World News

A shooter opened fire at a southern California law firm Friday, killing one man and injuring another before fatally turning the gun on himself, police said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2zR1mTB

A gunman killed at least 11 people on Friday in attacks on a Coptic Orthodox church and a Christian-owned shop near Cairo before he was wounded and arrested, the Egyptian interior ministry and church officials said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a statement carried out by its Amaq news agency, though it provided no evidence for the claim. Police have stepped up security measures around churches ahead of Coptic Christmas celebrations on Jan. 7, deploying officers outside Christian places of worship and setting up metal detectors at some of the bigger churches. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2BUBmZf

More than 1,100 people were honored this year from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CuzdEK

Following a year of deadly terrorist attacks, security is going to be tighter than ever before. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CjK2My

"Once the gunfire was heard, the gates were closed immediately" from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2BT4dxo

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law Friday a bill toughening sentences for terrorist recruitment as the country deals with the issue of returning jihadists from Syria. Official publication of the law came two days after a bomb attack on a supermarket in Saint Petersburg, Russia's second city, injured 14 people. The new law, which parliament voted through on December 14 and the upper chamber approved on December 26, immediately raises the maximum sentence for terrorist recruitment and finance to life from 10 years. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lnOU9w

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man walked into the Southern California law firm where he worked and shot two men Friday before turning the gun on himself, police said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cl3Wqh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that Russia had political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported on Saturday. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2q7NncK

A Connecticut court has refused to free three elephants from a zoo after an animal rights group asked it to do so. The court ruled that Minnie, Beulah, and Karen do not qualify as “persons entitled to liberty and equality” under state law. Judge James Bentivegna wrote in the decision that “the petition is wholly frivolous on its face” because it relied on applying “human rights of freedom and equality” to the animals. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Ce8yPD

Clips show the gunman who killed nine walking away unchallenged for 10 minutes from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lumbPO

While President Trump normally gets the internet buzzing with eyebrow-raising comments and quick-response tweets, first daughter, Ivanka Trump, has also had her fair share of controversies in 2017. In an interview with the Associated Press, the first daughter said there was "a special place in hell for people who prey on children" after allegations surfaced that Moore sexually abused multiple teenage girls. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2C1v2iI

By Mostafa Salem CAIRO (Reuters) - At an hour that Sama'an Farag usually spends leisurely sipping his morning tea, the doorman at the Mar Mina Coptic Church near Cairo found himself springing up to close the doors upon hearing gunshots and the sound of ricocheting bullets. Inside, dozens of children at Sunday school, held on Friday morning to coincide with Egypt's weekend, were rushed upstairs out of the range of the gunfire. God forbid if he (gunman) had entered the church - there would have been many more victims," said churchkeeper Saad Saeed. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cde0T5

WASHINGTON — China, one of the world’s largest markets for elephant ivory, will close out 2017 by shutting down its domestic ivory trade in an effort to curb poaching and ensure a future for the imperiled species. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2C4azdj

At least nine were left dead from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lv7nAm

President Donald Trump has again threatened the future status of a program that allowed children brought illegally to the United States to remain here, demanding he get a bigger border wall separating the U.S. and Mexico. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lqHotD

Fourteen suspects held over a 2009 stadium massacre in Guinea which killed 157 people are to go before a criminal tribunal after a legal investigation concluded, the country's justice minister said. "I am happy to announce to you that the judicial investigation into the 2009 Conakry stadium massacre ended on December 29. At least 157 people were killed and 109 women raped by troops during a massive opposition protest in the stadium on September 28, 2009 against the rule of then junta chief Moussa Dadis Camara after his security forces opened fire on the crowd. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CryTGN

