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Venezuela frees U.S. missionary Josh Holt after two years

By Jonathan Landay and Angus Berwick WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - American missionary Josh Holt, held by Venezuela without trial on weapons charges since 2016, was heading home with his wife on Saturday after the South American country's socialist government unexpectedly released him. The freeing of the Mormon missionary from Utah came despite deepening U.S.-Venezuelan tensions that in the last week saw tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats, Washington's refusal to recognize the May 20 re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and the imposition of new U.S. sanctions on Caracas. Speaking at a news conference in Caracas, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said Holt and his wife, Thamy, were freed as part of efforts by Maduro's government to maintain "respectful diplomatic relations" with Washington.

Suspect wounds teacher, fellow student in 23rd school shooting in 2018

The student, who was being held by police, was armed with two handguns when he shot a science teacher and another student in a science classroom at a Noblesville West Middle School on Friday morning, police in the community 25 miles (42 km) northeast of Indianapolis said. As of early Saturday, authorities had not identified the student or filed charges against him. The shooting, by CNN's count, was the 23rd in the United States this year and comes just a week after a high school student in Santa Fe, Texas, shot and killed eight classmates and two teachers.

University of Southern California president to step down in wake of scandal

(Reuters) - The president of University of Southern California is resigning after criticism over the school's handling of complaints that a campus health clinic gynecologist sexually abused his patients during pelvic exams, the school said on Friday. C.L. Max Nikias will step down after serving as the school's president for nearly eight years, the university's executive committee of the board of trustees said in a statement. "President Nikias and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees have agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president," committee chairman Rick Caruso said.

Hawaii street swallowed by 'lava tide' as many more homes burn

By Marco Garcia PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - A tide of molten rock turned a Hawaii street into a volcanic wasteland on Friday as the number of homes destroyed by the erupting Kilauea volcano soared and authorities told residents to flee a surge of lava heading towards them. The destructive fury of the erupting Kilauea volcano was unleashed on the Big Island's Leilani Estates housing development, with the number of homes and other structures destroyed leaping to 82 from a previous count of 50, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some 2,200 acres (890 hectares) of land have been torched by lava since May 3, in what is likely to be the most destructive eruption of Kilauea in more than a century, according to the County of Hawaii.

EPA chief's security bill soars, agency cites death threats

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt's security detail has cost taxpayers well over $3 million so far, up sharply from his predecessor during an equivalent period, according to details released by the agency, which said Pruitt's life had been threatened. Pruitt, who environmental groups have accused of lax enforcement and cozy ties with industry, requested 24-hour protection beginning on his first day in office. It was an unusual measure for the nation's top environmental regulator, and Pruitt and the agency have said it was justified by a high number of threats to his life.

'Not animals': Guatemala family mourns niece killed by U.S. Border Patrol

By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - The family of a 19-year-old Guatemalan woman killed by a U.S. border patrol officer called on Friday for the United States to dial-back its rhetoric on migrants, after President Donald Trump described gang members entering the country as "animals." The woman, identified by her family as Claudia Gomez, was shot on Wednesday in south Texas by an officer who opened fire after several people "rushed him," the Border Patrol said in a statement on Friday. The agency, alternately describing them as "illegal aliens" and "a group of suspected illegal aliens," said Gomez was among them.

Indiana middle schooler with two guns shoots teacher, student

The incident at Noblesville West Middle School was the latest in a series of shootings at U.S. schools and colleges fueling debate about how to keep campuses safe. The suspect had excused himself from class and came back armed with the pistols and opened fire in a science class, authorities said. "We do know the situation resolved extremely quickly,” Police Chief Kevin Jowitt told reporters in Noblesville, which is about 25 miles (42 km) northeast of Indianapolis.

Subtropical Storm Alberto to strengthen over next 48 hours: NHC

(Reuters) - Subtropical storm Alberto is moving slowly and erratically over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and is expected to strengthen gradually over the next 48 hours as it heads to the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory on Friday. The storm is located about 100 miles (160 km) south-south east of Cozumel, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), the Miami-based weather forecaster said.

Indiana middle school student shoots teacher, classmate

A student armed with two handguns shot a teacher and another student at a school in Indiana on Friday, and media reports said the teacher swatted away the shooter's guns and wrestled him to the ground, protecting others in the classroom. The incident at Noblesville West Middle School was the latest in a series of shootings at U.S. schools and colleges fueling debate about how to keep campuses safe. The suspect had excused himself from class and came back armed with the pistols and opened fire in a science class, authorities said.

