| Graham: Trump must punish Russia for election interference Posted: 19 Feb 2017 02:44 AM PST  MUNICH (AP) — A senior U.S. Republican senator on Sunday urged President Donald Trump to take action against Russia over allegations that Moscow interfered in the election that brought him to power.
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| Malaysia arrests North Korean over Kim Jong-Nam killing Posted: 18 Feb 2017 03:16 AM PST  Malaysian police said Saturday they had arrested a North Korean man over the assassination of Kim Jong-Un's brother, as relations between Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur nosedived in a battle for his body. A 46-year-old was arrested on Friday evening with documents that identified him as North Korean citizen Ri Jong Chol, a police statement said, making him the first person from the North to be detained over the case. Kim Jong-Nam died after an unidentified liquid was sprayed in his face at Kuala Lumpur international airport on Monday, in an attack Seoul says was carried out by female agents on the orders of Pyongyang.
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| Norma McCorvey, plaintiff in Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, dies at 69 Posted: 18 Feb 2017 04:27 PM PST ![Norma McCorvey, plaintiff in Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, dies at 69]( "Norma McCorvey, plaintiff in Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, dies at 69") (Reuters) - Norma McCorvey, the anonymous plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" in the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion, died on Saturday at the age of 69, a journalist close to McCorvey said. McCorvey died on Saturday morning of heart failure at an assisted living home in Katy, Texas, Joshua Prager, a journalist who is writing a book about the ruling, said in an email. McCorvey lent her real name to supporters of the abortion-rights movement in the 1980s.
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| Abundant fish draw 1 million penguins to Argentine peninsula Posted: 17 Feb 2017 07:54 PM PST  PUNTA TOMBO, Argentina (AP) — More than a million penguins have traveled to Argentina's Punta Tombo peninsula during this year's breeding season, drawn by an unusual abundance of small fish.
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| Hundreds of Cubans deported after US immigration status end: Cuba Posted: 18 Feb 2017 10:52 AM PST  More than 680 Cubans have been deported back to Cuba since the United States ended its decades-old policy giving them preferred immigrant status in January, state media reported Saturday. According to official Cuban reports, 683 people have been sent back to the Caribbean island from the United States, or from Mexico, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, where they were crossing in a bid to reach the US border. On January 12, then-president Barack Obama scrapped with immediate effect a 1995 policy that had given Cubans near-automatic entry to the United States if they managed to set foot on American soil, regardless of their visa status.
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| Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelt ranked top three U.S. presidents Posted: 17 Feb 2017 11:14 PM PST ![Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelt ranked top three U.S. presidents]( "Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelt ranked top three U.S. presidents") (Reuters) - Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt were ranked as the top three U.S. presidents in history respectively while Barack Obama entered the rankings in the 12th spot, based on a survey of historians released on Friday. Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower rounded out the top five of 43 presidents in U.S. history, a survey of historians' rankings of presidential leadership found. "Once again the big three are Lincoln, Washington and FDR - as it should be.
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| Police Find 75-Year-Old Woman Molded to Chair After Sitting In Same Spot for Almost a Year Posted: 19 Feb 2017 09:41 AM PST  She is now recovering at a local hospital.
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| Why you should pour a glass and drink up this National Drink Wine Day Posted: 18 Feb 2017 05:00 AM PST  National Drink Wine Day has been celebrated across the country every February since 2011. It started as a way to spread the love and health benefits of wine. Happy drinking!
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| Arpaio successor pulls back on immigration holds in jails Posted: 18 Feb 2017 08:02 PM PST  PHOENIX (AP) — For years, immigrants being released from jails in Phoenix would routinely be kept locked up an extra couple days to give federal authorities time to check their immigration status and launch deportation proceedings.
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| France denounces cyberattacks blamed on Moscow Posted: 18 Feb 2017 06:57 PM PST  Suspected Russian cyberattacks on the French presidential campaign are "unacceptable", France's foreign minister said Sunday, adding it was clear that pro-Europe candidate Emmanuel Macron was being targeted. A spokesman for Macron, who is currently riding high in the polls, has accused Moscow of being behind a flurry of cyberattacks on his campaign website and email servers over the past month. "It's enough to see which candidates, Marine Le Pen or Francois Fillon, Russia expresses preference for in the French electoral campaign," Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche.
