S. refugee agreement in face of 'unacceptable' policy

OTTAWA/TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday the U.S. practice of separating immigrant children from their parents on its southern border was "unacceptable", even as he resisted pressure to suspend a bilateral agreement designating the United States a "safe" country for refugees. Trudeau has been under increasing pressure to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement, a 2004-era pact under which asylum seekers presenting at a land border crossing in either country are turned back and told to apply for refugee status in the first country they arrived in.

Michael Bloomberg to spend $80 million to help elect Democrats: NYT

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a frequent critic of Republican President Donald Trump, intends to spend $80 million helping Democratic candidates in November's U.S. congressional elections, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The report said that Bloomberg, a political independent, has directed aides to spend the money in order to expel Republicans from power. "I've never thought that the public is well-served when one party is entirely out of power, and I think the past year and half has been evidence of that," Bloomberg said in a statement to Reuters, which did not confirm the dollar amount.

Catholic cardinal in Washington accused of sex abuse

The Vatican has asked retired Washington, D.C., Archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, to cease public ministry after finding he was credibly accused of sexually abusing a teenager almost 50 years ago, the archdiocese and McCarrick said on Wednesday. McCarrick is among the highest-ranking of the more than 6,700 U.S. Roman Catholic clerics to be accused of sexually abusing children since the church's sex abuse scandal broke in 2002, according to BishopAccountability.org, a private group that tracks the allegations. McCarrick, 87, was accused of sexually abusing a teenager when he was a priest in New York, he said in a statement.

Ex-NY state Senate leader, son face retrial on corruption charges

By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York State Senate majority leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam began their second trial on federal corruption charges on Wednesday, nearly a year after an appeals court threw out their 2015 convictions. "This case is about the abuse of political power to satisfy personal greed," Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Zolkind told jurors in his opening statement in Manhattan federal court. "That is pure corruption," Zolkind said.

Special Report: Trump's catch-and-detain policy snares illegal immigrants long in U.S

By Mica Rosenberg and Reade Levinson OCILLA, Georgia (Reuters) - Morena Vasquez didn’t want to drive that February night last year, but a co-worker at her job cleaning offices near Atlanta needed some keys dropped off. “I knew it was my responsibility,” Vasquez said. An El Salvador native, she had crossed illegally into the United States as a teenager, and though she had lived in Georgia for 23 years, she was unable to get a driver’s license under state law.

In Mexico, Trump's child separations trigger wrenching decisions

CIUDAD JUAREZ/TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Epigmenio Centeno had hoped to cross the Mexican border into the United States in the coming months, but he and his wife have shelved their plans for fear of being separated from their two sons under U.S. President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. The family's quandary mirrors life-changing decisions being made all the way from Central America to the Mexico-U.S. border, as migrant families en route to the United States take pause to consider whether losing sight of their children is worse than the violence back home.

House to vote Thursday on immigration legislation: Ryan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said on Wednesday the House would vote on immigration legislation on Thursday that would end the practice of separating families who cross the U.S. border illegally. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Washington D.C. residents approve wage hike for tipped workers

Tipped workers in Washington, D.C. will eventually become the highest paid in the United States after voters passed a measure to drastically increase their minimum wage. "The is a huge victory for tipped workers," Diana Ramirez, director of Restaurant Opportunities Center of Washington D.C., said after the polls closed. The measure was the latest effort to raise pay for low-income workers across the United States through the "Fight for $15" campaign, which contends that service-industry employees have been left behind economically in recent years.

Trump says would back both House immigration bills as separation crisis grows

By Sarah N. Lynch and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday he would back either of the immigration bills making their way through the House of Representatives, as the outcry grew over his administration's separation of immigrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border. Representative Mark Meadows said Trump told Republican members of the House at a meeting on Capitol Hill that they needed to get something done on immigration "right away." In the meeting, Trump said separating families was "certainly not an attractive thing and does look bad,” added Representative Tom Cole.

U.S. judge dismisses Charleston shooting lawsuits, criticizes FBI

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel also criticized what he called "abysmally poor" Federal Bureau of Investigation policies for the system that allowed Dylann Roof buy the gun he used to kill nine people, all African-Americans, at a historic black church in Charleston. Wrongful death lawsuits filed by survivors and family members of victims of the shooting alleged that at least one of the background check databases maintained by the federal government had information that should have prevented the firearm sale.

EPA chief to face Senate panel in August

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt will testify before the Senate's environment committee in August, panel chairman Senator John Barrasso said on Tuesday, where he will face questions about spending and ethics controversies. Barrasso said previously that he would call Pruitt to testify about Pruitt's spending on first class travel, use of security detail and connections with lobbyists and industry groups.

Hurdles facing parents and children separated at U.S. border

(Reuters) - Over 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9 under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday, and immigration advocates and legal experts say there is no clear system in place to reunite them. Parents who are no longer detained "are entitled to get their kids back through a documented process," U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. When are children and parents separated?

Hollywood producers speak out against Fox over immigration stance

Some powerful Hollywood producers and directors have criticized Twenty-First Century Fox Inc over its news commentators' support for the U.S. immigration crackdown that separates children from their parents, with one award-winning producer threatening to take his work elsewhere. Steve Levitan, the co-creator of Emmy-winning comedy "Modern Family," said on Twitter he was "disgusted" to work for the Fox television studio because it is owned by the same company as Fox News. Levitan later backtracked, expressing respect for senior Fox group executives Peter Rice, Dana Walden and Gary Newman.

Ford to redevelop symbol of Detroit decline to house tech workers

Ford Motor Co executives on Tuesday said the automaker will renovate and revamp Michigan Central Station, Detroit's infamous blighted landmark, turning it into offices for up to 5,000 tech workers and software engineers focused on self-driving vehicles and ancillary technologies and services. Speaking to a large crowd outside the grand, yet dilapidated 18-story Michigan Central Station, Ford family scion and the automaker's executive chairman, Bill Ford, recalled how the railway station, opened in 1914, brought countless thousands of immigrants to Detroit during its heyday, before closing in 1988 and falling into disrepair. "This became a place where hope left, it became a symbol of the city's hard times" Ford told a crowd gathered in front of the looming structure.