WorldAssociated PressModel in Russian court apologizes for US election claim
A Belarusian model and self-styled sex instructor who last year claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election said Saturday that she apologizes to a Russian tycoon for the claim and won't say more about the matter. Anastasia Vashukevich made the statement in a Moscow court that was considering whether to keep her in jail as she faces charges of inducement to prostitution. Vashukevich's statement appears to head off any chance of her speaking to U.S. investigators looking into possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign.
NewsReutersWinter storm disturbs travel as it rolls toward U.S. Midwest, Northeast
A major winter storm was expected to clobber a large swath of the northern United States with heavy snow, gusty winds and frigid temperatures making travel difficult and dangerous starting on Friday and through the weekend, forecasters said. The storm system will dump 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) of snow in the Plains and Midwest on Friday night and Saturday and as it moves east at least a foot of snow in parts of the Northeast on Saturday and Sunday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said in several advisories. The system was expected to also bring freezing rain, wind gusts of 35 miles (56 km) per hour and quickly dropping temperatures that will to dip into the teens and even below zero Fahrenheit in several areas, the service said.
BusinessUSA TODAYWhy the stock market is headed for a swift recovery
In my four earlier ones, I covered why December was lousy and why stocks are on the right side of a swift V-shaped recovery. U.S. stocks have climbed more than 10 percent since the market close on Christmas Eve. Assuming December 24 remains the bottom, this correction ended later in a calendar year than any correction or bear market ever.
- WorldWTVD – Raleigh/Durham
Horrifying fireball at ruptured Mexico oil pipeline kills 66
The leak was caused by an illegal pipeline tap in the small town of Tlahuelilpan, about 62 miles north of Mexico City.
WorldAFPBomb blast in a bus kills 3 civilians in Syria's Afrin: monitor
A bomb blast in a bus killed three civilians Sunday in the northern Syrian city of Afrin on the first anniversary of a Turkish attack on the Kurdish-majority region, a war monitor said. Nine other people, including fighters, were wounded in the explosion, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP. Turkish troops and allied rebel groups seized the Afrin region from Kurdish forces in March last year after a two-month air and ground offensive.
- WorldThe Telegraph
First picture: Prince Philip car crash victim 'not getting enough support from Palace'
A mother of two whose wrist was broken when the car she was in collided with Prince Philip's Land Rover has told friends she is “unhappy” with the way Buckingham Palace has handled the accident. The Telegraph can reveal that Emma Fairweather, 45, was the passenger in the Kia car last Thursday when it struck the Duke of Edinburgh's Land Rover near the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Ms Fairweather has since complained of feeling “overwhelmed” by the experience of being involved, firstly, in a crash and, secondly, in one involving the husband of the monarch.
BusinessAFPGlobal stocks surge on China-US trade breakthrough hopes
Stock markets across the globe powered higher Friday, buoyed by hopes of a breakthrough in efforts to defuse a US-China trade war. European and Asian indices bounced back strongly on Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported Washington was considering lifting tariffs on China as officials look to hammer out a trade deal. Wall Street joined the party later Friday, with major indices rising one percent or more to close out the fourth day in a row of gains.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Donald Trump's week of living dangerously
A Quinnipiac University poll taken right at the time Trump visited the Texas border found that 59 percent of Americans considered a wall a bad use of taxpayer money, while just 40 percent agreed with the president. While there was no shortage of polls concluding that more Americans blamed Trump than Congressional Democrats for the shutdown, the data that might have concerned him more showed that he was losing support from his vaunted political base. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, for instance, showed Trump's support among suburban white men had dropped 18 points, his approval rating among white evangelicals was down 13 points, and there was an overall dip among all Republicans of 10 points.
WorldAssociated PressMerkel's Bavarian allies elect new head, ushering in new era
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies elected a new leader Saturday, a change that offers Germany's center-right a chance to move past their persistent bickering over recent years. The 52-year-old Markus Soeder was elected unopposed in Munich with more than 87 percent of the votes to lead the Christian Social Union. The CSU is the Bavaria-only sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, an independent-minded and sometimes-awkward ally despite the fact that they have a joint group in Germany's national parliament.