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| Jason Chaffetz and Mitch McConnell are the new 'Hardy Boys' except much worse Posted: 18 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST  Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has been doing a really great job not investigating some of the major controversies surrounding the Trump White House. Mitch McConnell, the Majority Leader of the Senate, has also impressively managed to avoid publicly denouncing or questioning even the most flagrantly unconstitutional executive orders signed by the POTUS. SEE ALSO: Wow, Obama's outgoing letter to Trump speaks volumes With their impressive the-opposite-of-mystery-solving skills on full display for the American public, we thought it'd be fitting to reimagine the two GOP leaders as the straight-laced Hardy Boys. A post shared by Mashable Watercooler (@watercooler) on Feb 17, 2017 at 2:41pm PST Combining their powerful detective minds, Mitch and Jason can ignore basically anything that happens. "The Town Hall Mystery" Image: max knoblauch "The Mystery of Nope Shut Up There Is Nothing To Investigate Here" Image: Max knoblauch "The Mystery of Just Hangin' Out, Not Solving Anything" Image: Max knoblauch The next installment can't come soon enough!
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| Police Name Mystery Man Caught on Surveillance As Suspect In Murder of Teen Hikers Posted: 19 Feb 2017 12:08 PM PST  Preliminary evidence led to their decision, according to police.
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| Biologists find weird cave life that may be 50,000 years old Posted: 17 Feb 2017 06:00 PM PST  BOSTON (AP) — In a Mexican cave system so beautiful and hot that it is called both Fairyland and hell, scientists have discovered life trapped in crystals that could be 50,000 years old.
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| Syrian rebels say army attacks wrecking ceasefire efforts Posted: 19 Feb 2017 02:05 PM PST ![Syrian rebels say army attacks wrecking ceasefire efforts]( "Syrian rebels say army attacks wrecking ceasefire efforts") Syrian rebel groups who have participated in peace talks said on Sunday that an upsurge in Syrian army shelling and bombing was wrecking the prospects of maintaining a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey. The rebel groups, mostly backed by Turkey, have attended two rounds of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana. Mohammad Alloush, the head of the Astana talks delegation, said the rebel groups who signed a shaky ceasefire deal late last year that was meant to end bombing of civilians were ready to go back to "all out war".
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| US student debt tops $1.31 trillion: Does Betsy DeVos have a plan? Posted: 18 Feb 2017 05:03 PM PST ![US student debt tops $1.31 trillion: Does Betsy DeVos have a plan?]( "US student debt tops $1.31 trillion: Does Betsy DeVos have a plan?") Student loans were the leading cause for a substantial increase in household debt last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday. While the high balance of US student debt is not news anymore, the new record-high $1.31 trillion balance, up 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter, is another reminder of the severity of a problem that has cast a shadow over the nation in recent years. During her confirmation hearing, now-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos suggested a vision for higher education that might not require as much student debt.
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| Mom-To-Be Shares Photo of 2 Onesies Surrounded by Needles After Struggling to Get Pregnant Posted: 18 Feb 2017 11:30 AM PST  She is 13 weeks along.
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| Man dies after breaching security at Honolulu airport Posted: 18 Feb 2017 04:28 PM PST ![Man dies after breaching security at Honolulu airport]( "Man dies after breaching security at Honolulu airport") HONOLULU (AP) — The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that a man is dead after he breached security at Honolulu International Airport and stopped breathing.
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| Zimbabwe's Mugabe says he is people's choice for 2018 election Posted: 19 Feb 2017 06:02 AM PST ![Zimbabwe's Mugabe says he is people's choice for 2018 election]( "Zimbabwe's Mugabe says he is people's choice for 2018 election") By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's people and the ruling ZANU-PF party see no viable alternative candidate to President Robert Mugabe for general elections in 2018, state media quoted him as saying on Sunday. "The people, you know, would want to judge everyone else on the basis of President Mugabe as the criteria," Mugabe, who is Africa's oldest leader, said. Mugabe has been in power in the southern African country since 1980 and in December his party confirmed him as its candidate for the next presidential election expected in mid-2018, when he will be 94.
