White House bars Russian diplomats from riverfront compound

Russian Federation diplomats will no longer have access to the swanky riverfront compound on Maryland's Eastern Shore where they played tennis, went sailing and enjoyed respite from the nation's capital. As part of the move to punish Russia for its role in hacking the Democratic National Committee and influencing a United States election, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced sanctions that include shuttering the compound.

China Seen Dropping Trade Target for Second Year Amid Tensions

China is downplaying its trade growth target, suggesting leaders may elect not to announce one for a second year as it pushes for greater economic stability, state media reported. The Ministry of Commerce concluded a key annual conference without setting a 2017 target, which suggests that top policy makers are backing away from an "obsession" with growth targets, the state-run Shanghai Securities News Doing so is more appropriate for conditions under the "new normal" than setting a specific target, said Li Guanghui, deputy director of the ministry's Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, according to the paper, which is affiliated with the official Xinhua News Agency.

High-Ranking Defector Outlines North Korea’s Intent To Go Nuclear In 2017

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides the multiple-rocket launching drill of women's sub-units under KPA Unit 851, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency April 24, 2014. REUTERS/KCNA North Korea is "racing ahead with nuclear development after setting up a plan to develop it at all costs by the end of 2017," Thae Yong-ho, formerly a diplomat at the North Korean Embassy in London, said at a press conference, reports Yonhap News Agency.

China Stocks Continue Year-End Slide as Property Firms Decline

China stocks continued their fall as the last week of the year kicks off, dragged lower by the property sector amid government efforts to rein in home prices. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.8 percent to 3,085.31 as of 1:03 p.m. local time, heading for its lowest close since October 20. Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co.

Japan’s Abe to visit Pearl Harbor memorial

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will fly to Hawaii this week for the express purpose of visiting the site of the surprise attack on a U.S. naval base 75 years ago that killed 2,400 Americans and drew the country into World War II. The visit is a sign of how far public opinion in Japan has moved that Abe can make the trip to the memorial, accompanied by President Barack Obama, to offer condolences to the victims.

‘I’m scared for my life’: First Afghan female pilot in the…

Capt. Niloofar Rahmani, 25, is the first female pilot in the Afghani military since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 She traveled to the US last summer for training with the US Air Force which finished on Thursday - and was supposed to return Saturday, yet did not Afghanistan's first female pilot to serve in the air force since the fall of the Taliban has applied for asylum in the United States. Capt.

Political Crystal Ball: Predictions For 2017

"Face the Nation" host John Dickerson will discuss predictions for 2017 with a panel of CBS News correspondents in a segment that will air Sunday . CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent Jeff Pegues said that he predicts FBI Director James Comey will stay in his job despite the blowback he received from how he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails and the last-minute discovery of related emails a week before the election.

Abe’s peaceful visit to Pearl Harbor will send a powerful message

On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will stand with President Barack Obama in honouring the more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers killed in his country's Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, a date that lives in infamy, if not controversy. As the first Japanese leader to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, the resting place of many of the U.S. Marines killed in the attack, Mr. Abe is taking a giant step forward that none of his postwar predecessors felt his country was ready or secure enough to watch its prime minister make.

South Koreans to march against president on Christmas Eve

California's attorney general is pursuing new charges against the operators of a website advertising escort services two weeks after a judge tossed an earlier case. California's attorney general said Friday that she was pursuing new pimping charges against the operators of Backpage.com, a website that advertises escort services, just two weeks after a judge tossed an earlier case.

Pa. woman, husband, 2 sons speak in Taliban hostage video

A Pennsylvania woman held hostage in Afghanistan for four years appeared in a video Monday with her husband and two children - both born in captivity -- and pleaded to President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump to secure their release. Caitlan Coleman, 31, of York County, appeared in the video with her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, and their boys.

Swalwell meets with troops, diplomats during overseas trip

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell had lunch with U.S. service members from Northern California while visiting South Korea on a House Intelligence Committee trip last week. Pleasanton's Congressman Eric Swalwell returned last weekend from a congressional trip to Japan and South Korea as part of a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence delegation.

Colorado Springs experts say threat of hacking goes far beyond Russia’s suspected email poaching

In a world where enemies can destroy a power grid with a key stroke, devastate the economy with malware or even kill hospital patients with a computer virus, the hack of Democratic National Committee emails was far less damaging than what experts say could be in the offing. But that doesn't mean that the world's most prominent political hack hasn't gotten the cybersecurity industry's attention.

Obama: Putin Maybe Knew About HacksBy Betsy Woodruff

President Obama didn't come right out and say it but it was pretty clear at his last press conference of 2016, that he thought the Vladimir Putin was involved in the election year email hacks. In a press conference this afternoon, President Obama all but blamed Vladimir Putin for the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta --and all but said those hacks were intended to boost Trump.

Trump ‘has case to answer’ on Russian hacking during US election

Donald Trump had people around him who had quite a lot to do with Russia or Ukraine, former British ambassador to Moscow Sir Andrew Wood said It is "almost impossible" that Donald Trump would not have known about Russian hacking during the US presidential election, a former ambassador to Moscow said as Barack Obama vowed that America would respond to the action. The outgoing president said the US would react at a "time and place of our choosing" to the hacking of Democratic officials' emails in the run-up to the election.

California Courier Online, December 15, 2016

Turkish and Azeri circles were displeased with my latest column where I had analyzed Vice President-elect Mike Pence's phone call to Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan. 's Trend news agency published a ridiculous article by Elmira Tariverdiyeva, titled: "Yerevan's failed phone call or why Trump did not respond."

Trump’s national security adviser shared secrets without permission, files show

A secret U.S. military investigation in 2010 determined that Michael T. Flynn, the retired Army general tapped to serve as national security adviser in the Trump White House, "inappropriately shared" classified information with foreign military officers in Afghanistan, newly released documents show. Although Flynn lacked authorization to share the classified material, he was not disciplined or reprimanded after the investigation concluded that he did not act "knowingly" and that "there was no actual or potential damage to national security as a result," according to Army records obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.