NewsAssociated PressFeds confirm jailed Iranian TV anchor not charged with crime
Federal officials confirmed Friday that a prominent American-born anchorwoman on Iranian state television was jailed in the U.S. as a material witness and has not been charged with any crime, according to court papers. Marzieh Hashemi has appeared twice before a U.S. district judge in Washington and has been appointed an attorney. U.S. government officials expect her to be released immediately after her testimony before a grand jury.
- NewsAccuWeather
State of emergency declared in Pennsylvania, New Jersey as Midwest, Northeast rush to finalize snowstorm preparations
A major snowstorm will strike the Midwest and Northeast this weekend, dumping mass amounts of snow and creating treacherous travel conditions. Local officials warn communities to prepare ahead of the dangerous winter storm. The National Weather Service (NWS) on Friday had winter storm watches and warnings in effect across the Northeast and Midwest.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Students appear to perform Nazi salute in 'sickening' photo, superintendent says
INDIANAPOLIS – High school officials in Indiana are investigating after a picture posted on social media appeared to show students using a Nazi salute. The photo, which was taken at Zionsville Community High School and posted to Instagram, was confirmed in an email sent to parents, staff and faculty Thursday night. In the email, Zionsville Superintendent Scott Robison said a concerned student sent the photo to a teacher, who sent it to Robison.
WorldReutersSenator Graham says U.S.-Saudi cannot move on until prince 'dealt with'
Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said on Saturday the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia cannot move forward until Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is "dealt with", without being more specific. Speaking in Ankara a day after meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Graham also said Congress will reintroduce sanctions against those involved in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. quot;The relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia cannot move forward until Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is dealt with," Graham said.
NewsAFPUS diocese sorry after students mock elderly Native American
A US diocese has apologized and vowed to take action after videos emerged showing boys from a Catholic private school mocking an elderly Native American man at a rally in the capital Washington, triggering widespread criticism. The incident occurred on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday when the annual anti-abortion March for Life coincided with a rally by indigenous communities calling for their rights to be respected. In footage captured on multiple phone camera videos that swept social media on Saturday, a student from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky wearing a Make America Great Again hat is seen smirking as he stands extremely close to Nathan Phillips, a Native American Vietnam war veteran, who beats a traditional drum while chanting.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The New 2020 GMC Sierra HD Will Be a Reskinned Silverado HD
There's a new GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickup truck soon to crest the horizon. The Denali model pictured above has the requisite chrome-laden front grille, along with headlights with an LED accent strip similar to the light-duty Sierra's. GMC is likely to offer similar trim levels for the Sierra 2500 and 3500 models as the Sierra 1500, such as the off-road-oriented AT4 and the less well-equipped SLE and SLT models. As for the Sierra HD's dirty bits, don't expect much variation from the new Silverado HD's powertrain offerings, which include a gasoline V-8 and a turbo-diesel V-8.
- BusinessBloomberg
Singapore Plans to Buy F-35 Fighter Jets to Replace F-16 Fleet
Singapore has identified Lockheed Martin Corp. s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as the most suitable replacement for its fleet of F-16 fighter jets and plans to buy a small number for evaluation, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Friday. The Air Force's F-16s that were in service since 1998 will retire soon after 2030, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post the same day.
- NewsYahoo News
Non-zero tolerance: DHS is still separating families at the border
In the five months since President Trump issued an executive order indefinitely suspending his administration's zero-tolerance family separation policy, immigration officials have continued to separate immigrant children and parents — at steadily increasing rates. According to a report released Thursday by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), between July 1 and Nov. 7 last year, at least 118 immigrant children were separated from parents or adult guardians by officials at the border and referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the department in HHS that is responsible for the care of unaccompanied immigrant children in U.S. custody. The key takeaway of the report, which prompted immediate calls for accountability from immigration advocates and some Democratic lawmakers, was that the total number of immigrant families separated by border officials under the Trump administration is unknown and likely significantly larger than what had previously been announced.
