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Bergdahl to have U.S. Army desertion case heard by judge, not jury

(Reuters) - U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, charged with desertion and endangerment of U.S. troops for leaving his combat post in Afghanistan in 2009, has chosen to have a judge hear the case instead of a military jury, according to a court filing.

A majority of Americans want to preserve Confederate monuments: Reuters/Ipsos poll

A majority of Americans think Confederate monuments should be preserved in public spaces, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, a view that is at odds with efforts in many cities to remove them. Another 28 percent saw the white supremacists as the aggressors and 10 percent mostly blamed the left-wing counter-protesters.

U.S. Navy announces fleet-wide probe after new warship collision; 10 sailors missing

By Fathin Ungku and David Brunnstrom SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy announced on Monday a fleet-wide probe and plans for temporary halts in operations to focus on safety, as it searched for 10 sailors missing after the fourth major accident in the U.S. Pacific fleet this year. The guided-missile destroyer John S. McCain and the tanker Alnic MC collided on Monday while the warship was nearing Singapore for a routine port call. The collision tore a hole in the warship's waterline, flooding compartments that included a crew sleeping area, the U.S. Navy said.

Rare total solar eclipse spreads wonder across United States

By Harriet McLeod and Lee van der Voo CHARLESTON, S.C./SHERIDAN, Oregon (Reuters) - As millions of awestruck Americans cast their gaze skyward on Monday at the extraordinary sight of a total solar eclipse, one Connecticut man had his eyes set firmly on a different prize. Joseph Fleming, 43, went down on one knee in the darkness near the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, and asked Nicole Durham to marry him. The first total eclipse in a century to sweep across the United States from coast to coast inspired Americans to make marriage proposals, hold family reunions and take time from work to witness with wonder one of the cosmos' rarest phenomena.

Texas man charged with trying to blow up Confederate statue

Authorities in Houston charged a 25-year-old man on Monday with trying to blow up a Confederate statue, federal prosecutors said, in the latest development amid demonstrations and fierce debate about race and the legacy of America's Civil War. Word of the arrest of Andrew Schneck came just hours after the University of Texas at Austin said it removed four statues tied to the Confederacy from its campus because they had become "symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism." White nationalists rallied earlier this month against proposals to take down a similar statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, and one woman was killed when a man crashed his car into a crowd of anti-racism counterprotesters.

More video emerges of Baltimore police staging evidence: prosecutors

In the previous two episodes, video showed officers apparently placing illegal drugs at crime scenes. The Baltimore Police Department said it was investigating charges that some officers were planting drugs to frame innocent people. The latest video to came to light was "self-reported as a re-enactment of the seizure of evidence" by the police department, the office of the state's attorney for Baltimore said in a statement.

Chalked messages show Charlottesville's shock after weekend violence

As Charlottesville reeled from the killing of a woman during a white-nationalist rally, well-wishers left flowers at a makeshift shrine nearby in the heart of downtown. Many of the city's 47,000 residents blamed white supremacists for bringing violence to their normally sedate city, the home of the University of Virginia's main campus. "Charlottesville is a very tolerant place, which is why it's so sad to see this happen here," said Cook, who now works as a tour guide at Monticello, the former home of Thomas Jefferson, the United States' third president and the city's founder.

JPMorgan pledges up to $2 million to fight racism, support human rights

JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Monday it will contribute up to $2 million to fight racism and support human rights in light of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to violence and the death of a protester. The sum includes $500,000 each to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League "to further their work in tracking, exposing and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations," Peter Scher, head of corporate responsibility wrote in a memo to employees that was provided to Reuters by the company.

Taiwan's Foxconn to build three ancillary facilities as part of Wisconsin LCD campus

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn on Monday said it plans to build three facilities in the U.S. state of Wisconsin for operation as early as next year, as part of a campus housing a $10 billion liquid crystal display (LCD) factory due for 2020. Foxconn, which makes electronics under contract for clients such as Apple Inc , announced its $10 billion plan at the White House in July, saying the LCD plant would occupy 1,000 acres in the state's south east. Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd , said it will begin by setting up a back-end packaging line, high-precision molding line and end-device assembly line.

'America First' protesters face off with opponents at California beach rally

Anti-immigration demonstrators faced off against a much bigger crowd of counter-protesters in the Southern California town of Laguna Beach on Sunday, as police kept the opposing sides apart. Around 2,500 people in total showed up for what became a raucous shouting match but did not descend into the kind of violence seen at this month's clashes at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one person was killed. Police erected barricades along the oceanfront to deter car attacks like the one in Charlottesville which killed a woman when a suspected white nationalist drove into the crowd.

