Obama leaves Trump with difficult decision on Russian hacking sanctions

President Barack Obama is forcing his successor Donald Trump into a difficult choice: reverse the sanctions the departing president just imposed on Russia for hacking the U.S. election or put at risk his campaign vow to improve relations with Vladimir Putin. Hours after Obama imposed penalties on Russian agencies, individuals and companies and ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian operatives Thursday, Trump issued a terse statement far milder than his previous assertions that Democratic emails may well have been stolen and leaked by “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”

Trump Says He’ll Weigh Intelligence Findings on Russian Hacking

President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll meet next week with U.S. intelligence officials to discuss their findings that Russia hacked Democratic Party e-mails to meddle in the 2016 election, signaling a possible shift from his previous dismissals of Russian involvement. In his first statement following President Barack Obama’s action on Thursday to sanction Russian intelligence officials and agencies for the hacking, Trump released a statement, saying, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.

Trump Says He’ll Weigh Intelligence Findings on Russian Hacking

President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll meet next week with U.S. intelligence officials to discuss their findings that Russia hacked Democratic Party e-mails to meddle in the 2016 election, signaling a possible shift from his previous dismissals of Russian involvement. In his first statement following President Barack Obama’s action on Thursday to sanction Russian intelligence officials and agencies for the hacking, Trump released a statement, saying, “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.

The US just imposed sanctions on Russia over election hacks

President Barack Obama’s administration has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two top intelligence services and it’s ejected 35 Russian intelligence officials from the US. This is in response to Russia’s repeated , documented hacks of the US election system throughout 2016, and it marks the strongest-ever American response to a state-sponsored cyber attack, The New York Times reports.

2016: Top 26 photos that went viral on the Internet

The year 2016 has indeed proved to be a year in which what happened on social media dominated discussions in the public arena and vice-versa. It also emerged as the year when social media activism reached its highest point so far with innocent animals being rescued because of the good Samaritans present in the web space.

Putin congratulates Trump as he denies meddling in US election

Vladimir Putin has praised Donald Trump for “keenly” gauging public sentiment in order to win the US election, and denied White House claims that Russia had meddled with the vote. Speaking during a marathon end-of-year news conference, Russian president Mr Putin said he sees “nothing unusual” in Mr Trump’s pledge to strengthen the US nuclear forces, saying the statement was in line with the president-elect’s campaign promises.

Trump, in day of tweets, suggests major changes on…

President-elect Donald Trump takes a question from a member of the media at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 21, 2016. Trump on Thursday abruptly called for the United States to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” until the rest of the world “comes to its senses” regarding nuclear weapons.

Trudeau Joins Obama in Freezing Arctic Offshore Oil Drilling

President Barack Obama banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 100 million acres of the U.S. Arctic and undersea canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, a move certain to provoke a fight with the Republican-led Congress and his successor in the White House. In an announcement coordinated between two of the world’s biggest oil producers, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also committed to freeze new offshore leasing in his nation’s Arctic waters and review the matter every five years.

Obama Said to Use 1953 Law to Restrict Offshore Oil Drilling

President Barack Obama is preparing to block the sale of new offshore drilling rights in most of the U.S. Arctic and parts of the Atlantic, a move that could indefinitely restrict oil production there, according to people familiar with the decision. Obama will invoke a provision in a 1953 law that gives him wide latitude to withdraw U.S. waters from future oil and gas leasing, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Obama orders review of election-season hacking

President Barack Obama has ordered intelligence officials to conduct a broad review of election-season cyberattacks, including the email hacks that rattled the presidential campaign and raised fresh concerns about Russia’s meddling in U.S. elections, the White House said Friday. The review, led by intelligence agencies, will be a “deep dive” into a possible pattern of increased “malicious cyber activity” timed to the campaign season, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.