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| Man’s plan to bomb Target stores to buy cheap stock totally backfires Posted: 17 Feb 2017 06:01 PM PST  Get rich schemes come in all shapes in sizes, but leave it to the always creative "Florida Man" to come up with perhaps the worst money-making scheme in the history of mankind. Mark Charles Barnett is currently in custody and facing up to ten years in prison after planning to blow up several Target retail stores along the East Coast in an attempt to get the company's stock to dip, allowing him an opportunity to grab shares at a reduced cost. Needless to say, things didn't exactly work out as Barnett planned. Barnett built explosive devices into random food boxes, which he intended to be placed at Target stores between Florida and New York. When the bombs detonated, Barnett assumed that the resulting news would cause Target's stock to take a dive, at which point he would load up on the stock and make a hefty pile of profit when the stock eventually recovered. Barnett didn't want to do the dirty work himself, and instead decided to hire a man to plant the bombs for him. Barnett gave the man ten bombs, some gloves and a mask, along with a license plate cover to aid his getaway. For his services, he was paid the sum of $10,000. Unfortunately for Barnett, things didn't exactly work out the way that he had planned. Rather than taking the cash and planting the explosives, the would-be bomber brought all the evidence to local authorities who brought in federal agents to close the case and lock Barnett up. Barnett is currently in custody and awaiting trial.
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| Red Cross urges release of two staff abducted in Afghanistan Posted: 18 Feb 2017 12:19 AM PST  The Red Cross on Saturday called for the unconditional release of two staff members who were abducted when their convoy was ambushed in northern Afghanistan last week, leaving six other workers dead. The aid workers came under insurgent fire in Jowzjan province on February 8 while they were en route to a remote snowbound area to deliver much-needed relief supplies. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had earlier said the two employees were missing, in what was one of the worst attacks on the international charity in the country for years.
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| ABC News' Jonathan Karl: Free press is a big part of what makes America great Posted: 19 Feb 2017 06:05 AM PST  Jonathan Karl reflects on White House press relations throughout history.
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| Father and Son Killed In Head-On Collision With One Another Posted: 19 Feb 2017 10:37 AM PST  Police said alcohol was a factor in the crash.
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| NASA’s Juno To Stay In 53-Day Jupiter Orbit Posted: 17 Feb 2017 11:57 PM PST  The space agency dropped its plan to fire the spacecraft's main engine, a risky maneuver that would have reduced the orbital period to 14 days for its fifth flyby of Jupiter.
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| Dubai police summon Russian model who dangled from skyscraper: newspaper Posted: 18 Feb 2017 12:36 PM PST ![Dubai police summon Russian model who dangled from skyscraper: newspaper]( "Dubai police summon Russian model who dangled from skyscraper: newspaper") Dubai police have summoned a Russian model who posed for a video while dangling from a skyscraper to sign a pledge not to put her life in danger again, a local newspaper reported on Saturday. A video of the model, identified by local media as 23-year-old Viktoria Odintcova, went viral after she posted it on her Instagram account earlier in the week. It shows her stepping off a girder at the top of Dubai's 73-storey Cayan Tower and dangling in the void, held only by a man gripping her hand.
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| "Blind Sheik" guilty of 1990s terror plots dies in US prison Posted: 18 Feb 2017 11:37 PM PST  The so called Blind Sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted of plotting terror attacks in New York City in the decade before 9/11 has died in a federal prison. He was 78.
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| Trump's White House: Five takeaways from Friday Posted: 17 Feb 2017 06:26 PM PST  After a rollercoaster first month in the White House Donald Trump jaunted south on Friday, holding a campaign-style event with Boeing to cast himself as a defender of US jobs. The Senate meanwhile confirmed Trump's controversial pick to direct the Environmental Protection Agency, installing as the federal environmental steward a climate change skeptic who has repeatedly sued the US agency he will now lead.
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| AstroBot Kit Teaches Kids the Joys of Coding Posted: 19 Feb 2017 03:00 PM PST  One of the most intriguing robot kits at this year's show, UBTech's AstroBot kit can be built into one of three different characters and programmed using a simple mobile app. Available this spring for $199, AstroBot can be built as either a treaded robot that looks a bit like Walle, a humanoid-style robot or a wheeled vehicle. An infrared sensor keeps AstroBot from bumping into objects as it moves around.
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| Ruling party candidate leads in Ecuador's presidential vote Posted: 19 Feb 2017 05:44 PM PST  QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The hand-picked candidate of socialist President Rafael Correa took the lead in preliminary results from Ecuador's presidential election Sunday, and was just under the threshold needed to win outright and avoid a runoff against his nearest rival.
