- NewsYahoo NewsArrest of young black suspects in brutal Chicago attack sparks hate crime debate
Three black teens and one 24-year-old were charged with hate crimes Thursday in relation to the brutal attack of a white man with special needs. News of their arrests had sparked a fierce debate on social media over whether the assault — which was broadcast via Facebook Live — should be called a hate crime. The victim’s name has not been released, but police have identified the man as an 18-year-old from suburban Chicago who suffers from “mental health challenges” and was reported missing by his parents on Monday.
- PoliticsYahoo NewsBernie Sanders displays giant Trump tweet on Senate floor
With the fight over health care in Congress brewing, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to argue against the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare. In the May 7, 2015, tweet, which came before Trump announced his presidential campaign, the real estate mogul bragged that he was the first potential GOP candidate to pledge no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — and that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had “copied” him.
- PoliticsYahoo NewsObama: Going to Newtown was the ‘toughest day of my presidency’
As Barack Obama continues to reflect on his legacy in a series of exit interviews, the outgoing president says he still considers the day he met with the families of the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 the toughest day of his presidency. “I still consider the day I traveled up to Newtown to meet with parents and address that community as the toughest day of my presidency,” Obama told the History Channel in an interview that will air on Jan. 15, five days before he leaves office. Obama himself has often been moved to tears when reflecting on the mass shooting that killed 26 people — including 20 children — in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012.
- WorldYahoo News Photo StaffPhotos of the day - January 4, 2017
Firefighting helicopters battle a vegetation fire fanned by gale force winds raging in the Helderberg mountains around Somerset West, South Africa; policemen carry a supporter of Israeli soldier Elor Azaria outside the military court in Tel Aviv on the
WorldReutersNigerian soldiers find Chibok girl kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014Nigerian soldiers have found a schoolgirl who was one of more than 200 pupils kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, an army spokesman said on Thursday. The troops had found Rakiya Abubkar wandering around near Algarno, a former Boko Haram stronghold, the spokesman said. A total of 276 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok in 2014 in one of the most infamous actions of their insurgency.
NewsAssociated PressDylann Roof cold to victims, but apologized to his parentsBefore Dylann Roof was arrested for killing nine black church members, he scribbled a note to his mother, apologizing for all the repercussions his actions would cause. Jurors who convicted Roof of hate crimes and other charges will decide whether he should be executed or face life in prison. Roof has pointed out that there was no dramatic confrontation that led him to begin hating blacks.
- NewsInternational Business TimesMenendez Case Gets An ABC Special
About 27 years have passed since the Menendez brothers killed their parents, but ABC News is reopening and diving into their sordid story this week. The network was set to air "Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers," a two-hour documentary special on the infamous case, Thursday at 9 p.m. EST. It was August 1989 when Erik and Lyle Menendez, then aged 18 and 21 years, respectively, ended the lives of their parents, Cuban-American entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty.
ScienceAFPScientists disprove global warming took a breakA reported pause in global warming between 1998 and 2014 was false, according to US-British research published Wednesday that confirmed the findings of a controversial US study on ocean warming. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of York, England, corroborated the results of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) research paper in 2015. The NOAA paper had shown ocean buoys now used to measure water temperatures tend to report slightly cooler temperatures than older ship-based systems.
- NewsInside EditionSisters Unable to Say Goodbye to Dying Father After They Say They Were Kicked Off Flight
Trisha Baker and Debbie Hartman were leaving Orlando on Allegiant Airlines to visit their ailing 84-year-old father in a hospice in Asheville, North Carolina, Monday. Debbie was sitting a few rows behind her sister. Trisha says she walked back and took the empty seat across the aisle from Debbie to console her, catching the attendant of a flight attendant. Fellow passengers say they were appalled at the attitude of one flight attendant in particular.
- PoliticsYahoo NewsIntelligence chief: Russia’s election interference went far beyond hacks
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says the Russian government’s interference with the United States election went far beyond the now highly publicized hacks of Democratic email accounts, which were merely one part of a multilayered campaign of propaganda and deception. The intelligence leader outlined various methods wielded by Moscow to interfere with U.S. institutions during Thursday morning testimony on cyberattacks before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The testimony comes at a point of tension between the U.S. intelligence community and Donald Trump.
- PoliticsMashableTwitter account imagines how Trump would tweet if he was mature
While some people turn to yoga or meditation when they're stressed, Trump heads to Twitter. The future leader of the free world has had multiple emotional outbursts on the platform as of late. It's discomfiting, for some, to imagine how poor grammar
- NewsYahoo NewsObama calls Facebook Live attack ‘despicable,’ but says he’s optimistic about race relations
In a new interview, President Obama has denounced what he called the “despicable” video on Facebook Live of what appears to be an assault on a mentally challenged white teenager by four young black people in Chicago. Speaking with Chicago’s local CBS affiliate Thursday, the president pointed to the gruesome incident as an example of how technology is helping to draw attention to racial issues that have long existed below the surface. “In part because we see visuals of racial tensions, violence and so forth because of smartphones and the Internet,” Obama told CBS 2’s Jay Levine, in one of five televised interviews he conducted with Chicago news stations.
