The international community has watched in dismay as U.S. President Donald “Dotard” Trump and North Korean leader “Rocket Man” Kim Jong Un trade escalating taunts and insults.
President Trump continued his efforts to belittle accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election on Friday, turning to the latest set of charges, involving targeted political ads placed on Facebook by accounts linked to the Kremlin.
― Scott Dekraai, the shooter in the worst mass killing in Orange County, California, history, was sentenced on Friday to eight consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, rather than receiving the death penalty, because of government misconduct linked to a jail informant program.
A powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake has hit Mexico City, a Mexican monitoring body has said, and there are reports from witnesses of buildings shaking. The United States Geological Survey said that the earthquake was an aftershock from a previous quake, and that already vulnerable buildings could be in danger of collapse from previous damage. “I was frightened because I thought, not again!” Alejandra Castellanos, who was on the second floor in a central neighbourhood of the city, told the Associated Press.
Cassini sent home one last batch of photos from Saturn before plunging to its death Friday and among them was an attempt to record a mysterious object embedded in the planet's rings, otherwise known as "Peggy."
About 70,000 people in Puerto Rico’s northwestern municipalities of Isabela and Quebradillas were being urged to evacuate immediately Friday after the Guajataca Dam there was found to be in “imminent” danger of failing.
Turkey's main international airport was closed to traffic on Thursday after a private jet crashed on landing and burst into flames, reports said. The plane, which had four people on board, was making an emergency landing at Ataturk International Airport, the DHA news agency said. All four were injured but the fire was brought under control, NTV television said.
The monument in the heart of Moscow was supposed to be a tribute to Mikhail Kalashnikov, the creator of the AK-47 assault rifle. Unfortunately, things went wrong, spectacularly so. The etching on the plinth was not of a Kalashnikov but the StG 44 rifle used by the Nazis during WWII. The mistake was spotted by arms experts, the BBC reported. It left the authorities having to use an angle grinder to remove the offending image. "A mistake has been made by the sculptor," executive director of the Russian Military Historical Society Vladislav Kononov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. A man uses an angle grinder as he removes a sketch allegedly featuring German StG44 rifle Credit: Mladen Antonov/AFP The AK-47 was, in fact, the Soviet answer to the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44), which the German forces used from 1944. Determined to find an equally effective weapon, the Soviet Union launched a competition, which was won by Mikhail Kalashnikov. Having been wounded at the Battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov began designing weapons. The AK-47 has been in use since the late 1940s. Kalashnikov, who died in 2013, aged 94 made little money out of his invention. Rather ruefully he said he wished he had designed a lawnmower. Although the AK-47 remains the most popular assault rifle in the world, last year the Kalashnikov company said it was branching out into menswear. "Kalashnikov is a global brand," said Kalashnikov's marketing director, Vladimir Dmitriyev, "and we rightly believe that clothing and souvenir products with our symbol will be in demand among buyers."
Dozens of students interrupted a speech made by former FBI director James Comey at the 150th opening convocation of Howard University in Washington, D.C.