Shooting stars are lighting up the night sky for the annual Perseid meteor shower when Earth passes through the debris left behind by an ancient comet. The Perseids, which appear every year in August, get their name from their point of origin within
Ever since the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents have been judged on the successes they notch during their first 100 days. Now, as Barack Obama prepares to end his star turn on the political stage, Yahoo News is launching The Last 100 Days, a look at what Obama achieved during his consequential presidency, how he navigates the struggles of his final months in office and what lies ahead for him after eight years filled with firsts. As Obama himself is fond of noting, he also spent his two terms as father to daughters Malia and Sasha and husband to first lady Michelle Obama.
A shocking road rage?incident in Gainesville, Florida was caught on camera, capturing the moment the altercation escalated and a woman involved appeared to pull out a gun. Surveillance footage shows a black pickup truck and a silver sedan pulling into a gas station before?the nasty confrontation earlier in the week. One of the two women who got out of the truck wielded a gun before the male driver of the pickup appeared from off camera?and?wrestled the weapon out of her hand.
Thousands of Portuguese firefighters struggled on Thursday to control nearly 200 forest fires after flames killed at least four people on the mainland and the island of Madeira the previous day. Prime Minister Antonio Costa cut short his holidays and flew to Madeira, where more than 200 buildings in the regional capital and popular resort Funchal had been destroyed or damaged and some 1,000 people including tourists evacuated. “We understand the dimension of this horrible tragedy that devastated various municipalities here in Madeira, and we also know about the calamities affecting other zones of the country that now have to be addressed,” he told reporters.
One of three London schoolgirls who traveled to an area controlled by the Islamic State group in Syria to become "jihadi brides" is believed to have been killed in an air strike, a lawyer for her family says. Tasnime Akunjee told the BBC that Kadiza Sultana's family had been told that she died in the IS stronghold of Raqqa several weeks ago. Sultana was 16 when she and classmates Shamima Begum and Amira Abase — both 15 — traveled to Syria in February 2015 without telling their families.
From unwanted guests to unforced errors, it was another wild week on the campaign trail for Clinton and Trump. ABC News' Rick Klein recaps the week in politics for August 6 - August 12, 2016. Trump is standing by his comments saying he sometimes just being sarcastic.
Fires that raged through countryside near Marseille left a trail of destruction but were no longer threatening the southern French city on Thursday, while another blaze erupted near the Spanish border, forcing dozens to evacuate. In the Marseille area, some 500 people have fled their homes since Wednesday as flames fanned by strong winds consumed more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of mainly scrubland and forest, and gutted several homes. French President Francois Hollande said the authorities believe some of the fires were started deliberately and vowed that the perpetrators would be tracked down.
By Mark Trevelyan RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Michael Phelps of the United States won the Olympic 200 metres individual medley on Thursday to capture the 22nd gold medal of his career and become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Games. Japan's 400 IM champion Kosuke Hagino won silver and Wang Shun of China took bronze, both moving dramatically through the field on the final length after turning in fifth and seventh place. It was yet another extraordinary swim for Phelps, 31, who has now won two individual and two relay golds at his fifth Olympics, two years after coming out of retirement.
Canadian officials released an infamous video of Toronto’s late former mayor Rob Ford smoking crack to the public Thursday, three years after reports of its existence triggered a political scandal. Ford swears and mumbles about kids, minorities and his radical right-wing reputation. After first news reports of the video’s existence, Ford vehemently denied smoking crack.
Ecuador said Thursday it's ready to set a date for Swedish prosecutors to question Julian Assange inside its London embassy — a potential breakthrough in the years-long international impasse over the WikiLeaks founder. Assange is wanted for questioning by Swedish police over a rape allegation stemming from his visit to the country in 2010. In June 2012, he sought shelter in Ecuador's embassy in the British capital and has been holed up there ever since.
The Islamic State group's leader in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed, was killed last month in an airstrike in Nangarhar province, the Pentagon said Friday. Saeed was named head of IS's "Khorasan province," which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of neighboring countries, early last year when a group of Pakistani Taliban switched allegiance to the jihadist group.
