| Van slams into pedestrians on Tokyo road, injuring 8 people Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:24 PM PST  TOKYO (AP) — A minivan slammed into pedestrians early Tuesday on a street where people had gathered for New Year's festivities in downtown Tokyo, injuring eight people, police said.
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| Read Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' Farewell Message Posted: 31 Dec 2018 07:18 AM PST  Jim Mattis, the outgoing Secretary of Defense, told staff to "keep the faith in our country" in a farewell message sent on Monday.
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| NASA probe nears distant space rock for landmark flyby Posted: 31 Dec 2018 02:10 PM PST  At 12:33 a.m. Eastern time (0533 GMT), the New Horizons probe will arrive at the "third zone" in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt, scientists said. In this peripheral layer of icy bodies and leftover fragments from the solar system's creation, the interplanetary probe will position its seven on-board instruments for the first close-up glance of Ultima Thule, a cool mass roughly 20 miles (32 km) long and shaped like a giant peanut. Scientists had not discovered Ultima Thule when the probe was launched, according to NASA, making the mission unique in that respect.
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| Judge rejects Kevin Spacey's plea to avoid court appearance as actor confirms he will plead not guilty to sexual assault Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:21 AM PST  A judge in Nantucket has ordered Kevin Spacey to appear in court next week for his arraignment on sexual assault charges, denying the two-time Oscar winner's plea for him to be excused from what he described as a media circus. Spacey said in court documents, filed on Monday, that will plead not guilty to indecent assault. The 59-year-old actor is accused of groping an 18-year-old employee of the Club Car, a restaurant and bar on the island of Nantucket, in July 2016. In the court documents, obtained by The Telegraph, he asked the judge that he be exempt from the January 7 arraignment, arguing that his presence would "amplify the negative publicity already generated in connection with the case." His lawyer added that his presence would heighten the "prejudicial media interest" in the case and contaminate the jury pool. The judge swiftly denied Spacey's request, ordering that he attend the court proceedings. Kevin Spacey, pictured during his time as director of the Old Vic theatre in London Credit: Clara Molden for The Telegraph His lawyers have been trying for some time to avoid the spectacle of the two-time Oscar winner appearing in court. On Thursday Michael Giardino, the Cape and Islands assistant district attorney, filed a motion saying that the prosecution did not agree to the defence's request that Spacey be allowed to stay away. The prosecution argued that Massachusetts state rules for criminal procedure require that a defendant appear at arraignment. Lawyers for both sides agreed on the January 7 arraignment date during a December 20 hearing, at which Clerk-Magistrate Ryan Kearney found probable cause to charge Spacey. This allegation was first made public by the accuser's mother, former news anchor Heather Unruh, in November 2017. Former Boston news anchor Heather Unruh speaks at a press conference in Boston November 8, 2017 during which she accused actor Kevin Spacey of allegedly sexually abusing her son in July 2016 Her son told investigators in the autumn that he was the one who approached Spacey that summer night, wanting a photo, and proceeded to drink heavily with the House of Cards actor after finishing his shift before the alleged assault took place, some time after midnight, police reports in the case show. Spacey's lawyers on December 20 argued that there were "inconsistencies" in the accuser's story, and claimed that he didn't pull away from the actor for three minutes. The accuser has admitted telling Spacey he was 23 – the legal age for drinking in the state is 21. Spacey has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen men — some of them teens at the time of the alleged incidents — but the Nantucket case is the first to result in criminal charges. It carries a possible five years in prison.
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| Dozens of cities in eastern, southern US set new rainfall records in 2018 Posted: 01 Jan 2019 03:46 AM PST  Rainfall records were shattered across the eastern and southern United States during 2018, but what led to such a persistently wet year?
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| It's Already 2019 Across the World: Here's What the New Year Looks Like in Sydney, Tokyo and Other Cities Posted: 31 Dec 2018 10:01 AM PST  Celebrations have already begun in countries like Samoa, Sydney, North Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia.
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| US judge says Obamacare can stand while appeal is heard Posted: 30 Dec 2018 11:56 PM PST  A US judge who ruled earlier this month that Obamacare is unconstitutional has said the health care law can stand while his decision is appealed. Opposition Democrats, who have seen the law survive previous legal and legislative attacks, view it as a signature achievement of former president Barack Obama. Republicans on the other hand dismiss it as governmental overreach and President Donald Trump made repealing the law a key part of his campaign platform.