U.S. jury fails to reach verdict in latest J&J talc trial

A South Carolina jury on Friday could not agree on a verdict in a case of a woman whose family said her long-term use of Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder led to her death from asbestos-related cancer, resulting in a mistrial. The case of Bertila Boyd-Bostic, who died of a rare form of cancer in 2017 at the age of 30, is the latest in a series of trials in the United States that center around allegations that the company's talc-based powder contained asbestos. "We're disappointed the jury did not reach a unanimous verdict for Johnson & Johnson," the company said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

U.S. adds 15,000 visas for seasonal non-farm workers

The Trump administration will make available an additional 15,000 H-2B visas, meant for temporary non-agricultural workers, this fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Friday. Many of them had complained that a visa shortage was pushing them toward economic ruin. The U.S. government had issued 66,000 such visas this year, through a lottery for the first time, versus the usual first-come, first-served basis.

Trump eases firing of federal workers, cracks down on unions

President Donald Trump on Friday signed three executive orders designed to make it easier to fire federal government workers and to crack down on the unions that represent them, drawing immediate criticism from a group representing federal employees. Administration officials said the orders would give government agencies greater ability to remove employees with "poor" performance, get "better deals" in union contracts and require federal employees with union responsibilities to spend less time on union work. "Today the president is fulfilling his promise to promote more efficient government by reforming our civil service rules," said Andrew Bremberg, director of the White House's Domestic Policy Council, in a conference call with reporters.

Storm Alberto triggers oil worker evacuation in U.S. Gulf

By Erwin Seba HOUSTON (Reuters) - Subtropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, is forcing the evacuation of oil workers from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as it moves toward a Monday landfall between New Orleans and Florida's panhandle. Royal Dutch Shell has begun evacuating some oil platform workers in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and shut production at one energy hub as a precautionary measure, the company said on Friday afternoon.

Massachusetts judge resigns after suspension for courthouse affair

A Massachusetts judge who admitted to engaging in repeated sexual encounters including in his courthouse with a social worker announced his resignation on Friday, a day after the state's top court suspended him indefinitely. Judge Thomas Estes submitted his resignation letter after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday ruled that his "grave, willful and repeated wrongdoing" had damaged the judicial system. The case against Estes, who presided over a special drug court in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, followed a complaint last year by social worker Tammy Cagle, who claims the judge pressured her into performing oral sex at his home and in court.

U.S. judge declines to dismiss ex-Trump aide's false statement charges

U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, lost a bid on Friday to have certain criminal charges filed against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller dismissed. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over Manafort's case in Washington, said in a ruling that she will not dismiss one of the charges against Manafort related to false statements concerning whether he was required to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine's then pro-Russia government.

Credit analysts focus on substance over timing of Illinois budget

The heat is on for Illinois lawmakers to address the state's financial problems in a fiscal 2019 budget that faces a May 31 deadline for passage with a simple-majority vote, credit rating analysts said on Friday. Illinois' general obligation (GO) bond ratings, the lowest among the 50 states, are just a notch or two above the junk level, reflecting a huge unfunded pension liability, escalating pension contributions and a chronic budget deficit. "The question is what progress will the state make, if any, in breaking out of those long-running challenges?" Moody's Investors Service analyst Ted Hampton said in a phone interview.

FBI warns Russians hacked hundreds of thousands of routers

The warning followed a court order Wednesday that allowed the FBI to seize a website that the hackers planned to use to give instructions to the routers. Sofacy, also known as APT28 and Fancy Bear, has been blamed for many of the most dramatic Russian hacks, including that of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Earlier, Cisco Systems Inc said the hacking campaign targeted devices from Belkin International's Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear Inc, TP-Link and QNAP.

Trump administration opposes requiring 'reasonable' airline baggage fees

The U.S. Department of Transportation told Congress it opposes a Senate bill that would require new rules prohibiting airline fees that are not "reasonable and proportional," along with many other new consumer protections that the administration deems "unnecessary and wasteful," according to a letter seen on Friday by Reuters. The U.S. House in April passed a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration by a 393-to-13 vote. It now moves to the Senate, which could take up the issue as early as next month.