Illinois town gears up to become heart of U.S. eclipse

By Elly Park CARBONDALE, Ill. (Reuters) - The small southern Illinois town of Carbondale was revving up on Sunday to become eclipse central on the eve of a total solar eclipse that will traverse the continental United States for the first time in 99 years.     Carbondale is a few miles north of the point of greatest duration of the celestial event and will have a total eclipse for two minutes and 38 seconds on Monday. Many residents of Carbondale, a town of 26,000 people 70 miles (112 km) southeast of St. Louis, have been capitalizing on the celestial blackout, from renting out their homes to creating eclipse-themed merchandise.     Artist Matt Sronkoski has been selling hand-painted eclipse T-shirts for months and said he had created hundreds of individual designs.

U.S. Navy says USS John S. McCain sailing to port under own power

A U.S. warship damaged after colliding with a merchant vessel east of Singapore on Monday is sailing under its own power and heading to port, the U.S. Navy said. "Search and rescue efforts are underway in coordination with local authorities," the Navy said in a statement posted on the website of the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. "In addition to tug boats out of Singapore, the Republic of Singapore Navy ship RSS Gallant, RSN helicopters and Police Coast Guard vessel Basking Shark are currently in the area to render assistance," it said.

Prominent U.S. religious conservatives defend Trump after Charlottesville

By Doina Chiacu and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two prominent religious conservatives defended U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday after he was widely criticized for blaming both white nationalists and counter-protesters for last weekend's violence at a Virginia rally organized by neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Evangelical Christian Jerry Falwell Jr said Trump could be more polished and politically correct but is not racist. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who last week criticized the white nationalists' "evil, sinful, disgusting behavior," said unequivocally on Sunday that the faith community stood by Trump.

Canada's Trudeau warns against entering country 'irregularly'

"Canada is an opening and welcoming society," he told reporters in Montreal following talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. Entering Canada irregularly is not an advantage. More than 3,100 people walked across the border illegally in July to file refugee claims and were arrested, up from 884 in June, the federal government said.

Comedian, civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies at 84

"It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, D.C.," his son, Christian, wrote on Instagram. Gregory, who lived in Washington, died of heart failure in Sibley Memorial Hospital, where he had checked in a week ago after falling ill, said his longtime publicist Steve Jaffe. Gregory's success as a comedian in the early 1960s helped pave the way for other black comics, such as Richard Pryor, to gain greater fame by reaching a mainstream audience.

U.S. warship Indianapolis found 18,000 feet deep in Pacific Ocean

(Reuters) - Researchers have found the wreckage of the U.S. warship Indianapolis, which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in the final days of World War Two, more than 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometers) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the Navy said on Saturday. The cruiser was returning from its mission to deliver components for the atomic bomb that would soon be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima when it was fired upon in the North Pacific Ocean by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945. After a Navy historian unearthed new information in 2016 about the warship's last movements that pointed to a new search area, a team of civilian researchers led by Paul Allen, a Microsoft Corp co-founder, spent months searching in a 600-square-mile (1,500-square-kilometer) patch of ocean.

Boston march against hate speech avoids Charlottesville chaos

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Boston on Saturday to protest a "free speech" rally featuring far-right speakers a week after a woman was killed at a Virginia white-supremacist demonstration. Rally organizers had invited several far-right speakers who were confined to a small pen that police set up in the historic Boston Common park to keep the two sides separate. The city avoided a repeat of last weekend's bloody street battles in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one woman was killed.

Bannon's exit not seen to signal Trump shift to center

By John Walcott and Steve Holland WASHINGTON/BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's ouster of chief strategist Steve Bannon is unlikely to mark the abandonment of the administration's "America First" agenda that has unnerved investors and trade partners and split the White House into nationalist and globalist camps. Within hours of leaving Trump's administration on Friday, Bannon was back at the helm of Breitbart News, the hard-right news site he ran before becoming the main architect of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Bannon can now do more to further conservative causes because "he can speak his mind" without the constraints of working in the White House, Rick Weatherly, 61, a maintenance technician from the Denver suburb of Lakewood, said on Saturday.

