President Obama acknowledges the crowd as he arrives to deliver his farewell address in Chicago. President Obama warned in his farewell address late Tuesday that only renewed citizen engagement can save American democracy from the threats of economic dislocation, racial resentment, and the toxic partisanship that fester inside insulated “bubbles” where everyone looks and thinks the same. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime,” Obama told a crowd of approximately 18,000 in his adoptive hometown of Chicago.
Environmentalists are mobilizing against President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination for secretary of state, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, in the hours leading up to his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday. A collection of green and liberal organizations — including Greenpeace USA and Oil Change International — projected “Reject Rex” and similar messages on the side of the Harry S. Truman Building, the headquarters of the State Department, in Washington, D.C., on Monday night. Naomi Ages, the climate liability campaigner for Greenpeace USA, said it’s ridiculous that the chief executive of an oil company would be selected to succeed John Kerry as secretary of state, the chief diplomat representing the interests of the American people around the world.
White supremacist Dylann Roof, condemned to death for a mass shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, heard forgiveness and fury at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday from grieving loved ones of the nine slain black parishioners. Some victims' family members called the 22-year-old Roof evil and deserving of the death penalty for the June 17, 2015, attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African-American congregation in the American South. "I want your soul to burn in hell," said Gayle Jackson, a niece of 87-year-old victim Susie Jackson.
As German tanks encircled the Polish town of Katowice, rookie British newspaper reporter Clare Hollingworth picked up the phone and dialed the British Embassy. Hollingworth was 27, and just a week into her job with the Daily Telegraph of London. As the Nazis moved in, Hollingworth scrambled to get out of Poland, sometimes sleeping in cars, and eventually made her way to Romania.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a significant case about the level of education support disabled children must receive in the public school system. Back in 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which was later renewed and changed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (or IDEA). The federal government in today’s case, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, wants the Court to clarify what Congress has meant since it set these policies since 1975, and specifically the concept of “free appropriate public education” for disabled children at public schools.
For the first time since he was kicked off a JetBlue flight held in Florida, former New York Senator Al D’Amato is speaking about the hours-long delay that led to his premature departure. "The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly.
Serbia's authorities are urging all migrants to move to the Balkan country's asylum centers during the cold spell that has gripped the country bringing heavy snow and extremely low temperatures. Hundreds of migrants have remained in makeshift shelters for the past several days braving polar conditions with temperatures way below zero even during the day. Many migrants are reluctant to seek official help, fearing they wouldn't be able to move on toward Western Europe.
The death toll from the cold snap hitting parts of Europe rose to at least 65 on Wednesday as Bulgarian authorities reported seven fatalities. Elsewhere in the country two Iraqi migrants died in a snowstorm, a couple both aged 55 were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning caused by faulty heating and a homeless man froze to death. Temperatures sank to minus 18 Celsius (minus 0.4 Fahrenheit) in the capital Sofia and Bulgarian authorities said electricity and gas demand have reached 20-year highs.
About one issue we've been hearing about a lot today for more on that we want to go to Juan Escalante. Immigration something has come up again and again all day Enid to confirmation hearing of senator Jeff Sessions it's gonna come up again in this Department of Homeland Security. During the day when he came to senator sessions hearing it will likely come up again in the Department of Homeland Security.
A U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom winner was arrested and held briefly Wednesday by Cuban security agents who threatened him with imprisonment if he continued to push efforts to create a free parliament to replace the National Assembly of People’s Power, the Inspire America Foundation said. Dr. Oscar Biscet, a political dissident and human rights advocate who was imprisoned in 2002 for crimes against sovereignty and the integrity of the Cuban territory, was arrested outside his Havana home by four police and two state security agents, the Miami Herald reported. “While in custody he was told to give up his work and that he was getting old and that he was being watched and would go to prison if he continued,” said Marcell Felipe, founder of the foundation.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio hammered former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson during a Wednesday morning confirmation hearing with a steady, hard line of questioning about Russian aggression. Tillerson’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin have been a major point of contention since President-elect Donald Trump picked the longtime oilman to be his secretary of state. Trump has declined to condemn Putin and has even praised him — much to the disappointment of many national security hawks on both sides of the proverbial aisle.
