- NewsYahoo NewsObama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence
President Obama has commuted the 35-year prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, paving the way for the Army intelligence analyst turned high-profile leaker to be freed on May 17, the White House announced Tuesday. Manning was on a list of 209 commutations and 64 pardons released Tuesday, though they may not be Obama’s final acts of clemency before he leaves office at midday on Jan. 20. Edward Snowden’s name was not on the list.
- PoliticsYahoo NewsMore than 40 House Democrats to skip Trump’s inauguration
More than 40 Democratic lawmakers have announced they intend to skip Donald Trump’s inauguration this week to protest the president-elect’s plans for the country. The boycotters now make up one in five of all House Democrats, and their decision to protest represents a break with tradition that they say is warranted by Trump’s agenda. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., told Yahoo News she decided she couldn’t celebrate Trump’s inauguration because of his comments during the campaign about temporarily barring Muslims from entering the country and his vow to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
PoliticsAssociated PressDeVos: Won't dismantle public schools as education secretaryIn a sometimes contentious confirmation hearing, education secretary pick Betsy DeVos pledged that she would not seek to dismantle public schools amid questions by Democrats about her qualifications, political donations and long-time work advocating for charter schools and school choice. DeVos said she would address "the needs of all parents and students" but that a one-size-fits-all model doesn't work in education. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont asked DeVos outright if she would have gotten the job had it not been for her family's political contributions.
WorldAFPQuake nightmare returns to haunt ItalyItaly was hit by four earthquakes in four hours Wednesday, bringing terror to snowbound mountain areas still recovering from last year's series of deadly tremors. The quakes, all measuring more than five magnitude, struck close to Amatrice, the mountain town devastated by an August earthquake that left nearly 300 people dead. A mother and child dragged from the ruins of a collapsed country cottage near Teramo in the Abruzzo region were both found to be suffering from hypothermia.
WorldReutersPoroshenko says Ukrainians at risk of losing faith in EU pathUkrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday Ukrainians risked becoming disillusioned with Ukraine's pro-European path if there are further delays to plans to cement its closer integration with the European Union. The European Union reached an agreement on visa waivers for Ukraine in December, after weeks of stalling, but the decision has yet to come into effect. "To delay further would be flagrantly unfair as Ukraine has paid a high price," Poroshenko told foreign ambassadors to Ukraine.
- BusinessU.S.News & World ReportWorkers Who Are Excluded From 401(k) Plans
At each new job there might be a waiting period to join the 401(k) plan or to qualify for a 401(k) match. A recent Government Accountability Office survey of 80 401(k) plans found that some groups of employees, including short-term, part-time and young workers, are often excluded from the company 401(k) plan or denied company contributions. Here's who might not be eligible to save in a 401(k) plan or keep an employer match and how much it's costing them in lost retirement savings.
- NewsInside EditionTeen Abducted 18 Years Ago Doesn't Want to See Alleged Kidnapper Jailed: 'She Will Always Be Mom'
Kamiyah Mobley, whose name was changed to Alexis Manigo after her 1998 abduction, said she hopes her accused kidnapper, Gloria Williams, won't do hard time. “I understand what she did was wrong but just don’t lock her up and throw away the key like everything she did was awful," Manigo told Good Morning America Wednesday. The teen, who has been thrust into the spotlight after being reunited with her biological parents over the weekend, discussed coping with the attention.
WorldAFPEthics watchdog probes Canadian PM's lavish vacationCanada's ethics commissioner has opened a probe of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his lavish post-Christmas vacation at the private island of billionaire philanthropist and spiritual leader the Aga Khan. In a letter to an opposition Conservative member of Parliament shown to AFP on Monday, Commissioner Mary Dawson said she was investigating whether Trudeau breached ethics laws in receiving a free Bahamas vacation and in using the Aga Khan's helicopter to fly to his private island. The Aga Khan's foundation has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the Canadian government to promote development and other projects in several countries.
- NewsAssociated PressNorway defends mass murderer Breivik's prison conditions
Norway on Tuesday defended the prison conditions under which mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is being held. The state attorney presented its closing statement in an appeals trial against a lower court ruling that found that Breivik's isolation in prison violated his human rights. The "state is allowed to defend itself" state attorney Fredrik Sejersted said at the end of a day-long session where he sought to prove that Breivik was being treated in line with democratic principles.
- NewsYahoo NewsObama’s ‘favorite general’ wins pardon in leak probe
Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright. President Obama gave a full pardon Tuesday to retired Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, who was convicted of lying to the FBI during an investigation into a leak about American efforts to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program. The pardon followed an intense lobbying campaign on behalf of Cartwright that included expressions of support, relayed by Cartwright’s lawyer, from former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, according to sources familiar with the effort.
- WorldReutersArab Israeli and policeman killed in suspected car ramming attack in southern Israel
Police in Israel said an Arab Israeli on Wednesday rammed his car into a group of policemen in the southern Negev region, killing one before being shot dead, though a rights activist who was present disputed it was an attack. Police spokeswoman Merav Lapidot said the suspect was a local teacher who "surged towards the forces intending to kill" and that riots erupted after he was shot.
- ScienceMashableThese 3 graphics explain 2016’s record warmth
Climate scientists around the world just announced that 2016 is the warmest year on record, beating out 2015 and 2014 for the dubious distinction. The temperature milestone means that 16 of the 17 warmest years on record have now occurred since 2001,
BusinessAFPBuffeted by change, US auto workers resigned to uncertaintyDetroit, the once-thriving capital of the US automobile industry, has seen most of its jobs move overseas, leaving the remaining workers at the "Big Three" auto plants wondering about the future. When Janet Parker, 46, learned she would be hired by Ford, she was sure it meant the start of a worry-free working life. The lack of certainty auto workers have in their future is a persistent burden, and efforts by the once-powerful United Auto Workers labor union to stem the tide have borne little fruit.
