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It also follows a reorganization of Western-backed fighters aimed at creating a more effective military force and increasing protection for Christian and other religious minorities—something of particular importance to Washington. This shift is seen as a test of whether the U.S. can find a trustworthy rebel partner able to keep sophisticated weapons out of the hands of extremists, Saudi and Syrian opposition figures said. The U.S. has long feared that if it does supply advanced arms, the weapons will wind up with radical groups—some tied to al Qaeda—which have set up bases in opposition-held territory.

President Obama put on his silliest face Thursday for a woman snapping a smartphone photo of him at the White House.

“I learned (that filmmaking) was a much longer process than what I originally imagined,” Clinton told Variety in her first sit-down interview about the documentary, alongside its director, Linda G. Mills, and its two stars. “I’m not sure what I had originally imagined, but I would not have put my money on it being a two-year process.”

Climate change’s latest casualty appears to be fish — or more specifically, fish brains — as researchers say the carbon dioxide that’s being absorbed into the ocean is causing the scaly creatures to lose their survival instincts. In other words, the fish are losing their minds, The Daily Mail reported. The acid from atmospheric carbon dioxide seeps into sea waters, dissolves and ultimately lowers the pH balance, researchers said. The acidic waters then hamper the fishes’ sensory systems, so they’re not able to distinguish between smells any longer, the scientists went on.

The two paroled sex offenders who authorities in Southern California believe raped and killed four women allegedly wore GPS trackers while committing their crimes, and investigators believe there may be more victims. Anaheim police Chief Raul Quezada said Monday that Franc Cano, 27, and Steven Dean Gordon, 45, were wearing ankle tracking bracelets when the women were assaulted and killed last fall and earlier this year. The chief added that data from the devices "was one of the investigative tools we used to put the case together." Authorities at the news conference did not explain how Cano and Gordon allegedly...

The Internal Revenue Service plans to rewrite proposed regulations limiting the political activities of the same type of tax-exempt groups the agency was accused of targeting after backlash from GOP lawmakers and politically active nonprofit groups. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told USA Today on Monday that the agency will likely "re-propose a redefined rule and ask for more public comment." He expects the process will take "until the end of the year and beyond" to complete. Koskinen said the revised rule will take into account criticism from conservative groups concerned the regulations will put free speech rights at risk. Some...

Police arrested a Utah woman Sunday after discovering seven dead babies in her former home. Investigators believe that Meagan Huntsman, 39, who lived in the Pleasant Grove home until 2011, gave birth to the babies before killing them at various times between 1996 and 2006. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that police were called to the house Saturday by Huntsman's ex-husband, who had discovered the body of a newborn infant who appeared to be at full term. Police obtained a search warrant for the house and discovered the bodies of six more babies packed in boxes in the garage. Police...

A new report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finds that solar facilities in California are acting like “mega traps” that kill and injure birds. As a result, “entire food chains” are being disrupted. USFWS’s National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory studied three solar farms in Southern California: Desert Sunlight, Genesis Solar and Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS). Two-hundred and thirty-three different birds from 71 species were found over the course of a two-year study. The three main causes of death were: 1. Solar flux: Exposure to temperatures over 800 degrees F. 2. Impact (or blunt force) trauma:...

ambassador pick Published April 11, 2014 FoxNews.com Facebook0 Twitter0 Gplus7 The White House announced Friday that the U.S. will not issue a visa to Iran's choice for U.N. ambassador, over concerns about his involvement in the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran. The decision comes after Congress earlier this week approved a bill that would bar Hamid Abutalebi from stepping on U.S. soil. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the White House is reviewing that legislation but announced that Abutalebi would be barred anyway. "We have informed the United Nations and Iran that we will not issue a...

Soaking up the finally pleasant weather, the conversation eventually turned to Love’s time at the White House, which sounded a lot less pleasant. Love compared working inside the White House to being on a sinking ship. “I had this great journey, but I was just a passenger,” he told his dining companion. ”I was by no means steering the ship. I was bailing out the water.” The restaurant’s employees seemed well-acquainted with Love. He made small talk with them about his golf game. Occasionally, he let out a loud, delightful laugh in the warm, spring air. Getting luckier by the...

