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Wall Street entered correction territory in late January and was challenged for much of 2018 by tariff jitters, rising interest rates, and fears of diminishing corporate profits. "Investors got complacent," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta. "People were positioned for the lack of volatility, and when that changed because of trade concerns and interest rates, people started repositioning and that started the cascade." December was a particularly trying month for U.S. equities.

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Here Are All the Stores Open and Closed on New Year's 2019

Netanyahu says Israel is Arabs' 'ally' against Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Arab countries viewed Israel as an "indispensable ally" fighting Iran and the Islamic State group. The comments came as Israel has stepped up air strikes on Iranian positions in neighboring Syria, and as Israel digested an abrupt decision by President Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from Syria.

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Rudy Giuliani says there is no evidence to suggest Trump was involved in any conspiracy to hack the DNC with Russia

John Kelly blames Jeff Sessions for 'zero tolerance,' family separations along border

Judge Who Ruled Against Obamacare Halts Order Pending Appeal

“Because many everyday Americans would otherwise face great uncertainty during the pendency of appeal, the court finds that the Dec. 14, 2018, order declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional and inseverable should be stayed,” U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said in a filing Sunday in federal court in Fort Worth. O’Connor had agreed with a coalition of Republican states led by Texas that the ACA, the signature health-care overhaul by President Barack Obama, needed to be eviscerated after Congress in 2017 zeroed out a key provision -- the tax penalty for not complying with the requirement to buy insurance.

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Lion kills worker after escaping from enclosure at wildlife centre in US

A lion killed a young worker at a wildlife conservatory in North Carolina on Sunday after it got loose from a locked space. Alexandra Black, 22, of New Palestine, Indiana, was killed after being attacked by the animal in an enclosure that was being cleaned at the Conservators Centre, news outlets reported, citing a statement from the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office. The lion was shot and killed after attempts to tranquilise the animal failed, deputies said. A "husbandry team" led by a professionally trained animal keeper was carrying out the routine cleaning when the lion somehow got loose, the centre said in a statement. It wasn’t clear how the lion escaped the area that was supposed to be locked, said the centre, which is closed until further notice. "This is the worst day of my life. We’ve lost a person. We’ve lost an animal. We have lost the faith in ourselves a little today," said Mindy Stinner, the executive director of the Conservators Center, according to WTVD-TV. Black had graduated from Indiana University in May with a degree in animal behaviour, according to her LinkedIn page. She had been working at the conservatory for about two weeks, her family said. "She was a beautiful young woman who had just started her career, there was a terrible accident, and we are mourning," Black’s family said in a statement, according to news outlets. "But, she died following her passion." The centre said the lion was fatally shot to allow county personnel to retrieve Black. The facility was founded in 1999 and is in Burlington, about 50 miles northwest of Raleigh. On its website, the centre said it began giving public tours in 2007 and gets more than 16,000 visitors annually. It has more than a dozen employees and currently houses more than 80 animals and more than 21 species. The centre says it took in 14 lions and tigers in 2004 to assist the US Department of Agriculture with caring for animals that were living in "unacceptable conditions."

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Young girl shot dead by man opening fire on vehicle in Walmart car park

Jazmine Barnes was shot as her family drove out of a Walmart car park in Texas. Jazmine and her mother, LaPorsha Washington, were hit by bullets. Ms Washington was taken to hospital to be treated for her injuries, but Jazmine was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Suspect in murder of a California police officer was making a run for Mexico when he was apprehended, officials say

Mysterious deep space world Ultima Thule already looks weird — and we've only had a glimpse