New Year’s Eve celebrations in central Berlin will include a women’s safe zone for the first time, in the hope of preventing a repeat of mob attacks on female revellers during festivities in Cologne two years ago. Up to a million guests are expected to attend the open-air event taking place around Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, featuring fireworks and pop acts such as Rednex and Whigfield this year. The women’s safety area is being established at the request of Berlin police. The tent will be set up near a plaza adjacent to the landmark tourist attraction, and manned by German Red Cross representatives. "There will be three to four (German Red Cross) helpers who are specially trained and can look after women who feel harassed or threatened," a spokesperson for the celebrations, Anja Marx, told German national broadcaster rbb. A police spokesperson told The Telegraph that patrolling authorities planned to check in regularly with staff at the women’s safety tent and tend to

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Two Turkish journalists face possible life sentences on charges they sent "subliminal messages" on television encouraging a government coup. In Hungary, oligarchs loyal to the prime minister have gained control of much of the media after the leading independent newspaper was shut down. And in Poland, a reporter is being threatened with a military trial for writing a book critical of the defense minister. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2DuLBnx

thanked his supporters and friends during a speech in Minneapolis Thursday night, in what is expected to be one of his final public appearances as a senator. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2BV8yQm

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man walked into the Southern California law firm where he worked and shot two men Friday before turning the gun on himself, police said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cl3Wqh

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A wave of spontaneous protests over Iran's weak economy swept into Tehran on Saturday, with college students and others chanting against the government just hours after hard-liners held their own rally in support of the Islamic Republic's clerical establishment. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2EkZ56Q

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Two Turkish journalists face possible life sentences on charges they sent "subliminal messages" on television encouraging a government coup. In Hungary, oligarchs loyal to the prime minister have gained control of much of the media after the leading independent newspaper was shut down. And in Poland, a reporter is being threatened with a military trial for writing a book critical of the defense minister. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2DuLBnx

Democratic Republic of Congo's government on Saturday ordered telecommunications providers to cut internet and SMS services across the country ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations. Grassroots Catholic activists have called for marches in major cities on Sunday to demand that President Joseph Kabila commit to not changing the constitution to stand for a third term and release political prisoners. Kabila was required by the constitution to step down in December last year when his mandate expired but an election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled for December 2018. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CdqrhJ

Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov on Saturday accused the United States of violating a key arms treaty by selling a missile defence system to Japan. "The US is deploying them (missile defence systems) at their military bases in Romania and Poland, that is near our western borders, which goes against the 1987 INF Treaty banning the deployment of such systems on the ground," Ryabkov said in a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website. "The fact that such complexes could now appear on Russia's eastern borders creates a situation that we cannot ignore in our military planning," said Ryabkov. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CfEvrb

A pair of Russian comedians appear to have successfully tricked the US’ Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, into commenting on a fictional Asian country. The two comedians Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, known as Vovan and Lexus, posted a 22 minute audio clip of their conversation with the ambassador where they get her to comment on the situation in Binomo – a fictional country in the South China Sea. Posing as the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, they spoke to Ms Haley in the days after Poland was one of 35 countries to abstain on a UN vote to reject Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as “null and void”. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2q1FiWH

By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Kidnappers in Ukraine have released an employee at a United Kingdom-registered cryptocurrency exchange after getting more than $1 million in bitcoins as ransom, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister told Reuters on Friday. Pavel Lerner, a leading analyst and blockchain expert, was abducted by unknown masked people on Dec. 26, according to a statement by his company, EXMO Finance, on its website. "This is the first such case in Ukraine linked to bitcoins," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said in a phone text message. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cm6S5Z

Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank for the fourth Friday in a row in protests against U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinian health officials said at least 50 protesters had been wounded by live fire, mostly along the Gaza border. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers had shot at the "main instigators" who she said posed a direct threat to the troops and who were trying to damage the border security fence. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2BVSiib

