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Russia's Foreign Ministry has begun evacuating the families of diplomats from Venezuela, a European intelligence official told AP on Monday, as the United States pursues its third sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean and President Donald Trump convenes senior national security officials at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The evacuations, which started Friday and include women and children, come as Russian officials assess the situation in Venezuela in what the intelligence source described as "very grim tones." The withdrawals signal heightened concerns about stability in the South American nation as the Trump administration escalates its four-month pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro's...

Shirley Skipper-Scott, a graduate from Alabama State, was warden of the Metro Correctional Center in New York City. She was reassigned today following the death of the most important inmate of this century, Jeffrey Epstein. She was obviously not the woman for the job. Under her watch she allowed the highest profile prisoner in the US got “suicided.”

Shirley Skipper-Scott, the warden of the federal jail in New York City where wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself was reassigned out of that post by Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department said. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons also placed two staffers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center who had been assigned to Epstein’s cell unit on administrative leave pending ongoing investigations into Epstein’s death. Epstein, a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, was being held without bail on child sex trafficking charges at the times of his death.

The Times wasn't kind when it reviewed "Gilligan's Island" in 1964, writing, "'Gilligan's Island' is a television series that never should have reached the air this season, or any other season." But the series defied critics and lasted for three seasons, eventually becoming a staple of syndication. Its creator, Sherwood Schwartz, died of natural causes Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. He was 94. Schwartz's impact on pop culture will long survive. In addition to "Gilligan's Island," Schwartz created the family sitcom "The Brady Bunch." Each series came affixed with its own memorably jolly theme song, with lyrics written by Schwartz

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "Protesters staged a waterboarding yesterday outside the Justice Department, calling for a Senate committee to reject attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey because of his reluctance to define the tactic as torture. The demonstration came shortly before Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said he would oppose Mukasey." It doesn't matter because Schumer is going to support him. So is Dianne Feinstein. So he's assured of passage here, at least getting out of committee. Schumer even wrote a piece in the New York Times today, said (summarized), "Look, we Democrats are going to handle this another way. We're going to...

My rookie officers were third division, says 'bully' skipper By Stewart Payne (Filed: 17/01/2006) A submarine captain accused of bullying his officers told a court martial yesterday that some were so inexperienced it was like having lower division footballers on a Premiership pitch. Capt Robert Tarrant, 44, who was commander of the nuclear submarine Talent, told a court martial that he expected the very highest standards from his crew. He said he used a leadership style he had learned serving in the Falklands conflict. "I discovered that the margin of error between operational safety and therefore operational success and operational...

For 35 years, Rich Baker seldom talked about Vietnam, Swift boats or John Kerry's ability as a young naval officer. But now, with Republican partisans challenging Kerry's wartime record, Baker said he feels compelled to strike back. "Every Swift boat officer gave his all in Vietnam, but Kerry stood above the rest of us," said Baker, 61, of Scott, a former Navy lieutenant and Swift boat commander. "He was number one as far as courageousness and aggressiveness. He set the tone." Campaign aides to Kerry, the Democratic candidate for president, yesterday asked Baker to speak out publicly to counter television...

The U.S. Coast Guard has revoked the license of a charter fishing captain whose boat capsized last year, killing two. In a ruling made public Thursday, Judge Edwin Bladen took Ted D. Howell to task not so much for having violated Coast Guard rules but over whether the charter guide had learned anything from the experience. Specifically, the judge cited the captain's "cavalier attitude" toward life jackets. Howell was piloting a 25-foot boat on May 18, 2002, when a fast-moving 12-foot wave capsized it south of Tillamook Bay. Both of Howell's passengers drowned. Howell, 77, who was able to swim...