U.S. proposes scrapping program aimed at attracting foreign entrepreneurs

The Trump administration moved on Friday to end a program that aimed to attract foreign entrepreneurs to the United States, saying the Obama-era effort did not adequately protect American workers and was an inappropriate use of government authority. The Department of Homeland Security's formal proposal to rescind the international entrepreneur rule, which is set to be published in the Federal Register next week, was widely expected given the administration had stated its intent to do so last year. The program would have allowed foreign entrepreneurs to stay in the United States for up to five years to manage and grow start-up businesses.

Film mogul Weinstein appears handcuffed in court to face rape charges

By Alice Popovici and Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein appeared in handcuffs in a New York court on Friday to face charges of rape and other sex crimes against two of the scores of women who have accused him of misconduct, ending his reign as a Hollywood kingpin. Weinstein, the 66-year-old co-founder of the Miramax film studio and the Weinstein Co, intends to plead not guilty to the charges, his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse. Prosecutors charged him with two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act following a months-long investigation with the New York Police Department.

Platinum hedge fund co-founder pleads guilty in corruption case

A founder of the hedge fund firm Platinum Partners pleaded guilty on Friday to a criminal conspiracy charge, six months after a mistrial in a corruption case against him and a former New York City labor leader. Murray Huberfeld, 57, of Lawrence, New York, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan. The plea followed jurors' deadlock last Nov. 16 on fraud and conspiracy charges against Huberfeld and Norman Seabrook, who led the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, the largest U.S. municipal jail union, for more than two decades.

Milwaukee Bucks' Sterling Brown says he felt 'defenseless' during arrest

Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown says he felt "pretty much defenseless" during a controversial arrest over a parking infraction in January.

Tax-dodge strategists probe loopholes in new U.S. law, IRS wary

Tax experts for global corporations are hot on the trail of loopholes in the sweeping tax law approved in December by President Donald Trump and Republicans in the U.S. Congress. Detailed guidance on the three taxes, which are extremely complex, is still pending from the Treasury Department and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. As a result, actual deployment of the new strategies by multinational corporations is still likely months off.

Hawaii helicopter evacuation readied as new lava stream hits ocean

By Marco Garcia PAHALA, Hawaii (Reuters) - A third lava flow from Hawaii's erupting Kilauea volcano streamed into the ocean on Thursday as U.S. Marine Corps helicopters stood by to evacuate a Big Island community should molten rock or huge cracks block its final escape route. Six huge fissures sent rivers of molten rock through a blackened, volcanic wilderness that was once jungle, farmland and rural homes. Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, entered the fourth week of what may be an unprecedented, simultaneous eruption at its summit crater and along a six-mile (9.7-km) string of fissures 25 miles (40 km) down its east flank.

Uber disabled emergency braking in self-driving car: U.S. agency

Uber had disabled an emergency braking system in a self-driving vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Arizona in March even though the car had identified the need to apply the brakes, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released on Thursday. At 1.3 seconds before impact, the self-driving system determined emergency braking was needed. The report gives new fuel to opponents in Congress who have stalled a bill designed to speed the deployment of self-driving cars on U.S. roads and puts a spotlight on the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is also investigating, does not test self-driving vehicles or certify them before they are deployed on U.S. roads.

U.S. Senate approves bill to address Capitol Hill sexual harassment

The U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously approved legislation that would step up protections for congressional staffers facing workplace harassment, including requiring lawmakers to use their personal funds to cover the cost of settlements if they were the alleged harassers. The bipartisan legislation, which had more than 40 co-sponsors in the 100-seat Senate, would also make public the harassment settlements and the lawmakers involved, automatically refer such settlements to the Senate Ethics Committee and more closely track allegations of harassment within the U.S. Capitol.

Movie producer Weinstein to surrender on sex assault charges

By Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Film producer Harvey Weinstein was expected to surrender to authorities in New York on Friday, months after he was toppled from Hollywood's most powerful ranks by scores of women accusing him of sexual assault, a person familiar with the case said. Weinstein's spokesman Juda Engelmayer and Weinstein's lawyer Benjamin Brafman both declined to comment. The imminent criminal charging of Weinstein, which was first reported by the New York Daily News, follows a months-long investigation, including by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

'It is happening everywhere' Texas mass shooting victims tell governor

Victims and survivors of mass shootings in Texas choked back tears, recounted the bloodshed that unfolded before their eyes and pleaded with Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday to improve safety so that another massacre does not take place. "May 18th came around and it finally happened to our school and we weren’t surprised," said Grace Johnson, a senior at Santa Fe High School, the latest campus in a string of deadly U.S. mass shootings that stoked a debate about the best ways to stop the carnage. "Why Santa Fe and we said why not.

