George Zimmerman's parents were in a Florida courtroom Wednesday to "visibly advocate" for the former neighborhood watch volunteer charged with murdering Trayvon Martin, the family said in a statement.Robert and Gladys Zimmerman did not previously attend jury selection because they have received death threats and have been taking care of an elderly relative with Alzheimer's, their older son, Rober...

Two upstate New York men, one of them said to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan, plotted to build a truck-mounted, industrial-strength X-ray weapon to kill “enemies of Israel” by poisoning them with radiation, federal authorities said Wednesday.One of them boasted that he could build a “Hiroshima light switch” and that “everything with respiration would be dead by morning,” authorities said.Investig...

Google’s chief legal officer said Wednesday “we’re not in cahoots with the NSA” as the company stepped up its efforts to reassure customers that their gmail and Internet browsing history are safe from government prying."There is no free-for-all, no direct access, no indirect access, no back door, no drop box," said David Drummond, Google's top lawyer, in a live webchat with The Guardian newspaper....

An argument ended grimly in California this week, with a father found in the driveway bleeding from stab wounds and his son nearby, his severed hands lying on the ground.Shasta County Sherriff’s deputies responded to a reported stabbing in Redding, Calif., on Monday afternoon to find the gruesome scene with “visible injuries” in the driveway, according to a news release.Both Gregory Dunn, 58, and ...

A missing elderly Kansas couple who set out on an eight-hour trip from Kansas to Illinois to visit family on Monday afternoon was found Wednesday afternoon in Mio, Mich., – about 400 miles from their original destination.“They took a wrong turn,” Garnett Police Chief Kevin Pekarek said.Vernon Hunt, 92, and his wife Goldie, 81, of Garnett, Kan. were reported missing by their son Jay Selanders Monda...

The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with the employees' union on Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley...

FBI director Robert Mueller said Wednesday that the nation's top law enforcement bureau uses drones to conduct surveillance on U.S. soil, though only on a "very, very minimal basis."Mueller, the FBI director since 2001 who is set to retire this year, acknowledged that his agency uses drones in its investigative and law enforcement practices, and is further working to establish better guidelines fo...

FBI director Robert Mueller said Wednesday that the nation's top law enforcement bureau uses drones to conduct surveillance on U.S. soil, though only on a "very, very minimal basis."Mueller, the FBI director since 2001 who is set to retire this year, acknowledged that his agency uses drones in its investigative and law enforcement practices, and is further working to establish better guidelines fo...

Police returned Wednesday to the home of star New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, about a mile away from an industrial park where a body two nights earlier.There was no answer at the door, and police declined to say what was in papers they were carrying, NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston reported.Police also visited the house Tuesday night. Sports Illustrated, citing an unnamed source, repo...