Ultima Thule — an uncharted world over 4 billion miles away — is coming into view. On Monday, planetary scientists released a fuzzy image of Ultima Thule, snapped the day prior by the New Horizons exploration spacecraft from some 1.2 million miles away. Previously, New Horizons swooped by Pluto in 2015, capturing the icy, mountainous world in unprecedented detail. Increasingly rich, detailed images of Ultima will start arriving on January 2, but already the deep space object looks elongated, not round, said New Horizons deputy project scientist John Spencer from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Maryland headquarters of the New Horizons program. The program is a collaborative effort between NASA, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where scientists navigate and control the spacecraft. "It’s the first glimpse of what's going to get rapidly better from here on — it’s our first taste," Spencer said. Ultima Thule as an elongated blob.Image: JHuAPL/NasaWhether Ultima's surface is heavily cratered and if it has a rich surface geology — like that of Pluto — remains to be seen. "Anything is possible out there in this very unknown region," he said. Ultima lies 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, in a ring of icy worlds known as the Kuiper Belt. Planetary scientists believe the objects out there have been frozen in time for some 4 billion years — preserving what happened during our solar system's early formation, long ago. SEE ALSO: How NASA recorded the eerie Martian wind, without a microphone "The Kuiper Belt is just a scientific wonderland,” Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, said on Sunday. “We've never, in the history of spaceflight, gone to a target that we know less about," Stern added. Already, Ultima has proven mysterious. As New Horizons travels closer to the object, the pattern of light reflecting off of Ultima, or its light curve, is inconsistent. With most other objects, these light patterns repeat as the objects spin. An artist's conception of what Ultima Thule might look like.Image: nasa"It's really a puzzle," said Stern in a statement last week. But much of Ultima's mystery will diminish in the next few days. Just 33 minutes into the new year local time, New Horizon's will swoop some 2,200 miles above Ultima, capturing detailed snapshots of the uncharted world. But because Ultima is so far away, these rich images won't be immediately available. The data will be transmitted back to Earth, and on January 2 the first detailed snapshots will emerge of this elongated, though still largely mysterious, object. Ultima will soon become the most distant world humanity has ever visited. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?

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Vatican spokesman and his deputy resign, capping difficult year for Pope Francis

The Vatican spokesman and his deputy resigned on Monday over disagreements on strategy, ending a year of upheaval in the Holy See's communications structure. A brief Vatican statement gave no reason for the resignations. Spokesman Greg Burke, an American, tweeted that he and his Spanish deputy, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, had quit to let Pope Francis appoint a new team in what was a "time of transition". A Vatican source said both Burke and Ovejero had wanted more autonomy from the Vatican department that oversees all communications, known as the Dicastery for Communications. They quit two weeks after Pope Francis appointed a personal friend, Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli, to become editorial director of all Vatican communications. The source said it was believed to be the first time both posts had changed hands simultaneously, underscoring the differences of opinion. "Paloma and I have resigned, effective Jan. 1. At this time of transition in Vatican communications, we think it’s best the Holy Father is completely free to assemble a new team," Burke tweeted. The 59-year-old former Rome-based reporter for Fox News joined the Vatican in 2012 as an advisor in its Secretariat of State and become spokesman in 2016. He is a member of the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei. Ovejero, 43, a former reporter for the Spanish radio network COPE, was one of the few high-ranking women in the Vatican. Paloma Garcia Ovejero, deputy Vatican spokesperson, resigned abruptly along with Greg Burke Credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP During Burke and Ovejero's tenure, the top two jobs in the Vatican press room were, unusually, held by non-Italians. Tornielli is now the third-ranking person in the communications department but his closeness to the pope, whom he has known since before the pontiff's election in 2013, will likely make him particularly influential. Monday's resignations capped a year of tensions in Vatican communications. Monsignor Dario Vigano resigned as overall head in March after a scandal over a doctored letter, a public relations fiasco two months after the pope warned of the dangers of fake news. Vigano released part of a letter by former Pope Benedict that was to have remained private, using it to promote a book on the theology of Pope Francis. A promotional photo for the book released by Vigano blurred a part of the letter in which Benedict declined to write an introduction, saying he was unhappy with one of its contributors. Vigano was replaced in July by Paolo Ruffini, ex-head of a Catholic television station. The Vatican said Alessandro Gisotti, an Italian journalist who has handled the Vatican's social media, would be interim spokesman.

