President Obama leads mourners in singing “Amazing Grace” as he delivers a eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney during funeral services in Charleston, S.C., June 26, 2015. Pinckney was one of nine victims of a mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Ever since the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents have been judged on the successes they notch during their first 100 days.
More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers have announced they intend to skip Donald Trump’s inauguration this week to protest the president-elect’s plans for the country. 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. Lee was among a growing handful of Democratic lawmakers who objected last week to the certification of the Electoral College results on the House floor.
Australia said on Monday it was "deeply disappointed" Japan had continued whaling in the Southern Ocean after anti-whaling activists published a photograph of a dead whale, and two days after Australian and Japanese leaders discussed the issue. Australia has long opposed Japanese whaling and the contentious issue was raised in talks between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Sydney on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions said. "The Australian government is deeply disappointed that Japan has decided to return to the Southern Ocean this summer to undertake so-called 'scientific' whaling," Australian Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said on Monday.
Viet Cong veteran Vo Ban Tam remembers the first time he crossed paths with John Kerry on the banks on the Bay Hap river, a day that ended in bloodshed. Almost a half-century later, the now 70-year-old Mekong Delta shrimp farmer locked eyes with the US Secretary of State on Saturday and they warmly grasped hands in mutual respect. Kerry returned to the Vietnam waterway at the end of a visit to the Communist nation, less than a week before he was to leave office, searching for the spot where he won a Silver Star for bravery as a young US Navy lieutenant.
The owners of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced Saturday that they will close the 146-year-old show in May. Kenneth Feld, the chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, said declining attendance combined with high operating costs are the reasons for closing. Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season: "Circus Extreme" and "Out of This World." The final show for "Circus Extreme" will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7, and the other will close after a performance in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21.
Linguist Zhou Youguang, the man who helped invent the Pinyin system used for writing Chinese worldwide before becoming an outspoken critic of the communist government died on Saturday in Beijing. Zhou, who was probably China's oldest dissenter, died Saturday at his house in the country's capital, a day after having celebrated his 111th birthday, state media said. Zhou is commonly known as the "father of Pinyin", a system for transliterating Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet introduced in the 1950s and now used by hundreds of millions of language learners in China, as well as abroad.
A pendant unearthed at one of the most infamous Nazi death camps may hold a connection to Anne Frank, researchers say. The triangular pendant was discovered by researchers excavating the remains of the Sobibór death camp in Poland, and appears identical to one that belonged to Anne Frank, said officials at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Sunday. Its owner has been identified as Karoline Cohn, a Jewish girl who is thought to have been killed at Sobibór.
Migrants rest by the fire inside a makeshift shelter in an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia; a commuter jumps between trains upon arrival at a station, to attend Akheri Munajat, the final supplication during Biswa Ijtema in Tongi, on the outskirts
The mind-body connection is more than just a catchphrase: A new study finds that increased levels of stress are indeed linked to greater risk of a heart attack or stroke. Researchers found that the people in the study who had more activity in an area of the brain that regulates the body's response to stress and fear, called the amygdala, were more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than those with less activity in the amygdala, according to the study. "This study identifies, for the first time in animal models or humans, the region of the brain that links stress to the risk of heart attack or stroke," lead study author Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said in a statement.
A man placed on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives after authorities said he killed two men in Milwaukee was arrested Sunday in Texas, the FBI said. Terry A.D. Strickland, 24, was arrested in El Paso and booked into the jail. Authorities said Strickland was among a group of men arguing in front of a Milwaukee home July 17.
Former Obama chief ethics lawyer and former George W. Bush chief ethics lawyer discuss Trump's plans to cut ties with his business interests. Law and they said he's gone above and beyond what is called for by putting his.
By Isabel Coles MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - In some parts of Mosul, you can almost forget that a war is being waged over the city between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants who still control more than half of it - at least momentarily. Cars clog the streets, stalls are heaped with fresh produce and bicycles weave through the traffic, as the city slowly emerges from more than two years under the iron grip of Islamic State. As Iraqi forces prise away more and more of the militants' largest urban stronghold, a semblance of normality is returning to eastern districts that were retaken in the early stages of a campaign that began nearly three months ago.
A SpaceX Falcon rocket blasted off from California on Saturday, returning the company to flight for the first time since a fiery launchpad explosion in September. The 230-foot (70-meter) rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:54 a.m. PST (1754 GMT) to deliver 10satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications Inc. "It's a clean sweep – 10 for 10," SpaceX launch commentator John Insprucker said after the satellites were released.SpaceX founder and entrepreneur Elon Musk's ambitious flight plans had been grounded since the September 1 explosion during fueling ahead of a pre-flight test in Florida. About 10 minutes after Saturday's launch, the first stage ofthe rocket, which had separated from the rest of craft,successfully touched down on a platform in the Pacific Ocean, a feat previously accomplished by four other returning Falconrockets.