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| Woman slain with 2 children, mother was recently widowed Posted: 31 Dec 2018 10:31 AM PST  ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — The man accused of killing a suburban St. Louis woman, her children and her mother began dating the woman as she rebuilt her life following her husband's death from cancer.
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| Trump closes out 2018 with a litany of complaints Posted: 31 Dec 2018 10:29 AM PST  The president spends New Year's Eve on his favorite social media platform.
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| The 10 Most Expensive Cars Sold at Auction in 2018 Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:55 AM PST |
| Iraqi warplanes strike Islamic State leaders in Syria: military Posted: 31 Dec 2018 04:53 AM PST ![Iraqi warplanes strike Islamic State leaders in Syria: military]( "Iraqi warplanes strike Islamic State leaders in Syria: military") Iraqi warplanes hit a meeting of Islamic State leaders near Deir al-Zor in Syria on Monday, destroying the building they were gathered in, the military said in a statement, without giving further details about the militants targeted. The statement said F-16 fighter jets carried out the raid around al-Sousa village in eastern Syria, as "30 leaders from Daesh (Islamic State) gangs" met in the building. The strike came a day after Iraq's government hinted at greater involvement for its armed forces in Syria as the U.S. begins withdrawing troops from the country.
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| Thousands brave rain in New York's Times Square to welcome 2019 Posted: 31 Dec 2018 09:05 PM PST  For the multitudes who gathered in the famed midtown Manhattan crossroads, the thrilling moment was reward for enduring hours of standing in a steady downpour during the waning hours of 2018. Helping to keep spirits high was a slate of performers including Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block and Sting who entertained the resilient crowd. Many donned plastic rain ponchos and sported colorful, oversized top hats handed out by organizers.
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| Former Bernie Sanders Staffers Voice Concerns About 'Sexual Harassment and Violence' on 2016 Campaign Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:39 AM PST  The letter states that the signers aim to meet in person with Sanders and other campaign staffers, including Jeff Weaver, the Senator's 2016 campaign manager.
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| Police seek woman who killed manicurist after failing to pay Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:54 AM PST ![Police seek woman who killed manicurist after failing to pay]( "Police seek woman who killed manicurist after failing to pay") LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas police searched Monday for a woman accused of using a stolen car to run over and kill a nail salon worker after failing to pay for a $35 manicure.
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| Sen. Elizabeth Warren gets a head start on 2020 by launching exploratory committee Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:28 AM PST  Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., became the first major Democrat to take an official step towards running for president in 2020, by launching an exploratory committee on Monday.
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| 2nd child dead in US custody mourned in Guatemala village Posted: 30 Dec 2018 07:25 PM PST  YALAMBOJOCH, Guatemala (AP) — White flowers and flickering candles sat atop a low table inside the simple wooden home in remote, rural Guatemala. Nearby was a small pair of rubber boots, sized to fit an 8-year-old.
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| Iran hosts Taliban peace talks, eyeing opening after US drawdown Posted: 01 Jan 2019 04:31 AM PST  The Taliban discussed Afghanistan's "post-occupation situation" with Iran in their latest meeting, the group said Tuesday, as Tehran makes a more concerted and open push for peace ahead of a possible US drawdown. The remarks come after Iran confirmed Monday that the Taliban had visited Tehran for a second round of talks in just a few days that are aimed at ending the 17-year conflict. The Taliban delegation discussed with Iran "the post-occupation situation, restoration of peace and security in Afghanistan and the region", the militants said in a statement posted on social media and emailed to journalists. It signals a growing confidence among the Taliban for US troops to pull out of Afghanistan, after US officials last month told various media outlets that President Donald Trump had decided to slash the number of boots on the ground. There have been reports in the past of talks between Iran and the Taliban, but they have typically been denied by Tehran. Afghan National Army soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint ahead of parliamentary elections, in Kabul, Afghanistan Credit: AP Tehran's peace push will be viewed with concern by hawks in Washington, who fear that Trump's planned withdrawal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan will cede regional influence to Iran. The Taliban also met with the United States, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the United Arab Emirates earlier in December as part of a flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the war. But the Taliban refused to meet a delegation from Afghanistan. The group said Saturday its representatives would not meet "with those of the Kabul administration" at the next meeting expected to be held in Saudi Arabia later this month. Iran's deputy foreign ministry Abbas Araghchi will travel to Afghanistan in the next two weeks, the foreign ministry said, without giving further details. Iran and Afghanistan share a nearly 600-mile border, and have had a complex relationship in recent years. Tehran has long supported its co-religionists in Afghanistan, the Shia Hazara minority, who were violently persecuted by the Taliban during its rule in the 1990s. Iran worked alongside the United States and Western powers to help drive out the Taliban after the US-led invasion in 2001. But there have been allegations, from Western and Afghan sources, that Iran's Revolutionary Guards have in recent years established ties with the Taliban aimed at driving out US forces from Afghanistan.
