Day: December 23, 2016

The Latest: Putin: Democrats should apologize over emails

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 23, 2016. Putin says he sees “nothing unusual” in Donald Trump’s pledge to strengthen the U.S. nuclear forces, calling the statement is in line with the U.S. president-elect’s campaign promises.

The Latest: Putin rejects accusations of meddling in US vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin is praising U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for keenly feeling American voters’ mood to win the election, and he rejects the White House’s accusations of meddling in the vote. Speaking at an annual news conference, Putin said Friday that Russia hopes to develop “businesslike and constructive relations that would benefit both Russia and the United States.”

The Latest: Putin says nuke missiles can pierce any defense

Speaking at Friday’s end-of-year news conference, Putin said Russia had to develop the capability after the U.S. in 2001 opted out of a Cold War-era treaty banning missile defense systems. He argued that the modernization of Russian nuclear forces is in line with existing arms control agreements, including the New Start Treaty with the United States.

Berlin Terror Suspect Killed in Milan by Police

Italian police killed the man suspected of carrying out this week’s Berlin terrorist attack near a Milan area train station earlier Monday, Interior Minister Marco Minniti said at a press conference in Rome. Bloomberg’s Guy Johnson reports on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”

QUIZ: How Well Did You Pay Attention To Markets This Year an hour ago

It was a year dominated by some yuge surprises, but how closely have you been paying attention to the details? Here are 60 things that happened in 2016: 2. How long did China’s stock exchanges stay open before recently introduced circuit breakers ended trading on Jan. 7 after a 7 percent fall? 3. Crude dropped below $30 for the first time since 2004, but what was the proximate cause of the selloff? 5. What did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration find odd about some Parmesan cheese produced in rural Pennsylvania? 2. The ECB cut rates, but President Mario Draghi gave mixed signals at the press conference.

Trump: Beef up U.S. nuke clout

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday on Twitter that the United States should greatly “expand its nuclear capability,” appearing to embrace an end to decades of bipartisan presidential efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defenses and strategy. Trump’s midafternoon post may have been a response to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who in a speech earlier Thursday called for continued improvement of his country’s nuclear abilities so it can “reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems.”

Cardinal Mahony: churches may offer sanctuary to a DREAMersa who face deportation

Writing in L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011, discussed the plight of “DREAMers”: persons who were brought illegally to the United States by their parents when they were children. “While President-elect Donald J. Trump has pledged to implement several severe immigration policies, including the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants and the construction of a wall on the Mexican border, the most pressing and imminent challenge his incoming administration presents on this critical issue is its promise to rescind the DACA program,” Cardinal Mahony wrote.

How Barack Obama Failed Black Americans

Born in 1953, I am a child of the waning years of legal segregation in the United States. My parents, on the other hand, spent about 40 years of their lives under Jim Crow, and all of my grandparents lived most of their lives under official American apartheid.

Under Obama, a Disaster for the Democrats

The president’s policies have cost his party Congress, governorships, and nearly a thousand seats in state legislatures. Four faithless electors ditched Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College on Monday, double the number who dumped Donald J. Trump.

Bill to jumpstart research, speed up treatment options

A bill signed by President Barack Obama recently is looking to bring medical breakthroughs and tackle some of the largest health challenges facing Americans. Now a law, the 21st Century Cures Act will speed up the federal review process while reducing bureaucracy needed to approve new medical treatment options.

Trump tweets rattle markets, Mideast, nukes

President-elect Donald Trump long ago earned a reputation for being unpredictable in his statements, but he outdid himself on Thursday. In the span of just a few hours, Trump shook international relations by undercutting the Obama administration over a UN resolution on Israeli settlements, indicated he would ramp up nuclear competition with Russia and then jolted a major defense contractor — and its shareholders — by suggesting he would ask Boeing to replace a fighter jet being made by Lockheed Martin.

