U.S.' Minuteman blasts off on test flight
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from California early Wednesday on a test flight to a target in the Pacific Ocean, the Air Force Global Strike Command said.
The missile blasted off at 12:33 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base and its reentry vehicle traveled 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands as part of a developmental test, the command said from Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
Developmental tests use a spare missile from storage to validate flight worthiness of new or replacement components. That differs from test launches that use randomly selected operational missiles.
Modernization programs are essential to sustaining the aging Minuteman III weapon system, Col. Omar Colbert, the 576th Flight Test Squadron commander, said in a statement.
The Air Force said test launches are not a reaction to world events. The launch calendars are developed three to five years in advance and planning for individual launches takes six months to a year.
Killer's phone still blocked, FBI reports
The FBI has reconstructed an iPhone belonging to the shooter in the December Naval Air Station attack in Pensacola, Fla., but still can't access the encrypted data on the device, Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday.
The disclosure came at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in response to questions from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Wray said the FBI is "currently engaged with Apple hoping to see if we can get better help from them so we can get access to that phone." About a month ago, the U.S. government asked Apple for help unlocking a pair of iPhones belonging to the shooter.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump also have demanded help from Apple in the case. The Cupertino, Calif., company has said that it gave the FBI cloud data related to the iPhones, but has insisted that it won't build a back door around encryption to access information on its devices.
"Back doors can also be exploited by those who threaten our national security and the data security of our customers," Apple said in early January.
While the government has publicly pressed Apple to help it unlock the devices, experts in cybersecurity and digital forensics said they believe that the agency has the ability to unlock the devices without Apple's help, like it did with the phone belonging to the shooter behind an attack in San Bernardino, Calif., five years ago. Investigators can exploit a range of security vulnerabilities -- available directly or through private providers -- to break into the phones, according to security experts.
American dies in border agency custody
HOUSTON -- A 32-year-old U.S. citizen died after being arrested by Border Patrol agents in southern Texas, the U.S. government said Wednesday.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency did not identify the man in a statement issued Wednesday, but alleged that he was a suspect in a human smuggling incident. The man was arrested about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday by agents assigned to the Border Patrol station in Brackettville, about 30 miles east of the border with Mexico.
Agents said the man "began exhibiting signs of distress" about 6 p.m., while he was being processed in Brackettville. Agents trained as emergency medical technicians "immediately administered first aid" and eventually called emergency services, the statement said. The man was taken to the hospital where he died.
The agency did not identify the man's illness, symptoms or cause of death.
The Border Patrol does not ordinarily detain U.S. citizens, but it routinely arrests Americans accused of trying to smuggle people who have crossed the border illegally.
Alabama officer shot dead; suspect held
WARRIOR, Ala. -- An Alabama police officer was shot to death in an ambush while assisting other officers during a vehicle pursuit, a mayor said Wednesday, and a suspect was charged with capital murder.
Officer Nick O'Rear was killed in a confrontation that authorities said began on Interstate 65 around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Kimberly Mayor Bob Ellerbrock said at a news conference. O'Rear was assisting officers from another department with a pursuit when the driver shot him, the mayor said.
Ellerbrock described the slaying as an ambush but declined to go into details as the case is being investigated.
The chase began when police tried to stop a vehicle on the highway and the driver wouldn't pull over, news outlets reported. A patrol car from the town of Kimberly joined in.
After being shot, the officer was taken to a hospital but died.
Jefferson County jail records showed that a suspect in the shooting, Preston Chyenne Johnson, 37, was charged with capital murder a few hours later.
Three other people also were arrested, according to police in Warrior.
A Section on 02/06/2020