 | | | | New York's Times Square erupted with fireworks and cheers at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday as thousands of hardy merrymakers braved pouring rain and watched the glowing New Year's Eve ball complete its midnight descent to mark the start of 2019. | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | The U.S. Navy has informed lawmakers of its intent to pursue a block purchase of two Ford-class aircraft carriers, Senator Tim Kaine's office said on Monday, a step officials have said could save billions of dollars as the Trump administration tries to expand the size of the fleet. | | | | | | A Colorado man was charged on Monday with the murder of his fiance, who was reported missing in November and is now presumed dead. | | | | | | The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Friday it will resume issuing new flood insurance policies during the partial U.S. government shutdown, reversing a decision announced two days ago. | | | | | | U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday he was optimistic that Republicans, Democrats and President Donald Trump could reach a deal to end a government shutdown that includes border wall funding and legal status for some illegal immigrants. | | | | | | A lion at a North Carolina private wildlife sanctuary fatally mauled a 22-year-old worker on Sunday before being shot and killed by local law enforcement, officials said. | | | | | | Reporters will be the guests of honor at the New Year's Eve party in New York's Times Square on Monday, in what organizers said was a celebration of press freedom after an unusually deadly year for journalists at U.S. news outlets. | | | | | | The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Sunday defended his agents' handling of two sick children who died in their custody, saying they did everything they could to get medical help for them in difficult circumstances. | | | | | | A Hilton hotel in Portland, Oregon fired a security guard and a manager after a black guest captured them on video calling the police to report him for trespassing after he had been speaking to his mother by phone in the lobby, the hotel said on Saturday. | | | | | |
