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Florence-triggered flooding washes into South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C./RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - Thousands of people in the Georgetown, South Carolina area were urged to leave as rivers inundated by Hurricane Florence rainwater threatened on Wednesday to submerge neighborhoods under 10 feet of water. Georgetown, which sits at the confluence of the Waccamaw, Great Pee Dee and Sampit rivers, was largely spared the initial fury of Florence, which came ashore on Sept. 14 as a Category 1 hurricane and killed 46 people in three states. Between 6,000 and 8,000 people have been exhorted to leave, but it was not clear how many had done so as of Tuesday evening, said Randy Akers, deputy public information officer for Georgetown County.

U.S. apartment vacancy rate edges higher in third quarter: Reis

The national apartment vacancy rate rose to 4.8 percent in the third quarter from 4.7 percent in the second quarter and 4.4 percent a year earlier, with 45 of 79 metros reporting a rise in vacancy, Reis said. This has helped the apartment market, especially in high-taxed localities," Reis said in a statement. Net absorption fell 24.4 percent to 35,683 units in the third quarter from a year earlier, while new construction dropped 23.9 percent to 50,475 units.

Delta lifts U.S. groundstop after restoring computer systems

"All groundstops have been lifted," Delta said in a statement. There are currently no cancellations following an hour-long groundstop for U.S. mainline Delta flights, while additional flight delays and impact on Wednesday morning's schedule are expected to be minimal, Delta said. Earlier the company issued a groundstop as its IT teams worked to address a technology issue impacting some of its systems.

U.S. Senate hopefuls in Tennessee spar on partisanship, avoid Trump

Former Governor Phil Bredesen and U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn are locked in an unexpectedly close race in deeply conservative Tennessee. Democrats see the race as an opportunity to win one of the two additional seats they need to wrest control of the Senate from Republicans and gain the power to slow or stop elements of U.S. President Donald Trump's populist conservative agenda. "The number one issue for Tennesseans has got to be the overarching issue of how dysfunctional Washington has become," said Bredesen, 74.

Investors at Smith & Wesson parent support call for gun safety report

Investors at American Outdoor Brands Corp approved a call for the gun maker to produce a safety report, officials said during its annual meeting on Tuesday, marking a second win for religious activist shareholders focused on firearms makers after a series of mass shootings in the United States. The resolution, approved over the company's objections, asks its board to report by February on its efforts to monitor gun violence, to research and produce safer guns, and for an assessment of reputational and financial risks. All nominated directors at the Springfield, Mass.-based company, the parent of Smith & Wesson, received a majority of votes cast, according to a preliminary vote tally given by an official during the webcast meeting.

Thousands urged to flee as Florence-triggered floods wash into South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C./RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - Thousands of people in the Georgetown, South Carolina, area were urged to evacuate their homes on Tuesday as rainwater unleashed by Hurricane Florence surged down rivers, threatening to submerge some neighborhoods under 10 feet of water. Georgetown, which sits at the confluence of the Waccamaw, Great Pee Dee and Sampit rivers, was largely spared the initial fury of Florence, which came ashore on Sept. 14 as a Category 1 hurricane, killing 46 people in three states.

Trump calls allegations against his court nominee a 'con game'

The committee also scheduled a vote on Kavanaugh's nomination for Friday at 9:30 a.m.. Senior Senate Republicans said a vote in the full Senate could happen as early as next Tuesday. In a break from convention, the outside lawyer, whose name was not released, will question Ford and Kavanaugh on behalf of the committee's Republican senators, 11 white men. The move brought a rebuke from Senator Kamala Harris, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee.

Bill Cosby, in cuffs, imprisoned for up to 10 years for sexual assault

Cosby must spend at least three years in a Pennsylvania prison before he becomes eligible for supervised release, though he could end up behind bars for up to a decade. Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill ordered Cosby to be jailed immediately, denying Cosby's request for bail while lawyers appeal the conviction. Minutes earlier, Constand left court with her arms folded, a smile spreading across her face as other women who have accused Cosby came to hug her.

