| Lindsey Graham to CNN host on Iraq withdrawal issue: 'That's a bunch of bulls***' Posted: 30 Dec 2018 08:23 AM PST  Sen. Lindsey Graham said that former President Barack Obama is to blame for "everything we're dealing with today" because of his decision to withdraw from Iraq in 2011.
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| Two killed in bombing in troubled south Philippines Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:57 AM PST  Two people were killed and around 35 others wounded Monday after a bomb went off outside a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato, police said. The explosion prompted officers to search the mall, leading to the discovery of another suspected bomb which they destroyed, said local police spokesman Chief Inspector Rowell Zafra.
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| Judge grants stay after ruling Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, Obamacare stays in effect Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:44 AM PST  Judge Reed O'Connor agreed to stay his decision because "many everyday Americans would otherwise face great uncertainty" while appeals played out.
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| Lion kills worker after escaping from enclosure at wildlife centre in US Posted: 30 Dec 2018 08:37 PM PST  A lion killed a young worker at a wildlife conservatory in North Carolina on Sunday after it got loose from a locked space. Alexandra Black, 22, of New Palestine, Indiana, was killed after being attacked by the animal in an enclosure that was being cleaned at the Conservators Centre, news outlets reported, citing a statement from the Caswell County Sheriff's Office. The lion was shot and killed after attempts to tranquilise the animal failed, deputies said. A "husbandry team" led by a professionally trained animal keeper was carrying out the routine cleaning when the lion somehow got loose, the centre said in a statement. It wasn't clear how the lion escaped the area that was supposed to be locked, said the centre, which is closed until further notice. "This is the worst day of my life. We've lost a person. We've lost an animal. We have lost the faith in ourselves a little today," said Mindy Stinner, the executive director of the Conservators Center, according to WTVD-TV. Black had graduated from Indiana University in May with a degree in animal behaviour, according to her LinkedIn page. She had been working at the conservatory for about two weeks, her family said. "She was a beautiful young woman who had just started her career, there was a terrible accident, and we are mourning," Black's family said in a statement, according to news outlets. "But, she died following her passion." The centre said the lion was fatally shot to allow county personnel to retrieve Black. The facility was founded in 1999 and is in Burlington, about 50 miles northwest of Raleigh. On its website, the centre said it began giving public tours in 2007 and gets more than 16,000 visitors annually. It has more than a dozen employees and currently houses more than 80 animals and more than 21 species. The centre says it took in 14 lions and tigers in 2004 to assist the US Department of Agriculture with caring for animals that were living in "unacceptable conditions."
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| Sydney kicks off global 2019 parties with dazzling spectacle Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:34 AM PST  Australia's largest city Sydney put on its biggest-ever fireworks display in a spectacular welcome to the New Year, kicking off a wave of celebrations for billions around the world. A record amount of pyrotechnics as well as new fireworks effects and colours lit up the city's skyline for 12 minutes and dazzled the more than 1.5 million spectators who packed the harbour front and parks. The party atmosphere will sweep across major cities in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas as the clock ticks past midnight.
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| Vatican spokesman, deputy resign amid crisis period for pope Posted: 31 Dec 2018 12:51 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, and his deputy resigned abruptly Monday amid an overhaul of the Vatican's communications operations and a crisis period in Pope Francis' papacy.
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| Kim Wants More Summits With Moon to Tackle Nuclear Issue Posted: 30 Dec 2018 01:23 AM PST  The North Korean leader sent Moon a personal letter of well wishes on Sunday, expressing a willingness to meet often in 2019 to advance peace talks and achieve "denuclearization on the Korean peninsula," Moon spokesman Kim Eui-keum said. Moon thanked him for the letter, tweeting that the North Korean leader "again made clear" that he would act on his agreement with the U.S. and South Korea.
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| The 10 Most Expensive Cars Sold at Auction in 2018 Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:55 AM PST |
| Democrat Warren takes step to challenge Trump in 2020 Posted: 31 Dec 2018 02:59 PM PST  Warren said she had formed an exploratory committee, which will allow her to begin raising money to compete in what is expected to be a crowded Democratic primary field before the November 2020 presidential election. Warren, 69, a senator from Massachusetts since 2013, became one of Trump's fiercest critics during the 2016 presidential race and they have continued to exchange biting insults during his presidency. Trump mockingly refers to her as "Pocahontas" because of her claim to Native American ancestry.
