Nation and World news from Hilton Head & Beaufort, SC

Nation/World

Senate panel approves immigration bill

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor.

Far-reaching legislation that grants a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a ... 40 minutes ago

Read story

Archive by category ''Nation/World

NATIONAL

Safety Board: ATF blocking plant blast probe

Federal agents and the state fire marshal have effectively barred a federal safety panel from the site of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 15 people and injured about 200 others, hampering its investigation, the panel's chairman said.

2 hours ago
WORLD

Owner: Chinese boat's captain beaten by NKoreans

Gunmen wearing North Korean military uniforms released a Chinese fishing boat after holding its crew for two weeks, beating up the captain and stealing the vessel's fuel, the boat's owner said. He added that the hijackers did not get the 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom they had demanded.
NATIONAL

Search for Okla. tornado survivors nearly complete

Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.
WORLD

Delay in mine project shadows hopes for Afghan economy

The giant copper mine that the Afghan government has made the centerpiece of its plans for building an economy nearly from scratch is at least five years behind schedule and the state-owned Chinese company that won the bidding has missed key deadlines in its still-secret contract with the Afghan...
NATIONAL POLITICS

Calif. prosecutors seek retrial in corruption case

Los Angeles County prosecutors said Tuesday they'll seek to retry five former officials in the city of Bell who were accused of corruption and overpaying themselves with public funds.

2 hours ago
NATIONAL

AP PHOTOS: Devastation, reunion in tornado wake

Residents sift through the remnants of their homes and parents hug children outside a demolished elementary school. Emergency workers tend to the wounded.
NATIONAL

Man charged in death of missing Maine teenager

When 15-year-old Nichole Cable left home May 12, she told her family she was heading out to see someone she'd met on Facebook.
WORLD

North Korean leader sends 'special envoy' to China

A "special envoy" for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang on Wednesday for China, the North's only major political and economic benefactor. State media released few details, but the trip comes at a rocky time in ties between the allies.

2 hours ago
NATIONAL

APNewsBreak: Coast Guard deserter to be confined

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer whose disappearance led to a massive search in Hawaii pleaded guilty to desertion Tuesday, saying he left work one day, decided never to return and spent the next three months camping in the mountains. A military judge sentenced him to more than six months confinement...
NATIONAL

Mysterious illness kills 2 in southeast Alabama

A mysterious respiratory illness has left five people hospitalized and two dead in southeast Alabama, state health officials said Tuesday.

2 hours ago