Hillary Still Losing Voters a ” Even After Election Day

A post-election poll finds that a tiny number of Trump voters have come to regret their vote, while a group four times larger now says they wish they hadn’t voted for Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton. The poll found that fully 99 percent of Trump’s voters would still pull the lever for him if the election were today instead of a month ago, meaning Trump has only lost one percent of support in the six weeks since Election Day, the New York Post reported this week.

Avon audience sees – Loving’ as major Oscar contender

Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga star in “Loving,” a film about the Virginia couple who won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1967 making interracial marriages legal throughout the country. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga star in “Loving,” a film about the Virginia couple who won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1967 making interracial marriages legal throughout the country.

Clinton wins popular vote by nearly 2.9 million

Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than President-elect Donald Trump, giving her the largest popular vote margin of any losing presidential candidate. Certified results in all 50 states and the District of Columbia show Clinton winning nearly 65,844,610 million votes – 48 percent – to Trump’s 62,979,636 million votes – 46 percent – according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Report: Philly Transit Strike Negotiations Cost Half A Million Dollars

Philadelphia’s transit authority spent nearly $500,000 on outside legal counsel during negotiations with striking workers this past month. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority spent $423,388 on outside labor counsel to handle negotiations with Transport Workers Union Local 234 over the contract agreed to after a six-day strike in November, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal .

“President”Trump On Israel

During the past few years the Israel Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, has met with Republican leaders, interfered with the American conduct of policy in the Middle East on ground that he, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, believe President Obama hates Jews and hates Israel. Under the administration of Barack Obama the nation of Israel has been provided over SIXTEEN BILLION DOLLARS worth of military assistance, plus money to build a defensive shield against missiles.

Hungary could slash personal income tax to 9 pct in 2018 -minister

Dec 23 Hungary could slash the personal income tax rate to 9 percent from the present 15 percent in 2018 if economic growth climbs above 3 percent on a sustained basis, its economy minister was quoted as saying by business daily Vilaggazdasag on Friday. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, which faces an election in the spring of 2018, raised its economic growth forecast to over 4 percent in the next two years after unveiling a batch of stimulus measures.

Obama Ends List

The one certainty in modern life is that at some point each one of us will discover that our name is on some list. A colleague, who was born in Lebanon was interviewed by FBI agents regarding his membership in a Lebanon group.

The White Establishment

Bill O’Reilly, the man with a quick tongue and ability to write nonsensical books, has created a storm of anger. He charges that any attempt to challenge the Trump victory or seek a Constitutional change in the electoral system is really a dagger pointed to the hearts of those belonging to the White Establishment.

Donna’s Signature Pina Coladas

This alluring corner hideaway is on Williamsburg’s south side, where expensive cocktail bars have replaced the dwindling Puerto Rican neighborhood’s once ubiquitous bodegas, barbershops, and social clubs. So it’s fitting, if somewhat tragic, that the clientele drinking Donna’s signature cocktail, a rum-heavy spin on the piA a colada, are more likely to associate it with spring break than with its status as the national drink of America’s largest territory.

The Don of Hardcore Steps Up Again

In a photo published in 1982 by the small zine Maniac!, Paul Hudson, known then as H.R., stood over a pile of bricks and soil in a scraggly garden, his legs spread apart and every inch of his shirtless upper body tightly flexed. He called it his “last official punk pose,” and in the accompanying interview he explained why he was stepping away from his band, Bad Brains, changing his name to Joseph I, and starting a new, Rastafarian-influenced reggae outfit, Zion Train.

Completing August Wilson’s Life Work

August Wilson’s life work was his “Century Cycle,” a ten-play portrait of black life in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, each set in a different decade. Until this month, only one had not played on Broadway: “Jitney,” about gypsy-cab drivers in the seventies.

“Enough Is Better Than a Feast”: Christmas Dinner in the Time of the Great Depression

Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman, a husband-and-wife team of authors and food historians, host their dinner parties in a broad Brooklyn Heights kitchen designed to resemble a nineteen-thirties schoolroom: red cupboards, wood counters that groan with the accumulated weight of cookbooks. Although Coe and Ziegelman once co-wrote a history of foie gras, their latest project is “A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression,” a thick volume that examines a complex decade in American dining.