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Graham more upbeat on Syria troop withdrawal after Trump meeting

Senator Lindsey Graham had warned that removing all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria would hurt national security by allowing Islamic State to rebuild, betraying U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters of the YPG militia battling remnants of the militant group, and enhancing Iran's ability to threaten Israel. During a morning television interview, Graham said he would ask Trump to slow down the troop withdrawal, which was announced earlier this month and drew widespread criticism. An ally of Trump, although he has opposed some of his foreign policy decisions, Graham was more upbeat after the meeting.

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U.K. Says Work Still Needed on EU Brexit Backstop Reassurances

May “has been in contact with European counterparts over the break and you can expect more of that to continue this week,” her spokeswoman, Alison Donnelly, told reporters in London on Monday. The premier is seeking assurances from the EU on the so-called backstop arrangement for the post-Brexit Irish border. It’s a fallback arrangement to ensure the border stays open even if the EU and U.K. can’t devise a future trade deal.

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Kellyanne Conway accuses Democrats of using dead migrant children as 'political pawns'

Lion kills young worker at North Carolina wildlife sanctuary

Bangladesh opposition calls for fresh election as Sheikh Hasina wins amid violence and vote-rigging claims

Bangladesh's main opposition called for a fresh vote on Sunday as the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her ruling Awami League were declared the winners of an election tainted by violence and vote-rigging allegations. At least 17 people were said to have been killed in election day clashes, while reports flowed in of alleged vote manipulation and people being blocked from entering polling stations by ruling party supporters. As Mrs Hasina's alliance sailed past the 151 seats needed to form a government and headed for a landslide third consecutive term, the country's main opposition leader called for the "farcical" election to be declared void. Kamal Hossain, head of the Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF), the largest opposition alliance, told a press conference in Dhaka that votes had been "rigged on a massive scale across the country". He urged Bangladesh's election commission to dismiss the result and call "fresh elections under a non-partisan caretaker government as soon as possible". Salahuddin Ahmed, a candidate for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest single party in the opposition alliance, was stabbed in Dhaka as the election unfolded Credit: Reuters Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed finished delivering the results of the voting early on Monday. Ahmed said the ruling Awami League-led alliance won 288 seats while the JOF, led by former president H.M.Ershad, had 20 seats. An opposition alliance led by Mr Hossain had only seven and others got three out of 300 seats. The poll followed a campaign that had been marred by violence and a crackdown on freedom of speech. Human Rights Watch and other international groups had decried repressive measures which they said had created a climate of fear. Some 600,000 security personnel had been deployed for the election, while authorities ordered the shutdown of high speed internet to prevent the spread of "rumours" that might spark unrest. Vehicles in Dhaka burn after an opposition rally which ended with police using tear gas and batons after the election was announced Credit: AFP On Sunday, polling agents alleged that they had stayed away out of fear. Others claimed they had been beaten up and forced out of voting centres. Rumana Mahmood, a JOF candidate in Sirajganj, 68 miles northwest of Dhaka, claimed that 90 percent of her supporters had been prevented from voting for her. "In most cases they were not allowed to enter the voting centres. Police and the ruling Awami League party cadres blocked them,” she alleged to the Telegraph, claiming that supporters of the ruling party had stuffed ballot boxes in favour of the government. Supporters of Bangladesh Awami League march along a street as they take part in a rally ahead of December 30 general election vote Credit: MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP One 65-year-old woman in Ms Mahmood’s constituency claimed that the police had not allowed her to vote freely. "We were around 20 or 25 women from the same locality. The policemen at the gate of the centre said that he would allow us inside if we voted for the boat (symbol of the Awami League),” she said."In my locality there are hundreds of people who have not been allowed in any voting centre today." Bangladesh has become increasingly authoritarian under Mrs Hasina’s rule, moving closer towards a de-facto one-party state while Begum Khaleda Zia, her arch-rival, and leader of the largest opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party, serves a lengthy prison sentence on corruption charges.