New York may have recorded a dramatic fall in crime this year, including the lowest annual murder total since the 1950s, but a sentencing hearing in Brooklyn on Thursday revealed the persistence of some of the city’s most famous criminal traditions. Prosecutors allege that Vincent Asaro, 82, was inducted into the Bonanno crime syndicate more than 40 years ago and has held the position of captain and been a member of the family’s ruling panel. On Thursday, however, Asaro was sentenced to eight years in prison for his part in a road rage incident in the mob stronghold of Howard Beach, Queens. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2DAvlBw

Authorities arrested a 25-year-old man in California for a “swatting” prank emergency call that led to the death of an innocent 28-year-old Kansas man who was shot by police responders on Thursday evening as he stood on his front doorstep. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2zPruhD

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence was welcomed to Colorado with snow-dusted pines, cool mountain air and a bright rainbow banner with the words, “Make America Gay Again.” from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CtC3tT

A White House intern appeared to flash a white power hand gesture in a photo with President Donald Trump, a signal that some far-right groups have adopted in recent months. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CkJ8iw

Democratic Republic of Congo's government on Saturday ordered telecommunications providers to cut internet and SMS services across the country ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations. Grassroots Catholic activists have called for marches in major cities on Sunday to demand that President Joseph Kabila commit to not changing the constitution to stand for a third term and release political prisoners. Kabila was required by the constitution to step down in December last year when his mandate expired but an election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled for December 2018. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CdqrhJ

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party (CSU) has proposed increasing Germany's defense spending to a level that widens a policy gap with the Social Democrats (SPD) ahead of talks on forming a governing coalition. A deal between Merkel's conservative camp and the center-left (SPD) is her best chance of securing a fourth term in office but her possible coalition partners are angling for concessions before talks start in the new year. The CSU said in a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Friday it wanted defense spending to reach NATO's target of 2 percent of national output and more money spent on the military, drones and transportation infrastructure. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2BZKRXm

A Connecticut court has refused to free three elephants from a zoo after an animal rights group asked it to do so. The court ruled that Minnie, Beulah, and Karen do not qualify as “persons entitled to liberty and equality” under state law. Judge James Bentivegna wrote in the decision that “the petition is wholly frivolous on its face” because it relied on applying “human rights of freedom and equality” to the animals. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Ce8yPD

Iranian police clashed with protesters demonstrating against government corruption on Friday, in a rare public show of discontent in the Islamic republic.  About 300 people gathered in the western city of Kermanshah on Friday calling for a "revolution", shouting "where's my paycheck?", "the people are begging, the clerics act like God" and “death to the dictator”. It followed a day after similar protests in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where more than 50 were arrested.  President Hassan Rouhani's government has been unable to control spiralling prices - the costs of basics such as milk and eggs has doubled in a week. And despite the loosening of international sanctions in 2015, the country has seen little economic growth and few ordinary residents feel they have benefitted.  There have been calls on social media for protests up and down the country, despite warnings from the government against illegal gatherings. Protestors attack security for

The White House has reportedly fired the members of Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) without explanation. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lsMJAS

Following a year of deadly terrorist attacks, security is going to be tighter than ever before. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CjK2My

By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that he expected to see a larger U.S. civilian presence in Syria, including contractors and diplomats, as the fight against Islamic State militants nears its end and the focus turns toward rebuilding and ensuring the militants do not return. The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria fighting Islamic State. Mattis' comments are likely to anger Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has previously called U.S. troops "illegal invader" forces. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CnxNi5

Cartoonist Hristo Komarnitski and his colleagues had no illusions: launching a satirical journal was always going to be tricky in Bulgaria, new holder of the EU presidency but also ranked as the bloc's worst press freedom violator. As Bulgaria prepares to take the rotating EU helm on January 1, its press industry is mired in "corruption and collusion between media, politicians, and oligarchs," according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Since joining the bloc a decade ago, Bulgaria has tumbled down in the annual RSF press freedom ranking from sharing the 35th place with France in 2006 to 109th out of 180 countries in 2017 -- by far the worst placed EU member state. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2pXt81j