- NewsThe AtlanticComing Soon to the U.S. Army: Turbans, Beards, Hijabs, and Dreadlocks
The Army has issued a new regulation: Effective immediately, brigade-level commanders will be able to grant accommodations to servicemen and women who wear beards, turbans, or hijabs for religious reasons—the three most common requests for waivers to current guidelines on grooming and dress, according to a letter from the Secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning. It came about largely in response to litigation and advocacy from Sikh servicemen who wear beards and turbans for religious reasons, and who wanted to be able to keep them while actively serving. It’s possible that the Army felt it had no options and wanted to put the issue to rest, but also possible the directive reflects some other unstated motive.
- NewsReutersColorado skier dangling by neck rescued by high-wire artist
An unconscious man dangling by his neck from a chair lift at a Colorado ski area was rescued by a high-wire artist who shimmied across a cable to cut him loose, the resort said on Thursday. The harrowing incident unfolded on Wednesday when a skier’s backpack became entangled in the chair as he was unloading, leaving him hanging in the air by a strap, the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area said in a statement. The lift was immediately stopped and a part-time ski instructor at the resort, Mickey Wilson, who was in the chair lift behind the man, jumped into action.
- NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Official: Airport gunman had gun in luggage
A county official says the Fort Lauderdale airport shooter pulled a gun out of a checked bag, loaded in a bathroom and started shooting, killing five people and wounding at least eight. Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner, was briefed on the airport shooting by Broward Sheriff's office. A passenger says he heard the first gunshots as he picked up his luggage from a baggage claim carousel in a shooting at a Florida airport that left five dead and eight wounded.
EntertainmentInternational Business TimesDid ‘Flip Or Flop’ Star Tarek Catch Christina Cheating On Him?Amid growing rumors that "Flip Or Flop" stars Christina and Tarek El Moussa are planning to call off their divorce, new details about their troubled marriage have emerged. According to InTouch Weekly, which cited a source, Tarek caught Christina sending inappropriate texts to her rumored boyfriend Gary Anderson. “Tarek saw Christina’s phone and believed there was some inappropriate texting going on between [the two],” the source said, adding that this allegedly led to their explosive fight, during which the father of two stormed out of the house with his gun.
PoliticsElle VideosRepublicans Will Finally Succeed in Defunding Planned ParenthoodThe move could be finalized as early as next month, just after Donald Trump takes office.
- NewsAssociated PressSisters traveling to see dying father kicked off plane
Two sisters said they were kicked off an Allegiant Air flight after authorities deemed them a threat, and it cost them the chance to see their dying father. Debbie Hartman and Trisha Baker of DeLand, Florida, said they were on the plane Monday in Orlando, waiting to take off for Asheville, North Carolina, to see their father, who was in hospice care. Hartman had a panic attack and Baker accused the flight attendant of not being compassionate, telling her "You're being very rude," Hartman recalled.
NewsAFPUS puts bin Laden's son on terror blacklistThe United States added Hamza bin Laden, son and would-be heir of the late global jihadist leader Osama bin Laden, to its terrorist blacklist on Thursday. Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, has become active as an Al-Qaeda propagandist since his father's death at the hands of US special forces on May 2, 2011. According to letters found in the Navy SEAL raid on Osama's hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to the Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader asking to be trained to follow him.
- BusinessPopular MechanicsSears to Sell the Iconic Craftsman Brand After 90 Years
Sears announced today that it has agreed to sell the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker after controlling the iconic name in tools for 90 years. Stanley Black & Decker, which produces DeWalt tools as well, plans to expand the number of stores selling Craftsman, as only 10 percent of Craftsman products are currently sold in stores other than Sears, according to the Associated Press. Sears will continue to sell Craftsman tools as well.
- NewsInside EditionMan Caught on Camera Attempting to Rob Spy Gear Shop: 'Probably Not the Smartest ldea'
Police say an attempted burglar in Florida chose an odd target Wednesday morning: A spy shop that sells, of all things, surveillance equipment. According to the manager of Spy Spot Investigations Spy Store in Deerfield Beach, the would-be burglar was, no shocker here, caught on camera. "One of the employees came into the store at 9 and the door was all cracked," manager Evan Tannenbaum told InsideEdition.com.
WorldReutersKerry says U.S. encouraging Astana talks on Syria as step to peaceBy Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is encouraging Syria peace talks being prepared by Russia later this month in the Kazakh capital Astana and hopes they will produce a step toward peace, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Dec. 26 that Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syrian President Bashar al Assad had all agreed to hold the talks in Astana although no date has been set.
- BusinessRoad & TrackFaraday Future's 2.4-Second 0-60 Is Nothing But a Distraction
Last night, ambitious automotive startup Faraday Future finally debuted its first production-ready, semi-autonomous car. In a 90-minute presentation marred by multiple technical hiccups, Faraday Future presented its vision of a revolutionary new world of transportation-one where your car parks and sometimes drives itself, freeing you to be the pampered passenger in your own self-chauffeured luxury electric crossover.
- NewsAssociated PressStudent: Girl slammed to ground was trying to break up fight
A student who was slammed to the ground by a police officer at a North Carolina high school was trying to break up a fight involving her sister, said the 15-year-old who posted video of the incident on social media. Ahunna Akpuda recorded a brief video of an officer surrounded by students at Rolesville High School.