- BusinessPopular MechanicsAirbus Wants to Test Its Prototype Flying Car in 2017
Airbus Group announced today that it plans to test an autonomous airborne taxi prototype for one passenger by the end of 2017, according to a report from Reuters. Full design schematics have not been released, but it is likely that the first prototype vehicle will use four rotors, possibly looking more like Ehang's quadcopter-style drone-which is currently in flight testing-than the aircraft pictured above. "One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground, now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground," Airbus CEO Tom Enders said at the DLD digital tech conference in Munich, as reported by Reuters.
WorldReutersBrazil prisoners clash with police where 26 inmates were butcheredBy Pedro Fonseca RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian police used rubber bullets and tear gas on Tuesday to break up a renewed clash between drug gangs in a prison where 26 inmates were butchered by rivals in recent days. Major Eduardo Franco, spokesman for police in the state of Rio Grande do Norte where the Alcaçuz prison is located, said authorities managed to keep the rival gangs apart and so far prevent another massacre. Brazil has been hit by a wave of deadly gang clashes in prisons in the north and northeast regions of the country since Jan. 1.
- NewsInside EditionSearch Suspended for Dad and 3-Year-Old Son Swept Out to Sea as Wife Looked On
The Oregon Coast Guard has suspended the search for a father and son who were swept out to sea Sunday while the man's wife reportedly looked on. Authorities spent 22 hours searching by helicopter and foot for 31-year-old Jayson Dean Thomas and his 3-year
- HealthChristian Science MonitorStudy: US abortions now at lowest rate since Roe v. Wade
The number of abortions performed in the United States has fallen to the lowest rate since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court legalized the practice in the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, according to a new study. The report comes from the Guttmacher Institute, which researches sexual and reproductive health-related policy. The total number of abortions performed in 2014 hovered around 926,000, showing a gradual, yet consistent, downward trend over the past two decades.
PoliticsAssociated PressMaine governor offers John Lewis an erroneous history lessonRepublican Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday offered an erroneous history lesson about racial segregation to a black Georgia congressman who risked his life to fight for civil rights, and he called on the NAACP to apologize to white people. Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who was beaten while marching in Selma, Alabama, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., should be grateful to Republican presidents and shouldn't question the legitimacy of GOP President-elect Donald Trump's victory, LePage said.
- WorldYahoo NewsWhite House admits Obama won’t close Guantánamo
President Obama will fail to keep one of his most high-profile promises — closing the detention facility for suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — the White House acknowledged on Tuesday. “At this point, I don’t anticipate that we will succeed in that goal of closing the prison, but it’s not for a lack of trying,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his final media briefing. “The only reason it didn’t happen is because of the politics that members of Congress of both parties, frankly, played with this issue,” Earnest said with just two full days left in Obama’s term.
- NewsInside EditionAlleged Cop Killer Markeith Loyd Captured After 9-Day Manhunt: 'We've Got Him!'
A Florida man wanted for the killings of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and an Orlando police officer was captured Tuesday night after a nine-day manhunt. Markeith Loyd, 41, was wearing body armor and carrying two handguns when police arrested him outside a Lescot Lane house, authorities said during a nighttime press conference Tuesday. "We've got him!" the Orlando Police Department declared on its Twitter account.
- ScienceLiveScience.comWreck of 16th-Century Spanish Ship Found Off Florida Coast
The third of six sunken Spanish ships that were lost in a hurricane in 1559 has been discovered off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. In the summer of 2016, the wreck of the ship, dubbed the Emanuel Point III, was found resting under the sand 7 feet (2 meters) below the ocean surface in Pensacola Bay. Archaeologists have found the ship's hull, ballast rocks and ceramic artifacts in the wreckage.
NewsAFPMore than 80 dolphins die off Florida coastMore than 80 dolphins known as false killer whales have died off the southwest coast of Florida after getting stranded in shallow waters, US officials said. A pod of 95 of the dolphins, which are black in color and look like killer whales without white markings, became stranded in the Gulf Coast off Everglades National Park, the park said on Twitter. "Sadly, 81 have already been confirmed dead," Everglades National Park said Monday, adding that marine mammal rescue operations were being carried out.
- WorldPopular MechanicsFailed MH370 Search Reveals the Secrets of the Sea Floor
The deep-sea sonar search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may not have found the plane but will reveal more about how land beneath the Indian Ocean formed over millions of years and where oil fields could lie. National geoscience agency Geoscience Australia will soon release detailed sonar mapping of 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) of seabed that was searched for the wreckage of the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 passengers and crew on March 8, 2014. The unique information about plate tectonics would interest geoscientists as well as oil and gas explorers, said Australian National University marine geologist Neville Exon, who has advised Geoscience Australia on the sonar data.
WorldReutersChinese official fired after calling Mao 'a devil'An official in northern China has been fired after he called the founder of modern China Mao Zedong a "devil" on social media and called the annual commemoration of Mao's birthday "the world's largest cult activity". Mao, who died on Sept. 9, 1976, is still officially venerated by the ruling Communist Party as the founder of modern China and his face appears on every yuan banknote. In a statement late Monday, the Shijiazhuang Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, TV, Press and Publication said that its deputy director Zuo Chunhe had been sacked for "posting wrong remarks" on China's Twitter-like Weibo service and "serious violation of political discipline".