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| Expect more fake news from Russia, top NATO general says Posted: 18 Feb 2017 05:21 AM PST ![Expect more fake news from Russia, top NATO general says]( "Expect more fake news from Russia, top NATO general says") By Robin Emmott MUNICH (Reuters) - Russia was behind a false report of a rape by German soldiers in Lithuania that was intended to undermine support for NATO's new eastern force, a senior NATO general said on Saturday, warning Europe to expect more such "fake news". Petr Pavel, who heads NATO's military committee, said he also hoped to hold the first telephone call in more than two years with Russia's military chiefs in coming weeks.
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| Rally coordinator talks organizing Florida Trump event Posted: 18 Feb 2017 11:31 AM PST  Tony Ledbetter weighs in how the president may benefit from speaking directly to Americans
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| The United Arab Emirates wants to build a city on Mars Posted: 19 Feb 2017 10:00 AM PST  Elon Musk isn't the only person who wants to build a city on Mars. Now the United Arab Emirates has announced that it wants to establish a "mini-city" on the red planet by 2117. UAE prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum explained the monarchy's Mars plans in a series of tweets on Feb. 14. SEE ALSO: Dubai is bringing the world its first rotating skyscraper "The project, to be named 'Mars 2117,' integrates a vision to create a mini-city and community on Mars involving international cooperation," Sheikh Mohammed said. "Mars 2117" is a seed we are sowing today to reap the fruit of new generations led by a passion for science and advancing human knowledge. pic.twitter.com/IExtnpiO2B — HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017 "Mars 2117 includes a major space sciences focus in our universities. We're building a space pioneering passion among our young people." It makes sense for officials to use this project to inspire young people: They're the ones who will probably do the vast majority of the work. If the UAE wants to have a fully-functioning city on Mars in 100 years, it will have to be a multi-generational effort that will span many decades, given the incipient state of the nation's space program and current global capabilities as well. The "Mars 2117" project will develop an Emirati and international team of scientists to push the human exploration of Mars in years to come. pic.twitter.com/5ujxvyC8As — HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017 In the time between now and 2117, the UAE, with an international partnership of researchers, will start trying to find a faster mode of transportation to the red planet, and figure out what food and shelter should be on the cold, dry world. "'Mars 2117' is a seed we are sowing today to reap the fruit of new generations led by a passion for science and advancing human knowledge," Sheikh Mohammed said. The UAE has already put the world on notice that the oil-rich nation has aspirations beyond our home planet, having previously announced its plan to send a robotic mission to Mars in 2015. That uncrewed spacecraft, called Hope, would fly to the red planet in 2020 and make it into orbit there in 2021. The project, to be named "Mars 2117", integrates a vision to create a mini-city and community on Mars involving international cooperation. pic.twitter.com/v27jA3K3pS — HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017 Musk's SpaceX is also working toward creating a city on Mars, though the commercial space company's timeline isn't exactly clear. Musk claims that SpaceX is working toward sending its first people to Mars by 2024, about a decade before NASA is expected to send their first crewed mission to the vicinity of Mars. That said, the company's plans are still a bit murky when it comes to the timeline for actually creating its city, aiming for sometime in the 2060s. Musk thinks there will be plenty of people who want to leave Earth behind. We aspire in the coming century to develop science, technology and our youth's passion for knowledge. This project is driven by that vision. pic.twitter.com/4QibJjtiM2 — HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2017 "Not everyone will want to go. In fact, I think a relatively small number of people from Earth would want to go, but enough would want to go and who could afford the trip that it would happen," Musk said during a speech in September 2016. Neither SpaceX nor the UAE can get to Mars alone, however. Both need to have international and private partners that will help make a city on Mars a reality within their timeframes. It's unclear if the monarchy and the private company will team up on their Mars ambitions, but Musk did say that he's open to public and private partnerships for the mission. BONUS: Obama plans to send humans to Mars by 2030s
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| Paris protesters decry police abuse; some clash with police Posted: 18 Feb 2017 10:21 AM PST  PARIS (AP) — Paris police sprayed tear gas at bottle-throwing demonstrators on the margins of a rally Saturday meant to support a young black man who was allegedly raped with a police baton and other victims of police abuse.