Millions of Americans to gaze upon Monday's once-in-a-lifetime eclipse

The sight of the moon's shadow passing directly in front of the sun, blotting out all but the halo-like solar corona, may draw the largest live audience for a celestial event in human history. "It will certainly be the most observed total eclipse in history," astronomer Rick Fienberg of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) said last week. The eclipse begins its cross-country trajectory over the Pacific Coast of Oregon in late morning.

Solar eclipse presents first major test of power grid in renewable era

As Monday's total solar eclipse sweeps from Oregon to South Carolina, U.S. electric power and grid operators will be glued to their monitoring systems in what for them represents the biggest test of the renewable energy era. Utilities and grid operators have been planning for the event for years, calculating the timing and drop in output from solar, running simulations of the potential impact on demand, and lining up standby power sources. It promises a critical test of their ability to manage a sizeable swing in renewable power.

Trump, first lady will not attend Kennedy Center Honors: White House

By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will not attend the Kennedy Center Honors in December, the White House announced on Saturday, after several honorees said they would boycott a White House reception before the show. The Kennedy Center also said in a statement the White House reception "will no longer take place." The White House said the president and first lady would not take part in the Kennedy Center Honors "to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction." The announcement came after television producer Norman Lear, singer Lionel Richie and dancer Carmen de Lavallade said they would not attend the White House reception that was set to take place prior to the Dec. 3 annual gala event.

Duke University removes contentious Confederate statue after vandalism

The decision to take down the statue followed discussions among students, faculty, staff and alumni about maintaining safety on campus, university President Vincent E. Price said in a statement. "I took this course of action to protect Duke Chapel, to ensure the vital safety of students and community members who worship there, and above all to express the deep and abiding values of our university," Price said. The prestigious university will preserve the statue of Lee, who led Confederate forces in the American Civil War of 1861-1865, and use it as an educational tool so that students can study "Duke's complex past," Price added.

Powerball jackpot grows to $535 million, fifth largest ever

A $2 investment could yield more than a half-billion dollars in the Powerball lottery's fifth-largest jackpot in a 25-year history that is up for grabs on Saturday. The Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball for 44 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said the size of the jackpot increases with the number of tickets sold, and could grow further before the drawing. In the televised drawing set for Saturday at 10:59 p.m. EDT in Tallahassee, Florida, five of 69 white balls and one of 26 red balls - the Powerball - will be randomly selected to form the winning six-digit number.

Senator McCain completes first round of radiation and chemotherapy

"His resilience & strength is incredible," Meghan McCain, who is a host on the Fox News program "Outnumbered," wrote on Twitter about her father. McCain, 80, who is known for his political independence during three decades in the Senate representing Arizona, was found to have an aggressive form of brain tumor, glioblastoma, after surgery in July for a blood clot above his left eye.

Mayor says Lee statue must go as debate over U.S. slave past rages

The mayor of Charlottesville called on Friday for a special session of Virginia's legislature to let localities decide the fate of Confederate monuments like the statue at the center of a far-right rally last week that turned deadly. Mayor Mike Signer issued his appeal amid an increasingly contentious debate over what to do with memorials to Confederate figures, who fought for the preservation of slavery during the U.S. Civil War, that are seen by opponents as offensive. In what has become the biggest domestic crisis of his presidency, Donald Trump has been sharply criticized, including by fellow Republicans, for blaming Charlottesville's violence not only on the white nationalist rally organizers, but also the anti-racism activists who opposed them.

California man on delayed honeymoon among Barcelona victims

A 43-year-old California man on a delayed honeymoon was among the 13 people killed when a van plowed through a popular pedestrian area in the Spanish city of Barcelona, his family said on Friday. Jared Tucker and his wife had gone to Barcelona to celebrate their first anniversary in the form of a belated honeymoon. Walking in the area of the famous Las Ramblas boulevard on Thursday, he had gone to find a restroom when he was struck down by the van, his wife Heidi Nunes Tucker told KGO television in San Francisco.

Solar eclipse to be streamed live for first time, from balloons

By Nathan Frandino CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Next week's solar eclipse will be streamed live online for the first time, from the vantage point of helium-filled balloons across the United States, providing the public with sky-high views as the moon blocks the sun. A team of researchers from Montana State University has partnered with NASA to participate in the Space Grant Ballooning Project to send more than 50 high-altitude balloons 80,000 feet (24,384 meters) up to capture the solar eclipse as it crosses the country on Aug. 21. "We'll see the variations from coast to coast to see what the eclipse does over landscapes," Cassandra Runyon, director of the South Carolina Space Grant Consortium, said excitedly at a test launch on Thursday.