An elaborately decorated Serbian nationalist train took off Saturday from Belgrade aiming for northern Kosovo but halted at the border in a stunt that triggered a dramatic escalation of tensions between the former wartime foes. Kosovo officials had protested earlier that the train was in violation of their country's sovereignty and promised not to let it in. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic ordered the train stopped at the Serbian town of Raska as it approached the border with Serbia's former province, claiming that Kosovo's ethnic Albanians had tried to mine the railway.
The pound slumped Monday on reports British Prime Minister Theresa May was ready to take the country out of the European Union in a so-called "hard Brexit". Sterling's weakness sent London's FTSE 100 index to a fresh record high, although the index later fell back and closed with a slight loss, ending a record 14-session winning streak. "The main action today has been on the currency market with the pound sliding to its lowest levels since the October flash crash, below 1.2000 against the US dollar, as markets price in further uncertainty ahead of tomorrows scheduled speech by UK Prime Minister Theresa May about how the UK intends to conduct its Brexit negotiations," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
The Windows 10 Creators Update was announced by the company in October 2016 and is expected to come out in the spring of 2017. In addition to being a major upgrade to Windows, the Creators Update is also expected to be Microsoft’s answer to all feedback and complaints it has received about Windows 10. Windows 10 Creators Update will bring 3D enabled features, especially a 3D enabled version of its graphics program Paint.
Because Amazon’s popular eBook readers make fantastic gifts. Outside of the holidays though, Kindle deals can be few and far between — especially when it comes to Amazon’s hottest kindle bundle. The Kindle Essentials Bundle includes a 6-inch Kindle eReader, a black Amazon Cover for Kindle, and a 5W power adapter for faster charging.
Bishop Eddie Long, a controversial megachurch pastor, has died at the age of 63 after a battle with an aggressive cancer, according to his Atlanta church. Long had been reportedly battling health issues for the past few months and In September 2016, Long
Twenty-six inmates were killed in eruptions of violence inside two prisons in northern Brazil, officials said Sunday as they quelled the latest in a string of jail disturbances across the country in which more than 100 people died within two weeks. The state security office for Rio Grande do Norte state had reported earlier in the day that there were 27 deaths, but later lowered that by one. State security officials said fighting between rival gangs broke out Saturday at the adjacent Alcacuz and Rogerio Coutinho prisons near the city of Natal.
President Barack Obama delivered an emotional farewell speech Tuesday to the nation in his hometown of Chicago. (left to right) Malia Obama and her mother Michelle Obama joined President Barack Obama as he delivered
By Anastasia Moloney TAPACHULA, Mexico (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Using a stone, Ahmed Ali Hassan scraped away at the side of the container truck until he made a small hole, and putting his parched mouth to it, gasped for air. The overcrowded truck carrying nearly 100 migrants, many from Africa, took turns to breathe in pockets of dry air as the truck rattled through rural Nicaragua. "We all thought we were going to die," Hassan, a Somali, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as he recalled last month's journey.
By Emma Farge DAKAR (Reuters) - Gambia's President-elect Adama Barrow has left the country for neighboring Senegal, a coalition member and local media said on Sunday, a day after West African leaders failed to persuade President Yahya Jammeh to step aside. Barrow, a former real estate agent, won a Dec. 1 election in the former British colony by a slim margin. Long-ruling Jammeh conceded defeat but then changed his mind, plunging one of West Africa's tourist hot spots into crisis and dimming hopes for democracy in a region accustomed to coups and autocratic rule.
US Airways Flight 1549 was an Airbus A320-214 which, three minutes after takeoff from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport on January 15, 2009, struck a flock of Canada geese just northeast of the George Washington Bridge and consequently lost all engine
A year after its nuclear deal took effect, Iran is increasingly concerned over the arrival of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to tear up the historic accord. Analysts say it is unlikely the Trump administration will completely dismantle the agreement, which he described as "the worst deal ever negotiated". A series of cabinet appointments, however, have signalled Trump is likely to take a hard line on Tehran.
A lawmaker who has long been critical of Chancellor Angela Merkel's policies says she is leaving the German leader's conservative party, citing discontent over Merkel's approach to migrants. Erika Steinbach, 73, has been a lawmaker for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union since 1990. Steinbach has criticized the most recent Greek bailout and Merkel's welcoming approach to migrants in 2015.