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| New for New Year's Eve Times Square: NYPD drone will watch over crowd Posted: 31 Dec 2018 09:30 AM PST  As revelers in New York City's Times Square sway to old acquaintances they don't want to forget, there will be a new one on hand: a tethered drone.
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| Russia: 4 die in building collapse; searchers race weather Posted: 31 Dec 2018 02:58 PM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — Hundreds of rescue workers raced bitterly cold weather in Russia's Ural Mountains region Monday as they searched for survivors in the hulking concrete blocks from a partially collapsed apartment building where at least four people died.
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| Suspect in murder of a California police officer was making a run for Mexico when he was apprehended, officials say Posted: 30 Dec 2018 11:27 AM PST  Eight people have now been arrested in the death of Newman police officer Col. Ronil Singh; Jeff Paul reports.
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| We're proud to be in the Fiesta Bowl, but fostering social mobility matters more Posted: 31 Dec 2018 09:43 AM PST  The power of education isn't about picking the student who's already most likely to succeed. It's about identifying talent with grit and spirit.
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| Vietnamese relatives of bus blast victims arrive in Egypt Posted: 30 Dec 2018 06:33 AM PST  Relatives of Vietnamese tourists hit by a roadside bomb near Egypt's famed pyramids arrived on Sunday in Cairo, an airport source said. A group of five, which included family members, arrived in the capital two days after a blast hit a tour bus killing three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian guide. The attack, which took place in the Giza governorate, wounded 11 other Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian bus driver, Egypt's public prosecutor said.
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| Syria's Assad authorizes Iraqi forces to strike IS in Syria Posted: 30 Dec 2018 09:15 AM PST  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad authorized Iraqi forces on Sunday to attack the Islamic State group inside Syria without waiting for permission from authorities in Damascus, the state news agency SANA said, as the two allies coordinate their fight against extremists ahead of a planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria.
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| What Happens in Korea Now That Mattis Is Gone? Posted: 30 Dec 2018 04:29 PM PST  In this confused environment, Mattis was a beacon of normality.
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| Defective bracket discovered on collapsed jetway bridge at Baltimore-Washington International Airport Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:01 AM PST  Investigators discovered a defective metal bracket on the jetway that partially at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, injuring six people.
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| Bali's Agung volcano spews ash in fresh eruption Posted: 30 Dec 2018 12:47 AM PST  A volcano on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali erupted Sunday, belching ash high into the air and over nearby villages as officials warned tourists to keep clear of the area. Mount Agung has been erupting periodically since it rumbled back to life in 2017, when it grounded hundreds of flights and left 120,000 visitors stranded. "Residents near Mount Agung as well as climbers and tourists should not carry out any activity in the danger zone or within four-kilometre radius from the crater," the centre said in a statement.
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| Why the Range Rover P38a deserves space in your garage Posted: 30 Dec 2018 01:27 PM PST  Forever lampooned as a liability by keyboard warriors and marque snobs alike, the second generation Range Rover (P38a) remains criminally underrated. Stylish and incredibly capable as a 4x4 , here's why you should ignore the horror stories and buy one...