The murder of JonBenet Ramsey is one of the most baffling mysteries in U.S. criminal history, and as?the 20th anniversary of her?killing approaches, the case continues to intrigue. Read:?JonBenet Ramsey's Brother Breaks His Silence Nearly 20 Years After
With 16 gold medals so far, Team USA has every reason to be cheering as loudly as possible. The success of Michael Phelps is outstanding, but there's another Olympian who has been carving out her own groundbreaking story: Simone Manuel became the first
A small plane aborted its landing and crashed into trees Friday at the edge of a northern Virginia airport, killing at least two people, state police said. Shocked witnesses on a train going by the crash site described the plane in flames and said it had been completely destroyed. The plane came to the end of the runway at the Shannon Airport near Fredericksburg and then pulled back up, flying to the end of the airport property, State Police Spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in an email.
By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is seeking the extradition of 32 diplomats who went on the run after they were recalled by Ankara as part of investigations into last month's failed coup attempt, the foreign minister said on Friday. Turkish authorities have arrested, detained or dismissed tens of thousands of people, including military personnel, civil servants, judges and teachers, following the July 15 coup bid, which President Tayyip Erdogan has blamed on a network led by a U.S.-based cleric. The purge is worrying Western allies concerned about stability in the NATO member and partner in the fight against Islamic State.
The mayor of Cannes has banned the wearing of burqinis -- full-body swimsuits -- on the beaches of the French Riviera resort famous for its annual film festival, officials said Thursday. Mayor David Lisnard signed off on the ruling that "access to beaches and for swimming is banned to anyone who does not have (bathing apparel) which respects good customs and secularism," which is a founding principle of the French republic. "Beachwear which ostentatiously diplays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order (crowds, scuffles etc) which it is necessary to prevent," it says.
On Sunday, the New York Yankees announced that they would be releasing third baseman Alex Rodriguez from his contract this week. On Friday night, the three-time American League MVP, 14-time All-Star and the man who basically carried the team to their 2009 World Series title played his final game in pinstripes, and likely his final game as a player. A-Rod served as designated hitter and batted third in the lineup on Friday.
The state law targets the more than $1.4 million in funding that Planned Parenthood gets through Ohio’s health department. The Ohio law would bar such funds from going to entities that perform or promote abortions. Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region sued the state, claiming the law violates their constitutional rights by denying them the funds “in retaliation for” providing abortions.
Firefighters in southern France brought in reinforcements from across the country on Thursday to help smother the last flames and douse dry brush after wind-whipped wildfires devastated thousands of acres and destroyed homes but spared Marseille, the nation's second-largest city. There was no letup in the high southern winds, known as the Mistral, raising the risk of new bursts of flames after the worst blaze in recent years was contained. Meanwhile, a fire broke out Thursday in the Pyrenees-Orientales region, southwest of Marseille.
Google Fiber is the ISP that everyone wants -- absurdly fast, unlimited internet for a reasonable price. A new FCC filing reveals that Google is exploring new technology to bring internet to users' home without having to dig up streets. Google wants to conduct an experimental trial of new wireless technology in?California, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia, which could bring Fiber without any actual fiber cables.
Fresh fighting hit Syria's Aleppo, the first day of a promised Russian aid window the UN said was insufficient to bring relief for the city's desperate residents. The divided city of Aleppo has been rocked by escalating violence, with people on both sides living in fear of being trapped. Longtime Syria ally Russia has provided air cover for pro-government forces for nearly a year, including in Aleppo.
A 3,000-year-old skeleton has been discovered at an altar dedicated to Zeus at Mount Lykaion in Greece, and archaeologists say the new finding may be the remains of a human sacrifice offered to the Greek god. The discovery was announced Wednesday (Aug. 10) in a statement from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs. Archaeologists from the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project excavated the skeleton, which appears to be that of a male teenager, this summer.
Records show a police officer who fatally shot a woman during a citizens academy class was twice accused of excessive use of force at a previous department where he worked. The Miramar Police Department records released Thursday show that Officer Lee Coel was accused in April 2013 of pulling a suspect from the back of a police cruiser by his ankles, causing the man to land forcefully on the pavement. On Tuesday, Coel mistakenly shot 73-year-old Mary Knowlton during a "shoot/don't shoot" exercise at the Punta Gorda department.
Three groups of California's rare island fox were removed from the U.S. endangered species list on Thursday, and a fourth was downgraded to threatened, marking the fastest recovery yet for an American mammal once deemed to be on the brink of extinction. The population of the four subspecies in question on California's Channel Islands, which had plunged to fewer than 200 animals during the late 1990s, has bounced back to nearly 6,000 as of 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported. The agency said the island fox rebound was hastened by an intense recovery program that included captive breeding of the animals, removal of feral pigs from the islands and reducing an influx of golden eagles from the mainland that had become an invasive predator.