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ORLANDO - Newly released transcripts show Orlando gunman Omar Mateen spoke in Arabic to a 911 dispatcher and told a crisis negotiator that the U.S. needed to stop bombing Iraq and Syria. The FBI released partial transcripts Monday of four calls between Mateen and law enforcement, as investigators prepared to give additional details about its investigation into the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 victims dead. Mateen also died. The communications, along with Facebook posts and searches made before and during the shooting, have been slowly adding to the public understanding of the final hours of...

In his second speech on Sunday morning's terrorist massacre in Orlando, Florida, President Barack Obama said  on Monday that "the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet," that "we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally," and that "this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time." The press, led as usual by the Associated Press, is certainly cooperating with those characterizations. Presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has clearly made up her mind that...

Santa Monica's police chief says she was incorrect when she said a heavily armed Indiana man told investigators he was headed to a gay pride parade in order to do harm. Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said in a tweet to The Associated Press that her earlier statement on James Howell was inaccurate. The chief said Howell had only told police that he was going to the event known as LA Pride, and he did not say what he intended to do there.... The [man's Facebook] page's most recent public post, from June 3, shows a photo comparing Adolf Hitler to Hillary...

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Authorities in Santa Monica arrested an Indiana man Sunday morning ahead of the LA PRIDE parade in nearby West Hollywood after the discovery of possible explosives in a car, according to California law enforcement. Just before 3 p.m. ET, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told the Associated Press a heavily armed man was arrested, and that man told police during his arrest he was going to the PRIDE parade. Investigators removed items from the suspect's white Acura sedan and placed them on the sidewalk near the driver's side door, according to KNBC. Santa Monica Chief of...

The Associated Press is warning its reporters to stay vigilant after several received harassing messages from Bernie Sanders supporters. Danny Spriggs, the AP's vice president for global security, said some reporters have received angry emails, social media messages and phone calls after the AP declared Hillary Clinton the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "We have not received any specific security threats," Spriggs said in an email to employees, according to Poynter. "It is always good to practice situational awareness around AP bureaus and offices." The AP on Monday declared Clinton the Democratic nominee, saying she had enough pledged delegates and superdelegate...

Hey! It's all over! Hillary Clinton is now the presumptive Democrat nominee. So declared the Associated Press last night to much media acclaim. However, amidst such celebrations, a sour note from the left has sounded. It comes from spoilsport Glenn Greenwald who poured some cold water upon the party with some very apt observations via The Intercept where he is one of the co-founding editors.

The Obama administration is pressuring the food industry to make foods from breads to sliced turkey less salty, proposing long-awaited sodium guidelines in an effort to prevent thousands of deaths each year from heart disease and stroke. The proposed guidelines released Wednesday are voluntary, so food companies won’t be required to comply. But the idea is to persuade companies and restaurants — many of which have already lowered sodium levels in their products — to take a more consistent approach. […] Some companies have worried that though the limits will be voluntary, the FDA is at heart a regulatory agency,...

California lawmakers seem intent on making Sacramento the place where reasonable reforms, much like runaway trains, jump the tracks. In that no-speed-limit spirit Tuesday, the California Assembly voted 41-37 to allow convicted felons to vote in jail. (Yes, you read that correctly.) If Assembly Bill 2466 becomes law, the American Civil Liberties Union estimates that 50,000 adults will be able to vote behind bars. The state doesn’t trust these people on the streets, but they are welcome in the voting booth. When individuals commit crimes that endanger public safety, they forfeit their civil rights upon conviction. The National Conference of...

The 10-question quiz included questions about prostitution, drugs, drive-by shootings and spray paint graffiti. According to WALA, one of the questions was: Leroy has 2 ounces of cocaine. If he sells an eight ball to Antonio for $320 and 2 grams to Juan for $85 per gram, what is the street value of the rest of his hold?" It was similar to a math quiz that's been on the internet for years with questions about gangs.

San Francisco -- Rebuilding San Francisco after a major earthquake would change its human face, hastening gentrification and driving out poor and elderly residents, experts and city officials warn. Experts say there's a 62 percent chance a quake with a magnitude of 6.7 or higher will hit the San Francisco Bay area within several decades — or tomorrow. Thousands of homes would be rendered uninhabitable, displacing up to 300,000 residents, almost half the city's population, according to some projections. A major issue would be creating replacement housing for the poor in one of the nation's most expensive markets. About 16,000...