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| Mysterious deep space world Ultima Thule already looks weird — and we've only had a glimpse Posted: 31 Dec 2018 01:17 PM PST  Ultima Thule — an uncharted world over 4 billion miles away — is coming into view. On Monday, planetary scientists released a fuzzy image of Ultima Thule, snapped the day prior by the New Horizons exploration spacecraft from some 1.2 million miles away. Previously, New Horizons swooped by Pluto in 2015, capturing the icy, mountainous world in unprecedented detail. Increasingly rich, detailed images of Ultima will start arriving on January 2, but already the deep space object looks elongated, not round, said New Horizons deputy project scientist John Spencer from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Maryland headquarters of the New Horizons program. The program is a collaborative effort between NASA, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where scientists navigate and control the spacecraft. "It's the first glimpse of what's going to get rapidly better from here on — it's our first taste," Spencer said. Ultima Thule as an elongated blob.Image: JHuAPL/NasaWhether Ultima's surface is heavily cratered and if it has a rich surface geology — like that of Pluto — remains to be seen. "Anything is possible out there in this very unknown region," he said. Ultima lies 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, in a ring of icy worlds known as the Kuiper Belt. Planetary scientists believe the objects out there have been frozen in time for some 4 billion years — preserving what happened during our solar system's early formation, long ago. SEE ALSO: How NASA recorded the eerie Martian wind, without a microphone "The Kuiper Belt is just a scientific wonderland," Alan Sterns, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, said on Sunday. "We've never, in the history of spaceflight, gone to a target that we know less about," Stern added. Already, Ultima has proven mysterious. As New Horizons travels closer to the object, the pattern of light reflecting off of Ultima, or its light curve, is inconsistent. With most other objects, these light patterns repeat as the objects spin. An artist's conception of what Ultima Thule might look like.Image: nasa"It's really a puzzle," said Stern in a statement last week. But much of Ultima's mystery will diminish in the next few days. Just 33 minutes into the new year local time, New Horizon's will swoop some 2,200 miles above Ultima, capturing detailed snapshots of the uncharted world. But because Ultima is so far away, these rich images won't be immediately available. The data will be transmitted back to Earth, and on January 2 the first detailed snapshots will emerge of this elongated, though still largely mysterious, object. Ultima will soon become the most distant world humanity has ever visited. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| Putin Says Russia, Turkey Will Play a ‘Decisive’ Role in Syria Peace Posted: 30 Dec 2018 08:35 AM PST  In a New Year's message to Erdogan published by the Kremlin on Sunday, Putin said that "Moscow and Ankara are making a decisive contribution to the fight against terrorism in Syria, as well as to the promotion of a political settlement in that country."His comment came a day after the Russian and Turkish foreign and defense ministers, as well as the countries' intelligence chiefs, held talks in Moscow on Syria as they move to fill the void left by U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to order a military pullout. "We reached an agreement on how Russian and Turkish military representatives on the ground will continue to coordinate their actions in these new conditions, with the goal of decisively defeating the terrorist threat in Syria," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after the talks.
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| The Latest: Dad says he's angry travel ban kept family apart Posted: 30 Dec 2018 04:15 AM PST  OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the death of a boy whose Yemeni mother fought the Trump administration travel ban (all times local):
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| Police chief admits there isn't Zika in meth after Facebook post goes viral Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:28 AM PST  The Harahan Police Department never had reason to believe Zika, a mosquito-born virus, was able to contaminate meth.
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| Fatah says Hamas arrests members in Gaza ahead of rally Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:13 AM PST  Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party said Monday that its rival Hamas had carried out widespread arrests of its members in the Gaza Strip ahead of a rally marking the anniversary of the movement's founding. Hamas denied the accusation, with a spokesman for the enclave's interior ministry saying 38 people had been held for questioning over concerns that opposing Fatah factions in Gaza would clash at the rally set for later in the day.
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| 4-year-old undergoes surgery after swallowing magnets from popular toy Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:27 AM PST  Mother issues warning to parents after she says her son had to have part of his colon and intestines removed after swallowing 13 tiny magnets from a toy.
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| The 16 Most Beautiful Highways for Road Trips Posted: 31 Dec 2018 05:00 AM PST |
| Why a Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 was worth waiting 22 years for Posted: 30 Dec 2018 01:36 PM PST  The long wait only made getting this 1992 Skyline GT-R that much sweeter for Mark Hutchinson, after he dreamed of owning one for decades
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| 8th Largest Mega Millions Jackpot in History Up for Grabs on New Year's Day Posted: 30 Dec 2018 01:24 PM PST  The jackpot climbed to $415 million in a drawing set to take place Tuesday
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| Taliban dismiss Afghanistan's peace talks offer Posted: 29 Dec 2018 10:04 PM PST  Representatives from the Taliban, the United States and regional countries met this month in the United Arab Emirates for talks to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan. "We will meet the U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in January next year and we will start our talks that remained incomplete in Abu Dhabi," a member of the Taliban's decision-making Leadership Council told Reuters. "However, we have made it clear to all the stakeholders that we will not talk to the Afghan government." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said the leaders of the group would not talk to the Afghan government.