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| U.S. inquiries into Russian election hacking include three FBI probes Posted: 18 Feb 2017 01:30 PM PST ![U.S. inquiries into Russian election hacking include three FBI probes]( "U.S. inquiries into Russian election hacking include three FBI probes") By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is pursuing at least three separate probes relating to alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. presidential elections, according to five current and former government officials with direct knowledge of the situation. While the fact that the FBI is investigating had been reported previously by the New York Times and other media, these officials shed new light on both the precise number of inquires and their focus. The FBI's Pittsburgh field office, which runs many cyber security investigations, is trying to identify the people behind breaches of the Democratic National Committee's computer systems, the officials said.
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| Snap Inc. To Launch Snapchat Android Smartphone? Posted: 18 Feb 2017 01:40 AM PST  If a new report is to be believed, Snapchat could be launching its very own Android smartphone that syncs with Spectacles.
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| The Latest: New Trump rally sounds like old Trump rally Posted: 18 Feb 2017 03:38 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST):
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| Hundreds of inmates abandon gang life in El Salvador Posted: 18 Feb 2017 06:29 PM PST  Inside a Salvadaron prison Francisco Lopez teaches fellow ex-gang members how to make paper figurines, as part of a program designed to reinsert them into society once they are released. There are an estimated 70,000 gang members in El Salvador.
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| A town changed by Trump Posted: 19 Feb 2017 04:00 AM PST ![A town changed by Trump]( "A town changed by Trump") There are times these days when Mary Jo Groves feels like she no longer understands her city and the world around it. The hospital physician knows Springfield as a place that has prided itself on its moderate, practical outlook. Asked about Mr. Trump, an elderly gentleman said he was pleased, suggesting the crackdown on immigrants and the temporary ban on citizens from seven Muslim nations was spot on.
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| Struggle against evil sparks China ritual Posted: 17 Feb 2017 07:00 PM PST  Villagers in eastern China have a unique way of washing away the taint of evil spirits -- by bathing in a shower of scorching sparks. The ritual takes place in the city of Putian in Fujian province, where China's Hakka people are concentrated and hold extended celebrations for the annual Lantern Festival, which officially fell on February 11. The ceremony in the village of Fangshan begins when eight local men selected by village elders don ancient-style Chinese dress to pray in a temple for protection from the Buddha.
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| Vatican froze two million euros in suspect funds in 2016 Posted: 18 Feb 2017 05:58 AM PST ![Vatican froze two million euros in suspect funds in 2016]( "Vatican froze two million euros in suspect funds in 2016") By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Vatican authorities froze more than two million euros in cases of suspected money laundering in 2016 as part of Pope Francis' drive to clean up the finances of the Holy See, its chief magistrate said on Saturday. Gian Pietro Milano, whose official title is Promoter of Justice, made the disclosure during his annual address on the state of the Vatican's criminal justice system. Milano gave no details in his speech but added that the total amount of suspect money frozen between 2013 and 2016 was about 13 million euros.
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| Kenya arrests 2 suspected IS recruits deported from Turkey Posted: 18 Feb 2017 08:04 AM PST ![Kenya arrests 2 suspected IS recruits deported from Turkey]( "Kenya arrests 2 suspected IS recruits deported from Turkey") NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan police have arrested two Kenyans who were deported from Turkey on suspicion of training with the Islamic State organization in neighboring Syria, officials said Saturday.
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| Republicans' New Plan to Gut Public Insurance Posted: 18 Feb 2017 01:50 AM PST ![Republicans' New Plan to Gut Public Insurance]( "Republicans' New Plan to Gut Public Insurance") Medicaid has essentially functioned the same way for half a century. Eligibility for the program has changed, most notably when Obamacare extended an option to states to expand coverage to all low-income adults. But once they are enrolled, beneficiaries are entitled to guaranteed coverage, with their home states and the federal government splitting costs with no upper limit. This open-ended, shared funding structure is vital for covering the kinds of people Medicaid tends to cover. Almost two-thirds of Medicaid costs come from low-income elderly and disabled people with serious—and thus expensive—health-care needs.
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| Shop These Presidents Day Deals For Maximum Savings Posted: 18 Feb 2017 07:20 AM PST  Presidents Day is a hotbed of discounts on appliances, mattresses, furniture and other items.
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