At least four North Korean defectors have shown signs of radiation exposure, South Korea said Wednesday. The four are among 30 defectors from the area near North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site, although South Korean authorities could not immediately determine whether they were exposed through the country's controversial nuclear weapons program. North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test since 2006 in September under the mountains of Punggye-ri. The last explosion was so large that it raised fears that Pyongyang had produced a hydrogen bomb that could have released radiation into the area. Another defector, a soldier, was found to have been exposed to anthrax, stoking concerns that Pyongyang is developing biological weapons in violation of international law.
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Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin received the gift of horse manure for the holidays. A neighbor found a Christmas-wrapped package addressed to Mnuchin in his Bel Air driveway Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department told the New York Daily News.The neighbor alerted the authorities who opened the package and found horse manure. The Secret Service is reportedly picking up the package Sunday. The package was initially thought to be suspicious, but authorities later determined its contents were not threatening, according to KTLA.
President Trump went to the "Winter White House," his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, on Friday, where CBS News reports he told friends dining at his club, "You all just got a lot richer" because of the GOP tax overhaul he'd signed several hours earlier. Two sources at a nearby table described the comments to CBS. In public statements before the bill became law, Trump repeatedly claimed he, as a wealthy person, would take a financial hit so that ordinary Americans could pay lower taxes. Since the legislation was finalized, analysis has shown Trump will save millions annually under the new system.
At least three people were killed and more than 100 injured when an Amtrak passenger train derailed in Washington state, DuPont Fire Chief Larry Creekmore said Monday night. The Amtrak Cascades 501 was making its first trip on a new service route when the train ran off the track near DuPont, spilling 13 cars off an Interstate 5 overpass onto rush hour traffic below, authorities said. All the deaths were contained to the train, said Ed Troyer, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesman.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is "soul searching" about his future, some of his close friends tell CNN. Those people close to Ryan told CNN they believe it is possible that he could leave Congress after the 2018 midterm elections, if he can achieve his goal of passing GOP backed overhaul of the US tax system. Some say his departure could possibly happen even sooner. Some friends indicate that Ryan may be suffering from a bout of "Trump-haustion," but others believe there is serious contemplation of leaving Congress in 2018.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi today declared the end of a three-year war to root out Islamic State militants from the country after the “liberation” of the Iraq-Syria border. “Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh (IS),” Abadi said at a press conference in Baghdad. “Our enemy wanted to kill our civilization, but we have won through our unity and our determination. We have triumphed in little time,” he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. The announcement comes after Iraqi forces regained control of Rawah, the last town held by ISIS near the border with Syria. Some 3 million Iraqis have been displaced since the so-called Islamic State took over nearly a third of the country’s territory in 2014. Abadi had initially declared the war over in July, but battles with ISIS continued in Mosul for weeks afterward.
Roy Moore accuser Beverly Young Nelson admitted to ABC earlier today that she added the date and place to Moore’s signature in her 1977 yearbook. “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore... Roy Moore, DA. 12-22-77 Olde Hickory House,” the yearbook inscription read. Although Nelson’s lawyer Gloria Allred initially attributed the entire note to Moore, Nelson now says the date and restaurant annotations were hers. However, Nelson emphasized, the rest of the signature is authentic and she stands by her accusation that, when she was 16 years old, Moore groped and attempted to rape her. Although her admission does not compromise the meat of her story, it will likely give ammo to the Alabama Republican and his supporters who have called his accusers liars and suggested Nelson’s yearbook signature was a forgery.
Representative Ruben Kihuen (NV), who stands accused of sexual harassment, said today that those calling for his resignation—most notably House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)—knew of the allegations against him last year but continued to support his campaign. “I do find it interesting that the DCCC, Leader Pelosi, and [DCCC] Chairman Ben Ray Lujan—they knew about these allegations last year,” Kihuen, a freshman representative in Congress, told ABC News. “They looked into them. They didn’t find anything, and they continued investing millions of dollars in my campaign. They went out and campaigned for me.” A spokesman for Pelosi and a spokeswoman for the DCCC denied that the Democratic leader or the DCCC were aware of the allegations. Kihuen has said he will not resign.
The White House today tried to distance itself from former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn by referring to him as “a former Obama administration official” who only worked for the Trump administration for 25 days. However, President Obama had warned Trump against hiring Flynn prior to his January 2017 inauguration. Flynn had led the Defense Intelligence Agency under the Obama administration but was fired in 2014 because of mismanagement and temperament issues. Flynn was later an early Trump supporter during the 2016 presidential election and worked for his campaign. “The false statements involved mirror the false statements to White House officials which resulted in his resignation in February of this year,” said White House lawyer Ty Cobb, attempting to minimize the connection between Flynn and the Trump camp. “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”