- WorldYahoo NewsTrump won’t say if he’ll ease sanctions on Russia, but wants a ‘great relationship’
President Trump told reporters on Friday that he wants a “great relationship” with Russia, but declined to say whether he has decided to ease U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. Trump spoke at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who made clear that her country opposes loosening the economic vise on Vladimir Putin’s government.
- NewsYahoo NewsTrump executive order leaves Malala ‘heartbroken’
Malala Yousafzai, the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, on Friday condemned President Trump’s executive order establishing new vetting measures for immigrants. “I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war,” Yousafzai said. Yousafzai, 19, issued the statement at about the same time that Trump announced his latest executive orders, including one that reportedly will suspend the U.S. refugee program for 120 days.
NewsAFPCalifornia student forced to pee in bucket gets $1.25 mnA former high school student in California has been awarded $1.25 million for having been forced to urinate in a bucket after being denied a bathroom break. A jury in San Diego on Wednesday ruled in favor of the former Patrick Henry High School student who had filed suit over the 2012 incident, initially seeking $25,000. According to the complaint, the unidentified teen, who was 14 at the time of the incident, was not allowed to use the bathroom by a teacher during class because of strict school policies.
WorldReutersHolocaust Memorial selfie-takers apologize to Israeli shamerGerman-Israeli satirist Shahak Shapira, who set up a website shaming selfie-takers at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, says he has halted the project for now after a dozen people apologized for their disrespect. Stop doing it," Shapira told Reuters Television. It is often used by visitors for picnics, yoga and other activities that Shapira said he found troubling.
- TechnologyForeign Policy MagazineDenmark Creates the World’s First Ever Digital Ambassador
On Friday, Denmark unveiled plans to put in place a digital ambassador to liaise with some of the world’s top tech companies, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Big companies “affect Denmark just as much as entire countries,” Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said in an interview with Danish newspaper Politiken.
- U.S.ABC News VideosSpeaking with Abortion Rights Supporters and Opponents at the "March for Life" event in DC
ABC News' Serena Marshall speaks with abortion rights supporters and opponents at the "March for Life" event in Washington DC. I didn't see some remarks we continue from the march light and we're anti abortion march here in Washington DC is you can see
NewsAssociated PressStudents, bus driver escape serious injury in crashStudents and their driver escaped serious injury when their school bus and multiple other vehicles crashed in South Los Angeles early Friday, leaving the bus almost on top of a crushed car, authorities said. Seven students were aboard the bus. Four complained of pain but were not hospitalized, while the bus driver and the driver of a car had minor injuries and were treated at hospitals, according to a California Highway Patrol report.
- BusinessInternational Business TimesMade In America iPhones To Cost More
President Donald Trump is trying to get smartphone companies to manufacture in the U.S. and Apple seems to have his special attention in this regard. The company is a major global smartphone player and has a large share of the U.S. cell phone market. Trump says he spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has his “eyes open” to manufacturing in the U.S. For its part, Apple has not issued any confirmation on plans to manufacture iPhones in the country, but if the company were to do so, what would be the cost of the "Made in America" label?
WorldReutersFrench presidential candidate Fillon's popularity dips: pollSome 61 percent of voters have a negative opinion of French presidential election candidate Francois Fillon, according to an opinion poll carried out after the publication of allegations that he paid his wife for a fake job. The Odoxa poll shows 38 percent have a good opinion of Fillon. It's a four points popularity drop since an Odoxa poll published on January 8, the note said.
WorldAssociated PressGambia plans Feb. 18 celebration as new leader arrives homeBillboards across Gambia's capital are declaring a Feb. 18 ceremony to mark the inauguration of the country's new leader, a day after his triumphant arrival. Hundreds of thousands turned out Thursday to greet President Adama Barrow, a week after he took the oath of office in neighboring Senegal. Longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh, who clung to power despite losing December elections, finally flew into exile over the weekend after mounting international pressure.
WorldAFPAfghanistan seeks more women to join its armyAfghanistan has announced fresh initiatives to bring more women into the army, weeks after the country's first female pilot sparked a national debate on insecurity and women's rights by seeking asylum in the US. The defence ministry wants to boost the proportion of women in the army to 10 percent, deputy ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh told AFP Friday, confirming a slew of incentives including a special salary scale for female recruits. "At this stage, we have 1,575 Afghan women in our army ranks, it is mere three to four percent which is nothing," Radmanesh said.
- EntertainmentYahoo News Photo StaffDiscarded protest signs from the Women’s March in NYC
Following the march in New York City, protesters left behind thousands of signs around Fifth Avenue near Trump Tower. Many signs left near a construction site were taken home by admirers as souvenirs. One group of placards was made into an art installation
- NewsInside EditionBodycam Footage Released of Controversial Arrest of Mom, Teen Daughters
Disturbing bodycam footage has been released of the arrest of a Texas mother and her teen daughters by a cop who was later disciplined for using unnecessary force. In the video taken last month, Fort Worth Officer William Martin responds to a call made
- NewsChristian Science MonitorWhy California's governor may emerge as top defender of liberal values
As California gears up for four years under a Republican White House and Congress, Gov. Jerry Brown is emerging as uniquely suited to playing a key role for blue states inclined toward political rebellion. Since the tea party wave of 2010, the picture has been reversed: Red states barraging the Obama administration with lawsuit after lawsuit. The question now is whether blue states will respond in kind.