Players react to Trump's comments; linebacker Marshall calls them 'disgusting'

Several NFL players responded harshly Thursday to President Donald Trump's comments supporting the league's new national anthem policy, which calls for fines or punishment for any form of disrespect during the anthem. "I think that's good," Trump said in an interview with "Fox & Friends" that taped Wednesday and aired Thursday. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem.

Movie producer Weinstein to surrender on sex assault charges

By Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Film producer Harvey Weinstein was expected to surrender to New York police on Friday, months after he was toppled from Hollywood's most powerful ranks by scores of women accusing him of sexual assault, a person familiar with the case said. Weinstein's spokesman Juda Engelmayer and Weinstein's lawyer Benjamin Brafman both declined to comment. The charging of Weinstein, which was first reported by the New York Daily News, follows a months-long investigation, including by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

U.S. Senate approves bill to address Capitol Hill sexual harassment

The U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously approved legislation that would step up protections for congressional staffers facing workplace harassment, including requiring lawmakers to use their personal funds to cover the cost of settlements if they were the alleged harassers. The bipartisan legislation, which had more than 40 co-sponsors in the 100-seat Senate, would also make public the harassment settlements and the lawmakers involved, automatically refer such settlements to the Senate Ethics Committee and more closely track allegations of harassment within the U.S. Capitol.

Uber disabled emergency braking in self-driving car: U.S. agency

Uber [UBER.UL] had disabled an emergency braking system in a self-driving vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Arizona in March even though the car had identified the need to apply the brakes, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released on Thursday. At 1.3 seconds before impact, the self-driving system determined emergency braking was needed. The report gives new fuel to opponents in Congress who have stalled a bill designed to speed the deployment of self-driving cars on U.S. roads and puts a spotlight on the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is also investigating, does not test self-driving vehicles or certify them before they are deployed on U.S. roads.

Trump pardons late black boxing champion Jack Johnson

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued a posthumous pardon to boxer Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion, who was jailed a century ago due to his relationship with a white woman. "I believe Jack Johnson is a worthy person to receive a pardon, to correct a wrong in our history," Trump said. In a case that came to symbolize racial injustice, Johnson was arrested in 1912 with Lucille Cameron, who later became his wife, for violating the Mann Act.

Ex-New York town official found not guilty in bribery case

A former town official in New York's Nassau County was found not guilty on Thursday of taking bribes from a restaurateur, as jurors continued to weigh the fate of the county's former top elected executive charged in the same case. Former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto was acquitted following a trial in federal court in Central Islip, New York, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for federal prosecutors. Marzulli declined to comment on the verdict.

U.S. House starts recess as immigration battle rages

The U.S. House of Representatives broke on Thursday for an 11-day recess with majority Republicans deadlocked over legislation to protect "Dreamer" immigrants from deportation while President Donald Trump insisted that Congress meet all his hard-line immigration demands. Republicans have been deeply divided for years over immigration.

Trump asks if NFL players who protest should be in country

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed a decision by the National Football League to fine teams if players on the field refuse to stand for the national anthem, saying in an interview broadcast on Thursday that if they do not want to stand, perhaps they should not be in the United States. Last season some NFL players took a knee during the anthem to protest police shootings of unarmed black men, sparking a controversy. Trump denounced the players as unpatriotic and repeatedly demanded an end to such protests.

U.S. Chemical Safety Board urges chemical plants to weigh disaster risks

By Erwin Seba HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Thursday urged chemical plants to weigh the risks of natural disasters just as they would the integrity of pipes and production equipment. "Such facilities should perform an analysis to determine their susceptibility to extreme weather events," the board said in its final report on a chemical fire at the Arkema SA plant in Crosby, Texas, during Hurricane Harvey in August and September 2017. "In addition, companies should assess seismic hazard maps to determine the risk of earthquakes and consider the risk of other extreme weather such as high-wind events," the board said in the report.

With gratitude, ailing John McCain looks back in HBO documentary

By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At age 81, and with a terminal cancer diagnosis, U.S. Senator John McCain is looking back on his life, not with rancor or to settle old scores, but with immense gratitude. "John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls," an HBO documentary premiering on May 28, takes its title from the Ernest Hemingway novel that McCain says he has used as a guide for his life. "You will never talk to anyone who is as fortunate as John McCain," says the six-term senator from Arizona, two-time presidential candidate and Vietnam War hero, summing up his life.