A Gazan died on Saturday after being wounded by Israeli fire during a protest on the border over US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a Palestinian health official said. Jamal Muslih, 20, of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, had been seriously wounded by live fire on Friday, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. He was buried on Saturday afternoon. Muslih’s death brings to 13 the number of Palestinians killed since US President Donald Trump announced on December 6 that he would recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. Mourners at the funeral of Jamal Muslih, who died after being wounded by Israeli fire Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP Eleven protesters died after clashes with Israeli troops, and two others were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza earlier in the month. More than 50 Palestinians were wounded in the Friday clashes on the Gaza-Israel border as part of a "day of rage" over the US declaration, calle

Fourteen suspects held over a 2009 stadium massacre in Guinea which killed 157 people are to go before a criminal tribunal after a legal investigation concluded, the country's justice minister said. "I am happy to announce to you that the judicial investigation into the 2009 Conakry stadium massacre ended on December 29. At least 157 people were killed and 109 women raped by troops during a massive opposition protest in the stadium on September 28, 2009 against the rule of then junta chief Moussa Dadis Camara after his security forces opened fire on the crowd. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CryTGN

President Donald Trump reportedly fired the sixteen remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) Wednesday via a letter FedExed from the White House. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2ClWVpm

Democratic Republic of Congo's government on Saturday ordered telecommunications providers to cut internet and SMS services across the country ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations. Grassroots Catholic activists have called for marches in major cities on Sunday to demand that President Joseph Kabila commit to not changing the constitution to stand for a third term and release political prisoners. Kabila was required by the constitution to step down in December last year when his mandate expired but an election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled for December 2018. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CdqrhJ

A shooter opened fire at a southern California law firm Friday, killing one man and injuring another before fatally turning the gun on himself, police said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2zR1mTB

Turkish police detained 75 suspected Islamic State members in two operations on Friday, state media and police said, after arresting about 120 such suspects across Turkey a day earlier, tightening security ahead of the New Year. Some 500 police officers took part in simultaneous raids across Ankara, and many of those detained were foreign nationals, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Materials seized in the raids indicated some of the suspects had made preparations for an attack over New Year, it added. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Ct1lZc

The White House has reportedly fired the members of Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) without explanation. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lsMJAS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia in 2017 laid the groundwork for momentous change next year, defying its conservative reputation for slow, cautious reforms by announcing plans to let women drive, allow movie theaters to return and to issue tourist visas. The kingdom could even get a new king. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CrShUd

Donald Trump condemned the arrest of protesters in Iran, telling Tehran that "the world is watching" as officials reported fresh demonstrations over the country’s struggling economy. Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with regime’s corruption & its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. Iranian govt should respect their people’s rights, including right to express themselves. The world is watching! #IranProtests— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017 Fifty-two people were arrested in Iran’s second city Mashhad on Thursday, the first day of the protests, which also took place in other areas and spread to the capital Tehran as well as Kermanshah the following day. "There are many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regime’s corruption and its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad," the White House added in a statement. "The Iranian government shoul

A Connecticut court has refused to free three elephants from a zoo after an animal rights group asked it to do so. The court ruled that Minnie, Beulah, and Karen do not qualify as “persons entitled to liberty and equality” under state law. Judge James Bentivegna wrote in the decision that “the petition is wholly frivolous on its face” because it relied on applying “human rights of freedom and equality” to the animals. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Ce8yPD

A leading Russian environmental activist said on Friday he had been hospitalized after being severely beaten by unknown assailants in the southern city of Krasnodar. Andrei Rudomakha, head of the Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus NGO, told Reuters he and a group of activists were assaulted late on Thursday upon returning from the Black Sea coastal city of Gelendzhik where they were documenting the illegal construction of a mansion for high-ranking officials. The regional branch of the Russian Interior Ministry, in a statement sent to Reuters, said authorities were investigating the attack by what it said were three assailants. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cbcjpg