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| Indonesia's latest tsunami raises global questions over disaster preparedness Posted: 30 Dec 2018 07:02 PM PST  The Dec. 23 tsunami killed around 430 people along the coastlines of the Sunda Strait, capping a year of earthquakes and tsunamis in the vast archipelago, which straddles the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire. "Indonesia has demonstrated to the rest of the world the huge variety of sources that have the potential to cause tsunamis. More research is needed to understand those less-expected events," said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at the University of Southampton.
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| American Girl's 2019 'Girl of the Year' is a junior chef with a screen-time obsession Posted: 31 Dec 2018 01:48 PM PST ![American Girl's 2019 'Girl of the Year' is a junior chef with a screen-time obsession]( "American Girl's 2019 'Girl of the Year' is a junior chef with a screen-time obsession") Blaire Wilson has green eyes, red hair, a food sensitivity and struggles with screen time. She's also a budding chef on her family's sustainable farm.
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| Did this cheap Porsche 944 survive the Sahara desert? Posted: 01 Jan 2019 08:38 AM PST  Ben Coombs set out to drive from England to South Africa in a Porsche 944. With a badly behaved Porsche and all manner of terrain problems, here's what happened…
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| French defence minister in Jordan to visit troops fighting IS Posted: 31 Dec 2018 10:30 AM PST  France's defence minister arrived in Jordan on Monday to visit troops battling the Islamic State group, showing Paris's determination to continue the fight after a shock US decision to withdraw from Syria. After a stopover in Amman, where Florence Parly is set to meet with Jordanian Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz, she is expected to visit the H5 airbase from which French fighter jets take off for sorties against the jihadists. The minister's last-minute trip to Jordan comes on the heels of US President Donald Trump's surprise decision in mid-December to pull out all 2,000 American troops stationed in Syria, saying "we've won" against IS.
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| China taking advantage of Taiwan's openness, warns Tsai Posted: 31 Dec 2018 08:59 PM PST  China's manipulation of Taiwan's democratic openness is the biggest threat to the island's security, President Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday, as she called on Beijing to seek peaceful means to solve their differences. Relations between China and Taiwan have spent two years in the doldrums since the election of Tsai, who has refused to acknowledge Beijing's stance that the island is part of "one China". Tsai's comments came a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to give a landmark speech on Taiwan.
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| Merkel's Message to Europe: Stand Up Against Nationalism in 2019 Posted: 31 Dec 2018 02:17 AM PST  Signaling she intends to use her clout even as a lame-duck leader, Merkel evoked the horror of Europe's 20th-century wars in her New Year's Eve address while calling for Europe to stand together in 2019 as the U.K. heads toward the exit consumed by domestic political battles and populists seek gains in an EU-wide election. Merkel's comments reflect her determination to keep using the power of her office to shape the political agenda after a year of waning authority in which she agreed to step aside as chancellor by 2021 and gave up the leadership of her Christian Democratic Union. "We are committed to a more robust, more decisive European Union," Merkel said.
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| Afghan special forces fight IS; Taliban kill 15 policemen Posted: 01 Jan 2019 02:29 AM PST ![Afghan special forces fight IS; Taliban kill 15 policemen]( "Afghan special forces fight IS; Taliban kill 15 policemen") KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan special forces launched a new offensive against the Islamic State group in eastern Nangarhar province, killing 27 militants, officials said Tuesday. Meanwhile, Taliban attacks in northern Afghanistan killed 15 members of the country's security forces.
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| Mega Millions New Year's Day jackpot jumps to $425M Posted: 31 Dec 2018 11:19 AM PST ![Mega Millions New Year's Day jackpot jumps to $425M]( "Mega Millions New Year's Day jackpot jumps to $425M") The jackpot rose to $425 million from $415 million for the New Year's Day drawing. The jackpot is now the eighth largest in Mega Millions history.