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Hispanic voters in Florida, New Mexico and California have waved Mexican flags and bashed Donald Trump piñatas — clashing with police, at times — to protest the Republican presidential contender's hard line approach to immigration. Yet far from the protests, an increasingly vocal Hispanic minority is speaking out in favor of the brash billionaire. They are backing Trump even in the face of resentment and suspicion from friends and family, who are among the overwhelming majority of non-white voters opposed to the New York businessman's candidacy. "I'm not ashamed to vote for Trump. I'd just rather...

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Hispanic voters in Florida, New Mexico and California have waved Mexican flags and bashed Donald Trump piñatas - clashing with police, at times - to protest the Republican presidential contender's hard line approach to immigration. Yet far from the protests, an increasingly vocal Hispanic minority is speaking out in favor of the brash billionaire. They are backing Trump even in the face of resentment and suspicion from friends and family, who are among the overwhelming majority of non-white voters opposed to the New York businessman's candidacy...

Donald Trump’s best ally in winning over skeptical Republicans is turning out to be Hillary Clinton. Having overcome a multimillion-dollar “Never Trump” campaign aimed at blocking him from the Republican nomination, he’s now benefiting from a wave of GOP donors, party leaders, voters and conservative groups that are uniting under a new banner: “Never Hillary.” “Nothing unites Republicans better than a Clinton,” says Scott Reed, a political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who has advised previous GOP campaigns. While Reed says there remain “many unknowns” about Trump, he adds that “the knowns about Hillary are very powerful motivators...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Step aside, Burmese python — you may no longer be Florida's scariest invasive species. Researchers have confirmed that three Nile crocodiles were captured near Miami, and they say it's possible more of the man-eating reptiles are still out there, although no one can say for sure. The big question now: How did they get to Florida? "They didn't swim from Africa," University of Florida herpetologist Kenneth Krysko said. "But we really don't know how they got into the wild."

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, of Utah, who shied away from the spotlight but earned a reputation as someone who knew how to get things done in Washington, has died. He was 82. Bennett assistant Tara Tanner said he died Wednesday from complications of pancreatic cancer and a recent stroke. The Republican was first elected in 1992 and was widely seen at home as politically moderate, which at times put him at odds with Utah’s highly conservative Republican base. His middle-of-the-road reputation led to his ouster in 2010 at the state convention by delegates fueled by tea party anger. …

TEL AVIV – A group that advocates a nuclear-free world and was identified earlier this month by the White House as central in helping to market the Iran nuclear deal to the news media has funded National Public Radio since 2005, an Associated Press investigation has revealed. Think tanks funded by the Ploughshares Fund include the Arms Control Association, Brookings Institution, and the Atlantic Council, the AP reported. Unmentioned by the AP is that the Ploughshares Fund is financed by billionaire GEORGE SOROS' OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE. The involvement of Ploughshares in selling the Iran agreement to the public was revealed...

The Russian defense minister proposed on Friday that Russia and the U.S.-led coalition launch joint action against al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said no agreement on such action has been made with Russia. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow had proposed to Washington that the coalition call on all factions eager to abide by a cease-fire in Syria to leave the areas where the al-Qaida branch is active by May 25. Then Russia and the U.S.-led coalition could conduct joint strikes against the Nusra Front and any other...

The northern prison where authorities suddenly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is rated as the worst in Mexico’s federal penitentiary system for inmate conditions and other factors, according to the government’s own reporting. The Cefereso No. 9 facility on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, which borders El Paso, Texas, did score well on “conditions of governability,” perhaps an indication that authorities believe they can control Guzmán’s environment there and limit the risk of him pulling off a third brazen jailbreak. But Michael Vigil, the former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, questioned the...

(Trump) used the term "lightweight" to describe Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., once in the presidential race, and suggested former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, another former rival, was still licking his wounds from the vicious campaign. The party's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, Trump said, "blew the election" that year and never even thanked Trump for his work on Romney's behalf. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee, said it would take a lot for him to ever stand on stage next to Trump, even though McCain has agreed to support the party's nominee.

In light of Ben Rhodes' revelation over the weekend that he led a White House effort to lie about the Iranian nuclear deal, it is useful to look back at last summer, when the White House attacked the Associated Press and its diplomatic reporter, @APDiplowriter (Matt Lee) for asking too many questions about the deal, particularly about the side agreement that allows the Iranians to 'self-inspect' their weapons production facility at Parchin. What this story is really about is the politicization of expertise, and how far things can go when one group of experts (arms controllers) decides to fight...