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Trump refuses to budge on border wall demand as shutdown continues

With time dwindling before a new Congress is sworn in, Donald Trump refused to budge in his demand for billions for a border wall, narrowing prospects for a swift end to an increasingly damaging government shutdown. Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives on 3 January.

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Here Are All the Stores Open and Closed on New Year's 2019

Wall Street rises, limps across the finish line of a turbulent year

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Netanyahu says Israel is Arabs' 'ally' against Iran

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Washington Parses Trump’s Wall Semantics in Search for Compromise

Trump’s demand for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico actually refers to “steel slats” as well as the technology that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers have said they need to intercept the illegal flow of goods and people, according to Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House adviser. “It is a silly semantic argument because people who just want to say ‘wall, wall, wall’ want that to be a four-letter word,” Conway said on “Fox News Sunday,” one of two appearances on a day parts of the federal government are shut for a ninth day.

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U.S. Strategic Command apologizes for tweet about dropping bombs

U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the country's nuclear arsenal, apologized for a Twitter message saying it was ready if necessary to drop something "much, much bigger" than the New Year's Eve ball in New York and showing a clip of an aircraft releasing bombs. "#TimesSquare tradition rings in the #NewYear by dropping the big ball...if ever needed, we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger," the tweet said, hours before the midnight descent of the illuminated ball in New York's Times Square marking the arrival of the new year. The video showed a B-2 bomber dropping bombs, followed by explosions on the ground.

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Two killed in bombing in troubled south Philippines

Two people were killed and around 35 others wounded Monday after a bomb went off outside a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato, police said. The explosion prompted officers to search the mall, leading to the discovery of another suspected bomb which they destroyed, said local police spokesman Chief Inspector Rowell Zafra.

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Vatican spokesman, deputy resign amid crisis period for pope

2nd child dead in US custody mourned in Guatemala village

The 10 Most Expensive Cars Sold at Auction in 2018

Lion attack victim Alexandra Black 'died following her passion' at center that passed USDA inspection

Indonesia's latest tsunami raises global questions over disaster preparedness

The Dec. 23 tsunami killed around 430 people along the coastlines of the Sunda Strait, capping a year of earthquakes and tsunamis in the vast archipelago, which straddles the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire. "Indonesia has demonstrated to the rest of the world the huge variety of sources that have the potential to cause tsunamis. More research is needed to understand those less-expected events," said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at the University of Southampton.

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Lion kills worker after escaping from enclosure at wildlife centre in US

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US judge says Obamacare can stand while appeal is heard

A US judge who ruled earlier this month that Obamacare is unconstitutional has said the health care law can stand while his decision is appealed. Opposition Democrats, who have seen the law survive previous legal and legislative attacks, view it as a signature achievement of former president Barack Obama. Republicans on the other hand dismiss it as governmental overreach and President Donald Trump made repealing the law a key part of his campaign platform.

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Sydney kicks off global 2019 parties with dazzling spectacle

Australia's largest city Sydney put on its biggest-ever fireworks display in a spectacular welcome to the New Year, kicking off a wave of celebrations for billions around the world. A record amount of pyrotechnics as well as new fireworks effects and colours lit up the city's skyline for 12 minutes and dazzled the more than 1.5 million spectators who packed the harbour front and parks. The party atmosphere will sweep across major cities in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas as the clock ticks past midnight.