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| Putin scores some wins but tensions with the West mount Posted: 30 Dec 2018 06:15 AM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — It's been a mixed year for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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| China Seeks Talks With India to Push Asia Trade Pact, Sources Say Posted: 31 Dec 2018 02:00 PM PST  The 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement has been in the works for a while and China is keen to conclude it by end of 2019, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is not public. India's wariness about a possible flood of Chinese goods, and its demand for looser immigration rules for its tech professionals remain sticking points. China's inability to close the trade deal highlights the continuing suspicion among its Asian trading partners over Beijing's effort to increase its influence in the region.
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| Disney, Verizon Fios reach agreement to avoid blackout of ESPN, other channels Posted: 30 Dec 2018 02:48 PM PST ![Disney, Verizon Fios reach agreement to avoid blackout of ESPN, other channels]( "Disney, Verizon Fios reach agreement to avoid blackout of ESPN, other channels") Verizon and Disney were in a standoff over ESPN and other Disney channels staying on Fios TV, which has 4.5 million TV subscribers in the eastern U.S.
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| Brexit '50-50' if May's deal voted down: British minister Posted: 30 Dec 2018 02:10 AM PST  Britain's chances of leaving the European Union are only "50-50" if MPs reject Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal, a senior minister warned Sunday. Liam Fox, the international trade secretary and a vocal Brexit campaigner during the 2016 referendum, warned colleagues planning on voting against May that her plan was the only way to be "100 percent certain" that Britain would leave. "If we were not to vote for that, I'm not sure I would give it much more than 50-50," he told The Sunday Times.
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| Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop to celebrate journalists and press freedom Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:27 AM PST  A test run of the Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop is performed on 30 December. Organisers of the Times Square ball drop, New York City's traditional New Year's ceremony, have invited a group of journalists to press the ceremonial button. Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, said in a statement it was "fitting to celebrate free press and free speech as we reflect on where we've been during the past year and what it is we value most as a society".
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| Ceramicists Are Making Lamps and We're Fully On Board Posted: 31 Dec 2018 04:00 AM PST  Here are a few of our faves
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| Ask the Captain: What airplanes did you fly in your career? Posted: 30 Dec 2018 06:00 AM PST ![Ask the Captain: What airplanes did you fly in your career?]( "Ask the Captain: What airplanes did you fly in your career?") Prior to becoming an aviation safety consultant, and USA TODAY columnist, John Cox flew a wide variety of commercial airplanes.
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| 5 Died After Falling Off Cruises in 2 Months. Advocates Say Cruise Lines Can Do More to Protect Passengers Posted: 31 Dec 2018 01:58 PM PST  The cruise industry says that man overboard incidents rare and caused by poor passenger behavior. But safety advocates disagree.
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| Graham more upbeat on Syria troop withdrawal after Trump meeting Posted: 30 Dec 2018 05:20 PM PST ![Graham more upbeat on Syria troop withdrawal after Trump meeting]( "Graham more upbeat on Syria troop withdrawal after Trump meeting") Senator Lindsey Graham had warned that removing all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria would hurt national security by allowing Islamic State to rebuild, betraying U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters of the YPG militia battling remnants of the militant group, and enhancing Iran's ability to threaten Israel. During a morning television interview, Graham said he would ask Trump to slow down the troop withdrawal, which was announced earlier this month and drew widespread criticism. An ally of Trump, although he has opposed some of his foreign policy decisions, Graham was more upbeat after the meeting.
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| Where do the investigations related to Trump stand? Posted: 30 Dec 2018 09:01 PM PST  Where the investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him:
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| Detailed Photos of the 2019 McLaren Senna Supercar Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:31 AM PST |
| PG&E could face murder charges in California wildfires, attorney general says Posted: 30 Dec 2018 12:50 PM PST  California's attorney general said it's possible the power utility could face charges up to murder if investigators find reckless operation of power equipment caused any deadly wildfires.
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| Israel protests after Jordan minister pictured stepping on flag Posted: 30 Dec 2018 10:42 AM PST  Israel's foreign ministry protested to Jordan on Sunday after a minister was pictured stepping on an image of the Israeli flag while entering a meeting. The image of the flag has been affixed to the floor just inside the entrance to the complex for several years to protest Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and Jordan's normalised ties with the Jewish state, union officials say. Israel called Jordan's ambassador in for clarifications on Sunday, the foreign ministry said.
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