Ex-U.S. NSA employee sentenced to prison for exposing secrets

Nghia Hoang Pho, 68, of Ellicott City, Maryland, removed documents that contained classified national defense information and kept them at his home without authorization, the department said in a statement. A U.S. intelligence official previously has said on the condition of anonymity that Pho was the same NSA employee who had been identified in media reports for using Kaspersky Lab antivirus software on his home computer. “As a result of his actions, Pho compromised some of our country’s most closely held types of intelligence, and forced NSA to abandon important initiatives to protect itself and its operational capabilities, at great economic and operational cost, said Robert Hur, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, in a statement.

McConnell says Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh will be confirmed

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he believed President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, would be confirmed to the lifetime position. McConnell also said the Senate had hired a woman lawyer to do the questioning of Kavanaugh and his accuser for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee during Thursday's hearing.

Colorado wildlife refuge at old nuclear plant is open - for now

Less than two miles (3 km) from where triggers for thermonuclear weapons were once manufactured and against the backdrop of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, a bull elk bugles as he defends his harem of cows from rival males. "It's rutting season and this is mating behavior," said David Lucas of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and manager of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Denver. Five environmental and community activist groups have sued the government, arguing the Rocky Flats refuge should be closed until more testing is done.

Man who threatened Boston Globe also called NY Times, NFL: prosecutor

U.S. investigators are probing whether a man accused of threatening to kill journalists at the Boston Globe after calling them "the enemy of the people" made similar threats to the New York Times and National Football League, a prosecutor said on Monday. Robert Chain, 68, pleaded not guilty in Boston federal court to charges that he threatened Globe employees in August after the paper coordinated an editorial response by more than 350 newspapers to President Donald Trump's attacks on the media. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese said authorities were investigating other threatening calls Chain made.

U.S. judge orders federal protection restored to Yellowstone grizzlies

A federal judge on Monday ordered Endangered Species Act protections restored to grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park, halting plans for the first licensed trophy hunts of the bears in the region in more than 40 years. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana, sided with environmentalists and native American groups by overruling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to strip the grizzlies of their status as a threatened species. The outcome caps one of the most high-profile legal battles over the Endangered Species Act in many years, rivaling previous disputes surrounding the gray wolf and northern spotted owl.

U.S. judge suggests he may dismiss Stormy Daniels lawsuit against Trump

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, sued the president for defamation in April in federal court over the tweet. The lawsuit centers on Daniels' assertion that a man approached her in 2011 in a Las Vegas parking lot and made a veiled threat after she agreed to talk about her alleged encounter with Trump to In Touch magazine. Soon after Daniels released a sketch of the man she said threatened her, Trump, who has denied having an affair with Daniels, disputed her account on Twitter, saying: "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man.

After chaotic day, Rosenstein stays in job but will meet with Trump

President Donald Trump and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election, will meet on Thursday to discuss whether Rosenstein will stay in his job. Rosenstein had spent the weekend contemplating whether he should resign after a New York Times report last week said he had suggested secretly recording Trump in 2017, a source told Reuters. The White House announced the meeting on Monday after a flurry of conflicting media reports about whether Rosenstein, a frequent target of Trump's anger, would be leaving the post.

U.S. development agency looks to boost funding to $60 billion

The head of the main U.S. agency for aiding developing country infrastructure projects said on Monday the ability to extend funding for such investments is expected to double if new legislation is approved by the U.S. Congress. Ray Washburne, president of the Overseas Private Investment Corp, told Reuters that the inclusion of the "Build Act" into must-pass legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration will accelerate the expansion and redesign of the agency. "We've got our running shoes on now," Washburne said, highlighting that the legislation will allow OPIC to extend its financing portfolio to up to $60 billion from its current $29.5 billion.

