In what White House officials portrayed as tough retaliation for Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. election, President Obama on Thursday evicted 35 suspected Russian spies from the country and imposed economic sanctions on four top officials of the country’s military intelligence service. As chief of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB (Russia’s successor to the Soviet KGB), Bortnikov heads the spy agency that launched his country’s cyberattack on the members of the Democratic National Committee and other U.S. political figures nearly a year and a half ago, according to a newly released joint FBI-Department of Homeland Security report.
The countdown of photo galleries that our Yahoo readers liked the best this year! _____ No. 1 The 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, red carpet and parties No. 2 9/11: Then and now – 15 years later No. 3 Nancy Reagan: A look back No. 4 Newspapers around the world react to Donald Trump’s victory No. 5 Deadly attacks in Brussels, Belgium No. 6 World reaction to Trump’s stunning victory No. 7 Winter Storm Jonas No. 8 Deadly attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport No. 9 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires ravage Gatlinburg, Tenn. No. ...
In small convoys of vehicles, Russians departed two countryside vacation retreats outside Washington and New York City without fanfare on Friday, ordered out by U.S. President Barack Obama who said the premises were linked to spying. The Russians were given until noon ET (1700 GMT) on Friday to vacate the compounds in Centreville, Maryland, and in Upper Brookville on Long Island in New York state. “The premises have been vacated and it’s under control of the government,” Elliot Conway, the mayor of Upper Brookville, told reporters soon after noon, when a total of six vehicles had driven away from the Russian compound there.
President-elect Donald Trump hailed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for not officially retaliating against the U.S. action against Russia. “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!” Trump tweeted. Earlier in the day, Putin denounced President Obama’s decision to punish Russia for interfering in the U.S. elections.
Russian government entities took to Twitter on Thursday and Friday to mock the U.S. after President Obama announced sanctions and other punishments in retaliation for the Kremlin’s interference in U.S. elections. President Obama and the U.S. intelligence community have accused Russia of spearheading the cyberattacks that leaked troves of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. In addition to the sanctions, the White House said it would expel from the U.S. 35 Russians whom it characterized as intelligence operatives, and the State Department said it would close two properties it said were used for the Kremlin’s intelligence operation.
Anthony Bourdain speaks during South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March. Celebrity chef and self-described “privileged Eastern liberal” Anthony Bourdain slammed his fellow leftist elites this week, arguing that their disdain for working-class Americans helped create “the upswell of rage and contempt” that propelled Donald Trump to the presidency. “The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we’re seeing now,” Bourdain said in an interview with Reason magazine.
This week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that he’d once thrown someone out of a helicopter — warning double-dealing politicians that he wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to them. “If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter to Manila and I will throw you out,” Duterte declared during a televised speech to typhoon victims on Tuesday. By Thursday, Duterte had backed away from the claim, first responding incredulously when asked about it during an interview with Philippine news channel ABS-CBN.
Big stories dominated the news in 2016 like no other year: Donald Trump won. The U.K. backed the Brexit. Right-wing populism surged around the globe. And more.
A longtime Republican congressman says that Russia’s leak of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the U.S. presidential election was a public service. “I’m all for doing what’s necessary to protect the election here,” Franks said. In October, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russian hacking of American “political organizations” like the Democratic National Committee was an attempt to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said that President Barack Obama’s actions against Russia should have come much sooner. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., thinks the Obama administration was justified in retaliating Thursday against Russia with sanctions for interfering with U.S. institutions. Far from a full-throated endorsement of Obama’s actions, Ryan’s statement condemned the commander in chief for eight years of what he considers “ineffective foreign policy” that left the United States more vulnerable than it was when he took office in 2009.
President-elect Donald Trump is working on the first draft of his inaugural address with top aides, his incoming press secretary said Thursday. Sean Spicer told reporters on a daily transition conference call that Stephen Miller, Trump’s aide and speechwriter, is taking the lead on the speech, with key senior advisers Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus contributing as well.
On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump had his most extensive questioning from the media since winning the election, and he addressed some widespread concerns about his business relationship with Russia and his views on foreign policy. Trump stepped out in front of the club’s main entrance with boxing promoter Don King during a dinner party that was attended by some of his longtime friends and top presidential transition team staff. “You all know Don King,” Trump said as he walked in front of the main entrance of the club.
President-elect Donald Trump is considering creating a “public/private option” for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a senior official on his presidential transition team. The official briefly spoke with reporters on Wednesday and said Trump had had a meeting earlier in the day about reforming the agency, which is responsible for providing health care to American veterans. “We think we have to have kind of a … public/private option, because some vets love the VA.
