Imagine that China’s dictator, Xi Jinping, sends one million Chinese troops to invade the United States. Fighting breaks out all over the U.S. as U.S. troops and civilians battle against the Chinese invaders. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are killed. Meanwhile, China has taken over Florida and declared it an overseas province of China, with Chinese nationals taking over control of the Florida government.   read more

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson is being nominated to head U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Robinson would be the seventh commander to head the Colorado-based command. She currently is head of the Pacific Air Force. Northern Command was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate and improve homeland defense and to provide support for national disasters.   read more

On March 19, 2016, the popular novelist Irving Wallace—my father—would have turned 100 years old. Instead of honoring my father by presenting a review of his achievements and recalling what a generous, warm-hearted person he was and how much enjoyment he brought to millions of readers around the world, I have decided to look at some of the developments he would have most appreciated if he had lived to be 100, instead of dying at the age of 74.   read more

The probe is a fresh blow to a nuclear missile corps that has been under intense scrutiny in recent years for a string of lapses in training and personal conduct. The 14 have been removed from duty while the Air Force Office of Special Investigations looks into the case. Rand said the allegations are "credible." Two other defense officials said the drugs included cocaine; a third said the allegations include the possession, use or distribution of illegal drugs.   read more

Most Americans support it. All other developed countries already do it. And the two leading presidential candidates say: government should lower drug prices. But experts say the chances for government action in the near-term are close to nil. The reasons are familiar: political gridlock, pharmaceutical industry influence and the structure of the U.S. health system itself. "There's not much they can do, that's the sad truth," says Ira Loss. "They can't do much so they're not gonna do much."   read more

In more than one in six cases, or 129,825 times, government searchers said they came up empty-handed last year. Such cases contributed to an alarming measurement: People who asked for records under the law received censored files or nothing in 77 percent of requests, also a record. "It's incredibly unfortunate when someone waits months, or perhaps years, to get a response to their request — only to be told that the agency can't find anything," said attorney Adam Marshall.   read more

Even when women join men in the same fields, the pay gap remains. Men and women are paid differently, not just when they do different jobs but also when they do the same work. Research has found that a pay gap persists within occupations. Female physicians earn 71% of what male physicians earn, and lawyers earn 82%. One union said its female members working full time at Dow Jones publications made 87 cents for every dollar earned by their full-time male colleagues.   read more

"This is transcendental. We believe it's a huge gesture," said Marcos Pena, Argentina's Cabinet chief. The U.S. has previously released 4,000 State Dept documents related to that period. Notes from a 1976 meeting between Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Argentina's foreign minister seemed to show Kissinger urging his counterpart to clamp down on dissidents they referred to as "terrorists." "If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly," Kissinger said..   read more

Some Apple employees say they may quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have created. “It’s an independent culture and a rebellious one,” said a former Apple engineering manager. “If the government tries to compel testimony or action from these engineers, good luck with that.” The fear of losing a paycheck may not have much impact on security engineers whose skills are in high demand. Indeed, hiring them could be a badge of honor at other companies.   read more

The misuse of the information has raised questions on privacy abuse in cases across the country, and in some instances has raised the risk of physical harm to residents. In one case, a former police officer was convicted of using a police database to look up information for a plot to kidnap, torture, kill and eat women. The conviction was later overturned. In another case, an officer gave information from a database to a friend that was used to harass her ex-boyfriend’s pregnant girlfriend.   read more

The Department of Interior has authority to demand repayment of gas and oil revenues it overpaid to Alabama and Louisiana under an old and faulty revenue sharing scheme going back to 1986, a federal judge ruled. However, the department violated the Debt Collection Act in its letters to states demanding refund of overpayments by not offering the states an opportunity to "inspect and copy" its records, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton held.   read more

Divorce in the U.S. has become more common through the generations, and there's an assumption that acceptance would be holding or increasing. There could be several explanations for the decline, said marriage researcher Wendy Manning. Marriage rates are down and people are older when they first get married. So those who do marry are more likely to be in it to win it. "Marriage is becoming so selective that maybe people think if you achieve this status, you don't want to end it."   read more

Smith says Facebook uses the private health data it obtains to create marketing profiles for each user, and then targets them with tailored advertisements based on their private information. A person's health condition is the second most valuable piece of personal data sought after on the web behind login credentials and passwords, according to a 2015 study on web privacy and security cited in the complaint. Facebook earned nearly $11.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2014, says the suit.   read more

Flint's leaded-water crisis drives home the discrimination inherent in Michigan's scheme of putting unelected emergency managers in poor, usually black, communities. The emergency-manager law allows Gov. Rick Snyder to suspend all elected officials in financially distressed municipalities and transfer their power to an appointee of his choosing. While the measure affects only 2% of the state's white population, 50% of black Michiganders are under emergency-manager rule.   read more

The claim is that federal prisons single out Muslim inmates for isolation units where their communications face 24-7 surveillance. Meeropol said inmates stay in CMUs for an average of three to five years, whereas disciplinary administrative segregation typically lasts one to four weeks. "This experience of segregation in a minority religion unit is a very atypical experience," she said. The appeal challenges the hardships that "haphazard and retaliatory" CMU assignments impose on prisoners.   read more

The FDA says GMOs are safe. But advocates for labeling say not enough is known about their risks. Among supporters of labeling are many organic companies that are barred by law from using modified ingredients in their foods. Those advocates have been fighting state by state to enact the labeling, with the eventual goal of a national standard. "A growing number of American consumers want to know more about the food they eat. And they have the right to know," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow.   read more

The United Nations made it official: It found Danes to be the happiest people on Earth. The accolade is based on a variety of factors: People's health and access to medical care, family relations, job security and social factors, including political freedom and degree of government corruption. Even U.S. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have singled out the small Scandinavian country as an example of a happy, well-oiled society.   read more