A woman was taken into custody after throwing what she described as a shoe at Hillary Clinton during a Las Vegas speech. The incident happened moments after Clinton took the stage Thursday at an Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries meeting at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. Clinton ducked but did not appear to be hit by the object, and then joked about it. "Is that somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque de Soleil?" Clinton quipped. She added: "My goodness, I didn't know that solid waste management was so controversial. Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I...

A deal has been reached between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to extend US-brokered peace talks, according to Middle Eastern news outlet Al-Arabiya. As part of the deal, Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard is to be freed from his 27-year detention in the US while the contentious fourth set of Palestinian prisoners are to be released.

SAN DIEGO – A U.S. Navy warship reached a crippled sailboat hundreds of miles off the Mexican coast and was preparing Sunday to complete the rescue of a sick 1-year-old girl. The transfer of the child from the 36-foot boat to the ship was expected to start around dawn, Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Bena said Sunday. "Sometime this morning as soon as they get some light they are going to take the child off the boat and bring her aboard the naval vessel," Bena told The Associated Press.

The White House is in a tiff over Samsung’s use of a selfie shot taken Thursday of the president and Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz as a quick and easy marketing ploy. “As a rule, the White House objects to attempts to use the president’s likeness for commercial purposes,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said, The Hill reported. At the same time, Mr. Carney refused to say whether attorneys for the administration were calling Samsung to get the company to stop using the snapshot, the media outlet said.

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore believes that whoever was responsible at General Motors for failing to recall a faulty ignition switch deserves death. "I am opposed to the death penalty, but to every rule there is usually an exception, and in this case I hope the criminals at General Motors will be arrested and made to pay for their pre-meditated decision to take human lives for a lousy ten bucks," he wrote. Moore blamed former President George W. Bush's transportation Department for ignoring the problem in 2007 and praised new GM CEO Mary Barra for telling the truth about the problem.

The Los Angeles Times greeted the Obamacare enrollment data on Monday with a striking headline, claiming that "at least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gained coverage," which is 3 million people more than the Obama administration itself claimed last week (a number that was itself highly questionable, since it did not exclude those who had not paid for their new insurance). The Times' analysis, however, is laughable. The data reported by Noam. N. Levey are not actual counts of enrollees, but a hodgepodge of "state and federal enrollment reports, surveys and interviews with insurance executives and government officials nationwide."...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that, "I have never come to the floor, to my recollection, I've never said a word about examples that Republicans have given regarding ObamaCare and how it's not very good." "Mr. President, the junior senator from Wyoming has come to the floor several times recently talking about the fact that examples that he and others Republicans have given dealing with ObamaCare, examples that are bad, I've called lies. Mr. President, that is simply untrue," Reid said.

When he met with Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the president said, “I explained to him that most religious organizations are entirely exempt [from the contraceptive mandate]. Religiously-affiliated hospitals or universities or NGOs simply have to attest that they have a religious objection, in which case they are not required to provide contraception, although that employees of theirs who choose are able to obtain it through the insurance company.” “And I pledged to continue to dialogue with the U.S. Conference of Bishops to make sure that we can strike the right balance, making sure that not only everybody...

ttorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the federal government will recognize about 300 same-sex marriages performed in Michigan before a federal appeals court halted them, despite a decision by Michigan's governor not to recognize those unions. The decision means federal benefits will be extended to those couples -- including the ability to file taxes jointly, get Social Security benefits for spouses and request legal immigration status for partners. "These families will be eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages," Holder said in a statement.

<p>Graham said she decided to confront her husband about her marriage doubts, but she did not know how he would take it. She said the couple climbed down a treacherous slope below a popular spot in the park called The Loop and spoke on a narrow ledge, hundreds of feet above a ravine.</p>