U.S. judge orders federal protection restored to Yellowstone grizzlies

PINEDALE, Wyo. (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday ordered Endangered Species Act protections restored to grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, halting plans for the first licensed trophy hunts of the region's grizzlies in more than 40 years.

Scientists voice opposition to weakening of U.S. Endangered Species Act

The extraordinary critique of the administration's proposal, which was unveiled in July, came in an open letter addressed to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from three associations representing 9,000 professional biologists. A separate letter similarly condemning revisions proposed to endangered species policies was signed by 273 leading university scientists from around the country.

Trump Supreme Court nominee rejects 'false accusations'

"The truth is I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone, in high school or otherwise," Kavanaugh said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s "The Story with Martha MacCallum," to air on Monday evening. The allegations, dating to the 1980s, have put in jeopardy Kavanaugh's chances of winning confirmation to the top U.S. court in a Senate narrowly controlled by Trump's party, with high-stakes congressional elections just weeks away. Confirmation of the federal appeals court judge to the lifetime job would cement conservative control of the Supreme Court and advance Trump's goal of moving the high court and the broader federal judiciary to the right.

Thousands in South Carolina brace for post-Florence flooding

More than 10 days after the storm made landfall and killed 46 people mostly in North Carolina, several rivers throughout the state continued to rise. Georgetown is expecting floodwaters of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) as the Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers overrun their banks in coming days. Emergency management officials began sending recorded telephone messages to residents in harm's way and will go door-to-door in the next few days, Georgetown County spokeswoman Jackie Broach-Akers said.

Man who threatened Boston Globe also called NY Times, NFL: prosecutor

U.S. investigators are probing whether a man accused of threatening to kill journalists at the Boston Globe after calling them "the enemy of the people" made similar threats to the New York Times and National Football League, a prosecutor said on Monday. Robert Chain, 68, pleaded not guilty in Boston federal court to charges that he threatened Globe employees in August after the paper coordinated an editorial response by more than 350 newspapers to President Donald Trump's attacks on the media. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese said authorities were investigating other threatening calls Chain made.

New GM-built 'Beast' presidential limo makes Trump debut

The latest version of the heavily armored U.S. presidential limousine known as "The Beast" is making its debut in New York City this week. The custom-built Cadillac produced by General Motors Co appeared for the first time in public on Sunday -- along with an identical version that travels in the motorcade -- when it ferried President Donald Trump around New York ahead of this week's United Nations General Assembly meetings. The previous version of the limo first appeared in January 2009 just before Barack Obama took office.

Senate Republican leader McConnell: Democrats 'trying to destroy' Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday Democrats were "trying to destroy" Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's personal and professional life with "unsubstantiated" sexual assault allegations. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Hurricane Florence insured losses to range from $2.8 billion to $5 billion: RMS

(Reuters) - Insured losses from Hurricane Florence, which slammed into North Carolina this month, will range from $2.8 billion to $5 billion, said RMS, a risk modeling and analytics firm on Monday.

Dallas police dismiss officer who fatally shot man in his home

The Dallas Police Department on Monday fired a police officer who is facing a manslaughter charge after fatally shooting a man in his apartment that the officer said she mistook for her own home. Officer Amber Guyger had been dismissed after nearly five years on the job for her actions on the night of the shooting earlier in September, Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said in a statement. Guyger, 30, had been on administrative leave since she fatally shot Botham Jean, 26.

Kavanaugh tells senators he will not withdraw nomination

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday he will not withdraw his nominations because of "false and uncorroborated" sexual misconduct allegations against him.

The night a Chinese billionaire was accused of rape in Minnesota

By Koh Gui Qing and Lawrence Delevingne MINNEAPOLIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - With the Chinese billionaire Richard Liu at her Minneapolis area apartment, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student sent a WeChat message to a friend in the middle of the night. She wrote that Liu had forced her to have sex with him. “I was not willing,” she wrote in Chinese on the messaging application around 2 a.m. on August 31. “Tomorrow I will think of a way to escape,” she wrote, as she begged the friend not to call police. “He will suppress it,” she wrote, referring to Liu. “You underestimate his power. ...