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| Pompeo says cooperation with Israel over Syria and Iran to continue Posted: 01 Jan 2019 08:45 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he met with Pompeo in the Brazilian capital that he planned to discuss how to intensify intelligence and operations cooperation in Syria and elsewhere to block Iranian "aggression." In his first public comments on Trump's decision, Pompeo said it "in no way changes anything that this administration is working on alongside Israel." "The counter-ISIS campaign continues, our efforts to counter Iranian aggression continue and our commitment to Middle East stability and the protection of Israel continues in the same way it did before that decision was made," he said. Trump announced last month that he planned to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, declaring that they had succeeded in their mission to defeat Islamic State and were no longer needed in the country.
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| Coronation of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn set for May 4-6 Posted: 01 Jan 2019 12:22 AM PST  BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn will have his official coronation on May 4, the palace announced Tuesday.
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| What to expect from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation in 2019 Posted: 01 Jan 2019 08:04 AM PST  The expectation is that special counsel Robert Mueller could finalize his report and provide it to the Justice Department as early as February, but Mueller's office does not comment publicly on its progress or the timeline; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from Washington.
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| Democrats seek vote to end US government shutdown Posted: 31 Dec 2018 07:17 PM PST  Democratic lawmakers unveiled plans to emerge out of the partial shutdown of the federal government by examining and voting on an appropriations bill as soon as they take control of the House of Representatives -- on Thursday. The text does not include financing for the US-Mexican border wall sought by President Donald Trump to halt illegal immigration. In a tweet taunting Democrats for their refusal to fund the border fence, the Republican president said: "The Democrats will probably submit a Bill, being cute as always, which gives everything away but gives NOTHING to Border Security, namely the Wall.
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| UK 'terrorist' stabbing suspect held under mental health law Posted: 01 Jan 2019 04:00 PM PST  A British probe into a stabbing at a Manchester railway station on New Year's Eve which injured three people is being treated as "a terrorist investigation", the city's police force said on Tuesday. The 25-year-old man who was arrested at the scene on Monday night is now being detained under a mental health law, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said late Tuesday. The suspect reportedly shouted "Allah" and "long live the Caliphate" during what GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins called a "horrific attack" on three people, including a police officer.
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| Hillary Clinton calls 2018 'a dark time for our country' in sombre new year message Posted: 01 Jan 2019 03:11 AM PST  Hillary Clinton has described 2018 as a "dark time" for America in a new year Instagram post. The Democrat former presidential candidate said she was "grateful to everyone who brought light into it" – including activists, journalists, election organisers, candidates and protesters. "In many ways, 2018 was a dark time for our country," Ms Clinton wrote.
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| Most popular Yahoo News photo galleries of 2018 — the countdown Posted: 30 Dec 2018 09:01 PM PST  Check back in because we'll be counting down the top 10 until New Year's Eve.
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| North Korea's Kim sent message to Trump on nuclear talks: Chosun Ilbo Posted: 30 Dec 2018 06:32 PM PST  Kim's "letter-like" message to Trump was delivered on Friday through an unspecified channel, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic source. The report did not include details about the message but said it related to U.S.-North Korea talks, and was conciliatory in tone. On Sunday, the office of South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said Kim had sent a letter to his counterpart in Seoul saying he wants to hold more inter-Korean summits next year to achieve denuclearization of the peninsula.
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| Make a hearty chicken and sausage gumbo without all the work Posted: 31 Dec 2018 06:37 AM PST  This classic New Orleans specialty is built on a roux_a cooked mixture of fat and flour that must be stirred constantly, sometimes for an hour or more, until it is deep brown.
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| Timetable of Trump's pullout from Syria being questioned Posted: 31 Dec 2018 12:41 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid questions about the pace of his exit from Syria, President Donald Trump complained Monday that he's getting "bad press" for his decision to pull American troops out of the country and insisted he was simply making good on his campaign promise against U.S. involvement in "never ending wars."
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| New York's Times Square gears up for soggy New Year's Eve Posted: 31 Dec 2018 12:43 PM PST  Hundreds of tourists, some wrapped in raincoats, clustered in a rainy Times Square on Monday afternoon to await the midnight descent of the illuminated ball that has marked the arrival of the new year in New York City for more than a century. Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block and Sting were among the musical performers slated to entertain throngs filling the streets ahead of the ball drop, the focal point of New Year's Eve celebrations across the United States. Steady rain was forecast in New York City into the new year.
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