- SciencePopular Mechanics
Saturn's Rings Are Much Younger Than You Might Think
This is nowhere nearly as easy as it sounds-and bear in mind we're talking about measuring the position of a space probe tumbling into the atmosphere of another planet hundreds of millions of miles away-because Saturn's air currents were buffeting Cassini around at the same time. Only recently, when scientists gained access to the atmospheric data Cassini collected in those final moments, were they able to separate out the atmospheric movements from the gravitational movements. Once they did that, the scientists behind this study were able to determine the mass of Saturn's rings, and from there calculate their age.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Markets Right Now: Stocks gain as US-China trade hopes rise
The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local): 4:00 p.m. Stocks are closing higher Friday as renewed hopes for progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China contribute to optimism on Wall Street. Bloomberg News reported that China's government offered to buy more goods and services from the U.S., potentially eliminating its trade deficit by 2024.
NewsUSA TODAYAirlines already canceling flights into Monday from Winter Storm Harper
PREVIOUS UPDATE (Saturday, 8:25 p.m.): Flight headaches were on the rise Saturday as a potent winter storm moved from the Midwest into the Northeast. Airline cancellations mounted, with some flights on Monday already off the books. For Saturday, more than 2,125 flights had been canceled nationwide and another 2,570 delayed as of 8:25 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Video shows Tempe police officer shooting 14-year-old as he runs away
PHOENIX – The Tempe Police Department on Friday released footage from an officer's body camera that shows the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy who was carrying an airsoft gun as he ran from police earlier this week. The footage depicting the shooting of Antonio Arce was released as the department faces harsh criticism from the victim's family and local activists. The moments leading up to the shooting were captured on Officer Jaen's body camera, which was worn on his chest, police said.
- WorldReuters
Syrian opposition sees window for political solution in Syria
Syria now has a good opportunity to reach a political solution to its devastating eight-year war as ceasefires have brought calm to many areas of the country, Syria's chief opposition negotiator said on Saturday. quot;I think now that we have an opportunity, because nearly in Syria we have a ceasefire now, in the northeast of Syria and the north of Syria, and the efforts of fighting terrorism has achieved good results," Nasr Hariri told Reuters in an interview in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, where he is based. Hariri, the opposition's chief negotiator in U.N. peace talks, met with the newly appointed United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen on Friday.
WorldAFPRussia agrees for Germany, France to monitor Kerch Strait: Lavrov
Russia on Friday said it had agreed for France and Germany to monitor shipping traffic in the Kerch Strait following a naval confrontation between Moscow and Kiev last year. Russian ships fired on and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the narrow strait -- shared between Russia and Ukraine -- as the boats tried to pass from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea on November 25. President Vladimir Putin had "immediately agreed" to Berlin's request to send observers to the area, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The First 1500 Toyota Supra Buyers Get This Special Launch Edition
This car, finished in matte gray with red mirror caps and matte black wheels, has a red interior. It also has a VIN ending in 20201, for the year of the Supra's reintroduction and a 1 for its status as first Supra off the production line. Pristine examples of the fourth-generation (A80) Toyota Supra have been selling for insane amounts of money lately, and Toyota surely would like the new 2020 Supra to become collectible, too.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
The Winter Show Modernizes the Antique Fair with Creative, Colorful Booths—and an App
Yes, there's furniture and art aplenty at this year's Winter Show, but something else stood out at last night's opening party: wallpaper. Throughout the fair, vendors look to creative wall coverings to catch the eye, yes, but also to demonstrate the versatility of their wares. Early American baskets pop against lemon yellow walls at Kelly Kinzle Antiques, while a seashell backdrop (John Derian's shell paper for Designers Guild) at Bernard & S. Dean Levy adds a playful touch to the booth's serious display of Chippendale furnishings—especially once you notice that the lower portions of the walls are hand-painted a blue hue taken from David Hockney's pools, giving the effect of being underwater in a surreal antique-filled ocean.