Wyoming wildfire forces evacuations, closes highway south of Jackson

A wind-blown wildfire that has forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes south of the resort town of Jackson, Wyoming, prompted officials on Sunday to close 50 miles of a key highway traveled by tourists to reach Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. The Roosevelt fire has scorched nearly 40,000 acres of drought-parched landscape and destroyed at least four structures, including two dwellings, since erupting Sept. 15 in the Bridger-Teton National Forest about 30 miles south of Jackson. Scores of additional residences were placed on standby for evacuation at a moments notice, according to sheriff's Sergeant Travis Bingham.

Texan who published 3-D guns plans jailed on sex assault charge

Cody Wilson, 30, flew to Taiwan after learning he was under investigation, police said, and was picked up by Taiwanese authorities on Friday after his U.S. passport was annulled. Wilson's attorney, Samy Khalil, said in a statement late on Sunday: "We are glad that Cody is back in Texas again where we can work with him on his case. As the founder of Defense Distributed, Wilson became a notable figure in the U.S. debate over guns after the company posted on the internet the blueprints for plastic guns that can be made with a 3-D printer.

WTA roundup: Pliskova snaps Osaka streak for title

Fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova handed U.S. Open champ Naomi Osaka a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to claim the title at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. It ended the third-seeded Osaka's 10-match victory streak, dating back to the start of the U.S. Open. The title is the 11th of Pliskova's career and her fifth straight triumph in a final.

Accuser of Trump's Supreme Court nominee to testify on Thursday

The agreement came a week after Christine Blasey Ford went public with her allegation against the conservative federal appeals court judge, endangering his confirmation by the Republican-led Senate to a lifetime job on the top U.S. court. There are, however, unresolved procedural and logistical issues, Ford's lawyers said, including whether the Judiciary Committee's Republican senators, who are all male, or staff attorneys would question her. Ford's lawyers said "various senators have been dismissive of her account and should have to shoulder their responsibility to ask her questions." Kavanaugh, who has called the allegation "completely false," also has agreed to testify at the hearing planned for 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Thursday.

Danger remains even as flood waters recede in Hurricane Florence's aftermath

Much of the region remained under heavy flooding, including one area 40 miles (64 km) north-northwest of Wilmington where waters were still five feet (1.5 meters) above flood status, according to the National Weather Service. Large sections of rivers near the coast won't start cresting until at least early in the week, maybe later," said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the NWS's Weather Prediction Center "All that water is going to take a good while to recede," he said. It'll be a slow drop." The storm dumped 30 to 40 inches (75 to 100 cm) of rain on the Wilmington area, temporarily cutting off the historic coastal city that lies along the Cape Fear River.

Texan who published 3-D guns plans jailed on sex assault charge

Cody Wilson, 30, flew to Taiwan after learning he was under investigation, police said, and was picked up by Taiwanese authorities on Friday after his U.S. passport was annulled. It was unclear whether Wilson had a criminal defense lawyer. As the founder of Defense Distributed, Wilson became a notable figure in the U.S. debate over guns after the company posted on the internet the blueprints for plastic guns that can be made with a 3-D printer.

Cosby sentencing is new milestone for #MeToo movement

The sentencing will show how #MeToo has altered the way the U.S. reckons with sexual misconduct by powerful men.

Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh's accuser tentatively agrees to testify on Thursday: media

The agreement is in the works for California professor Christine Blasey Ford to possibly testify on Thursday, but details have yet to be finalized, CNN and other media reported late on Saturday. The report said that her lawyers will talk again on Sunday with Senate officials. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley had set a Saturday afternoon deadline for Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assaulting her at a high school party 36 years ago, to decide whether and how she will testify.