"Amazon must tender unconditional apology," external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter. "They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately." "If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant Indian Visa to any Amazon official," she added. "We will also rescind the Visas issued earlier." The doormat, sold by a third-party on Amazon's Canadian portal, was taken down late on Wednesday.
Ross Lebeau, 24, from Texas was pulled over for a routine traffic stop after he allegedly failed to use a turn signal on Dec. 5. Deputies for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office then searched Lebeau's vehicle, where they discovered a sock filled with what they believed to be methamphetamine in the car's trunk.
Polaris Industries announced today that it plans to halt production of Victory Motorcycles. The motorsports firm, which manufacturers vehicles as diverse as ATVs, side-by-sides, snowmobiles, and the unique three-wheeled Slingshot, will assist dealers in selling off current Victory inventories and will continue to supply parts for ten years. Polaris says it will honor service and warranty coverage for Victory owners and dealers, too.
Around the time Fox News was settling an explosive lawsuit with former host Gretchen Carlson accusing ex-CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, the top-rated cable news network quietly settled with another former host who reportedly accused one of its biggest stars, Bill O’Reilly, of sexual harassment. According to the website, the letter alleges that O’Reilly propositioned Huddy on numerous occasions, frequently made sexually charged comments to her and once tried to kiss her when she visited his Long Island home.
A seat pulled out of Lake Erie from a plane carrying six people when it vanished more than a week ago near Cleveland contained the remains of a male, officials said Tuesday. The plane piloted by a Columbus businessman traveling with his family and two neighbors disappeared shortly after taking off from Burke Lakefront Airport in downtown Cleveland on Dec. 29. Crews searching for the wreckage are concentrating on an area about the size of a football field, said Khalid Bahhur, commissioner of Burke Lakefront Airport.
Protesters disrupted Sen. Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing for attorney general on Tuesday, including two men wearing Ku Klux Klan costumes and a woman wearing a pink crown. The conservative Alabama senator, who is Donald Trump’s pick for the nation’s top law enforcement official, faces concerns over how committed he would be to civil rights.
New York Police Detective Steven McDonald, who famously forgave the teen who left him paralyzed in a 1986 shooting, died Tuesday. The NYPD cop was investigating a bicycle theft in Central Park when he was shot three times on July 12, 1986. McDonald, 59, who loved cops/community/life & @NYRangers, has passed.
As someone who lives in Wisconsin, I can tell you that in the winter just about everyone with any sense takes a moment to start their car and leave it running for five or ten minutes before they actually depart. The same is true in Michigan, which shares Wisconsin’s habit of frigid winter. Nick Taylor, a Roseville, Michigan, resident left his vehicle idling in the driveway of his girlfriend’s house during the state’s recent cold snap.
President-elect Donald Trump used his first press conference since July to rebuke specific news outlets for publishing reports on Tuesday regarding his campaign’s supposed dealings with Russia. In a comment about BuzzFeed, which chose to publish the full unverified dossier of allegations, Trump called the media site “a failing pile of garbage.” Shortly afterward, CNN reporter Jim Acosta attempted to ask a question. “I felt it was only fair if our news organization was going to be attacked, we get to ask a follow-up question,” Acosta said after the press conference.
With just a short time left in the White House, check out all the times he made us smile.
A Japanese macaque opens it mouth in the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, Germany; Timber-framed houses in the Roemerberg square are reflected in water in Frankfurt, Germany; and a man and his dog stop to look at a mural depicting Princess Leia from “Star Wars
Dylann Roof, the self-described white supremacist who gunned down nine black worshippers in a church, was unrepentant Tuesday as he nevertheless told the jury it would take just one holdout to spare his life. The 22-year-old, who was representing himself, has never expressed remorse for the June 2015 massacre at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston that shocked the nation. A Bible study group at "Mother Emanuel," which had welcomed Roof, was just beginning its closing prayer when the self-avowed Nazi and Ku Klux Klan sympathizer opened fire, killing nine people ranging in age from 26 to 87.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Tuesday the U.S. intelligence community's report concluding that Russia orchestrated hacks during the 2016 presidential campaign was based on a mix of human sources, collection