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Suspect in murder of a California police officer was making a run for Mexico when he was apprehended, officials say

Syria deaths at wartime low in 2018 as Assad made gains

China Seeks Talks With India to Push Asia Trade Pact, Sources Say

The 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement has been in the works for a while and China is keen to conclude it by end of 2019, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is not public. India’s wariness about a possible flood of Chinese goods, and its demand for looser immigration rules for its tech professionals remain sticking points. China’s inability to close the trade deal highlights the continuing suspicion among its Asian trading partners over Beijing’s effort to increase its influence in the region.

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New for New Year's Eve Times Square: NYPD drone will watch over crowd

Hunt for dozens missing in deadly Russia high-rise blast

Rescuers hunted for survivors on Monday after a gas explosion tore through a high-rise residential building in central Russia, killing at least four people and leaving dozens unaccounted for. A large section of the building collapsed after the explosion around 6:00 am local time (1100 GMT) at the high-rise in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, nearly 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) east of Moscow in the Ural mountains. President Vladimir Putin rushed to the city, where the blast left hundreds of residents homeless in freezing temperatures on New Year's Eve -- the biggest holiday of the year in Russia.

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Exclusive: For Bangladesh PM, authoritarian tag is 'badge of honor', son says on poll eve

Hasina, who is widely expected to win a third straight term in office, has been hailed domestically for fast economic growth in the past decade and internationally for providing refuge to Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in neighboring Myanmar. Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed, however, told Reuters there was space for dissent in the Muslim-majority country of 165 million people, and that the Western media was unfair in its portrayal of his mother. 'Branded authoritarian by the Western media now is a badge of honor'" Wazed, who lives in Washington D.C. and runs an IT business in the United States, said in the prime minister's official residence in Dhaka.

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Stephen Miller steps into spotlight amid chaos in 'zombie' White House press shop

We're proud to be in the Fiesta Bowl, but fostering social mobility matters more

Emerging Markets at Mercy of Trade and Fed After Painful 2018

The tweet in question this week is President Donald Trump’s declaration that “big progress” is being made toward a deal between the U.S. and China, and it may spur gains across emerging markets. “Emerging markets have been particularly hard hit so I expect to see a relief bounce in January,” said Tarek Fadlallah, the Dubai-based chief executive officer at Nomura Asset Management Middle East.

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Afghan Taliban hold talks with Iranian official in Tehran

American Girl's 2019 'Girl of the Year' is a junior chef with a screen-time obsession

Detailed Photos of the 2019 McLaren Senna Supercar

Rudy Giuliani says there is no evidence to suggest Trump was involved in any conspiracy to hack the DNC with Russia

Merkel urges divided Germans to pull together in 2019

Acknowledging that her government disappointed many Germans in 2018, Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to pull the country together for 2019 with a call for solidarity and cooperation to overcome deep political divisions. In her New Year speech, Merkel said she recognized that many Germans "bemoaned" the ruling coalition that took office in March, an alliance of her conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), which has been blighted by infighting. Resentment at that decision helped feed the rise of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), which surged into the Bundestag for the first time at last year's federal election, fracturing the country's political landscape.

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New Year's resolutions we'd like to see

Kim Jong Un Says He's Ready for More Talks with Trump, But Sends Stern Warning

Trump Orders 'Slowdown' in Syria Troop Pullout, but Christians Still Alarmed by Deadly Dangers

Iraq hints at bigger role in Syria after U.S. withdrawal

Iraq's prime minister said on Sunday that top security officials from Baghdad had met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, and hinted at a bigger Iraqi role fighting Islamic State militants as U.S. troops withdraw from Syria. "This issue has a lot of complications," Adel Abdul Mahdi told reporters, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise announcement this month that he will withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq's neighbor. "If any negative development takes place in Syria it will affect us.

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Key Senator Says Trump Taking Seriously a Shift in Syria Plan

Graham, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s plan to pull forces from the conflict. “I feel better about Syria than I felt before I had lunch,” Graham told reporters after leaving the White House. “I think the president is taking this really seriously, and the trip to Iraq was well timed.” Trump has forged a plan with his generals in the field that “makes sense,” Graham added.

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