Yahoo News asked Trump whether he brought up any of his concerns about transition roadblocks with the president. Trump replied by referencing a speech earlier in the day by Secretary of State John Kerry, who he said Israel was undermining the Middle East peace process by building settlements on occupied land in the Palestinian territories. Trump did not specify exactly how he feels Obama undermined the transition, but his tweet came as he criticized the current administration for allowing the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements on Friday.
As a remarkably unpredictable and, in some cases, tragic 2016 winds down, Yahoo News is taking a look back at the year that was.
Press secretary Sean Spicer initially said the tweets clearly “speak for themselves” when he was asked if Trump believes that Obama was trying to “sabotage” the transition. Trump’s tweet did not specify which Obama statements he was referring to, and Spicer did not respond to a text message from Yahoo News asking what Trump sees as “roadblocks” by Obama.
President-elect Donald Trump might have been the long-shot success story of the year, but his predecessor, President Obama, is still the most admired man in the U.S., according to a plurality of respondents in a new poll. Gallup released the results of a new poll Wednesday that shows 22 percent of 1,028 American adults surveyed mentioned Obama when posed an open-ended question about the man they most admire in the world. Trump was named by 15 percent of respondents.
A protester carries an upside down American flag in a protest against Donald Trump in New York on Nov. 9. As progressives search for the next step in a world where Republicans will control the White House, both chambers of Congress and the majority of statehouses and governor’s mansions, the nascent anti-Trump resistance movement has been doing civil disobedience outside Trump Tower, pushing for bipartisan congressional investigations into Russian election meddling and itching to expose his Cabinet nominees’ conflicts of interest with the hope of sinking one — or perhaps even two or three — of them. Trump is weighted down by a 43 percent approval rating, making him the least popular newly elected president in the past half century.
Trump Tower was briefly evacuated on Tuesday after the discovery of a suspicious package, triggering a spat between aides for both New York City’s Democratic mayor and the building’s most famous resident. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, tweeted his appreciation for the New York City Police Department’s swift work in determining that an unattended backpack was harmless. “Back to work here at Trump Tower after a false alarm,” Spicer wrote on Twitter.
President-elect Donald Trump lashed out at President Obama on Wednesday, tweeting that he is doing his “best to disregard the many inflammatory” statements and “roadblocks” coming from his soon-to-be predecessor. Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition – NOT! Trump didn’t directly say which Obama comments he found especially inflammatory, but he took exception to the current administration’s approach to Israel.
Juliette Timsit posted this image of the Anne Frank Elementary School defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti in Montreuil, France, on Dec. 25, 2016. This year, the start of Hanukkah was met with a spate of anti-Semitism, including an apparent attack at a California synagogue, and at a school in France that was defaced with graffiti in German declaring, “Jews prohibited.” Even President-elect Donald Trump was bombarded with anti-Semitic tweets after he sent good wishes to those celebrating the holiday.
Carl Paladino, who co-chaired President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign in New York, issued a lengthy statement on Tuesday amid continuing uproar over racially offensive comments he made about President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. In a press release, Paladino apologized to the “minority community” for his remarks, which appeared in a feature that was published in the Western New York weekly Artvoice on Dec. 23. Paladino blamed the comments on an “emotional” reaction to President Obama’s handling of the situation in Syria and accidentally hitting the wrong button in his email.
Donald Trump’s victory on Election Day was notable not only that it contradicted the polls, but that it defied the entire newspaper opinion-page consensus that the Republican nominee was not fit for the presidency. Newspapers that had historically only endorsed Republicans and publications that had never endorsed anyone before slammed Trump’s candidacy. But the defiant developer, who accused the media of somehow rigging the election, was not harmed by the criticism.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid wreaths at various cemeteries and memorials Monday ahead of a visit to the site of the 1941 bombing that plunged the United States into World War II. Abe landed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and then headed to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where he laid a wreath. At the Ehime Maru Memorial, he again laid a wreath and bowed his head.
President Barack Obama said he initially doubted whether the “Yes We Can” slogan or now iconic Obama logo would be successful when he was preparing for his 2008 presidential campaign. In conversation with David Axelrod, chief strategist for both Obama presidential campaigns, the commander in chief explained that he thought the phrase “Yes We Can” was too simplistic and that the logo, reminiscent of the Pepsi brand, looked altogether too corporate. Obama was contrasting his experiences at the Democratic National Conventions in 2000 and 2004 on Monday’s episode of Axelrod’s “The Axe Files” podcast.