WorldAFPNumber of suspects in Petrobras scandal to double: BrazilThe number of suspects in the Petrobras corruption scandal will likely double following confessions of former executives at Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, the lead prosecutor in the case told AFP. "We expect the case load to double in volume, and the collaboration of Odebrecht and many of its executives will provide evidence that will lead to new investigations throughout Brazil," federal prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol said Thursday. The probe that Dallagnol is leading, dubbed Operation Carwash, has netted scores of politicians and executives and put pressure on President Michel Temer as he tries to drag Latin America's biggest economy out of recession.
ScienceAssociated PressNASA opens exhibit on 50th anniversary of Apollo 1 fireNASA is opening an exhibit honoring the astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire — 50 years to the day they died. The hatch from the burning spacecraft is the main draw. On Friday's anniversary, the hatch that trapped Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee inside their capsule at the launch pad is finally going on display.
- BusinessInternational Business TimesElon Musk Says ‘We Start Digging The Tunnel Tonight’
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk gave the world the concept of Hyperloop — a superfast ground-based mass transit system — in 2013, but none of his companies have done anything to take it forward, leaving it instead for others to do so. Various teams, made up of university students and independent engineers, have been at the competition venue for some days already. The SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO had on Wednesday tweeted his seriousness to start digging tunnels to ease traffic congestion in urban areas, and had earlier referred to a potential business as “The Boring Company.” But in his tweets Wednesday, he said the plan to start digging would take off in about a month.
TechnologyReutersApple strategy in "smart home" race threatened by AmazonBy Stephen Nellis SAN FRANCISCO - In less than a year, Amazon's combination of the Echo speaker system and the Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant has come close to delivering on the elusive promise of easy-to-use technology that can control gadgets in the home with a few spoken words. Amazon is pursuing an open-systems approach that allows quick development of many features, while Apple is taking a slower route, asserting more control over the technology in order to assure security and ease-of-use. The strategic importance of the "connected home" niche looms large: Amazon wants a way to own its customer interactions -mainly shopping online - without an Apple phone or a Google Web browser as an intermediary.
- PoliticsForeign Policy MagazineTrump Is Already Damaging the Ability of the State Department to Function
Elections have consequences and among them is the fact that the new administration gets to select its own team to implement its own policies. As a State Department political appointee in the Barack Obama administration, I was under no illusion after the election that I would be asked to stick around or, painful as it may be, that the policy initiatives that my colleagues and I had championed were likely to persist.
- LifestyleYahoo News Photo StaffCelebrating the Chinese New Year
Around the world people are celebrating the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year – based on the ancient lunar calendar – will this weekend see millions of people join the celebrations with fireworks, gifts and colorful decorations. The international celebration will be celebrated in countries across the globe including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Spain, Vietnam, Australia and London.
WorldAssociated PressMore than 100 fast-spreading wildfires rage in ChileFlames from more than 100 raging wildfires in Chile continued spreading from the mountains to the Pacific coast, destroying forests, livestock and entire towns in a destructive path that is now dangerously close to the city of Concepcion. President Michelle Bachelet has called the wildfires the worst forest disaster in Chile's history.
- NewsInside EditionCouple Arrested After Overdosing in Car With 5-Year-Old and 18-Month-Old in Back Seat: Cops
A Florida couple was arrested after first responders found them overdosed in a car outside a gas station with two young children in the back seat of the vehicle. According to surveillance video provided by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department, a black SUV could be seen pulling up to a Texaco station last Thursday morning. Cops said they were there for about two hours until fire trucks pulled up, responding to an overdose call.
WorldAFPSyria army enters key water plant near capital: state TVSyria's army on Saturday entered a key water pumping station outside the capital for the first time in four years after a deal with rebels, state television said. "The Syrian army hoisted the Syrian flag above the installation" at Ain al-Fijeh, which rebels first seized in 2012, it said. The move comes after more than a month of fighting in the Wadi Barada area, despite a fragile nationwide truce that led to peace talks earlier this week in Kazakhstan.
BusinessBGR NewsTesla sues former Autopilot director for stealing ‘hundreds of gigabytes’ of top-secret informationTesla earlier today filed a lawsuit against Sterling Anderson, the former head of the company’s Autopilot program. Anderson left Tesla a while back in order to form a new self-driving car start-up called Aurora with Chris Urmson, the former CTO of Google’s self-driving program. The suit alleges that Anderson, before leaving the company, absconded with hundreds of gigabytes of proprietary and technical information.
LifestyleAssociated PressChinese Lunar New Year feast begins with drums and dumplingsFour men in traditional yellow costumes bang large drums to announce the start of the New Year's Eve banquet in Liuminying village. Villages and cities across China are preparing this weekend to celebrate Lunar New Year, though few feasts are as elaborate as the one in Liuminying, a hamlet in Beijing's suburbs. Festivities in recent years have been more muted as China's economy has slowed down — hitting its lowest level of growth in three decades last year — and its top political leadership has issued calls for austerity.
