The Trump administration is considering ways to expand U.S. homeland and overseas defenses against a potential missile attack, possibly adding a layer of satellites in space to detect and track hostile targets.
Details on how far the administration intends to press this in a largely supportive Congress are expected to be revealed when the Pentagon releases results of a missile defense review as early as Thursday.
The release was postponed last year for unexplained reasons, though it came as President Donald Trump was trying to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. A review might have complicated the talks.
The Trump approach is expected to include emphasis on stopping missiles either before they are launched or in the first few minutes of flight when their booster engines are still burning.
Congress already has directed the Pentagon to push harder on this "boost-phase" approach, which might include the use of drones armed with lasers.
Any expansion of the scope and cost 

US weighs new ways to detect and track enemy missiles

PTI Automatic

The Internal Revenue Service is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown  nearly 60 per cent of its workforce  to handle tax returns and pay out refunds. The employees won't be paid.
With the official start of the tax filing season coming January 28, the Trump administration has promised that taxpayers owed refunds will be paid on time, despite the disruption in government services caused by the partial shutdown now in its fourth week.
There had been growing concern that the shutdown would delay refunds going out because the money wouldn't be available for them from Congress.
Last week, the administration said customary shutdown policies will be reversed to make the money available and refund payments on time possible.
An IRS document detailing its new shutdown plan shows that 46,052 agency employees will be called back to work, of the total workforce of 80,265.
It says the plan will take effect as soon as the Treasury Department issues an official 

The IRS is recalling 46,000 workers to handle tax returns

Extremists stormed a luxury hotel in Kenya's capital on Tuesday, setting off thunderous explosions and gunning down people at cafe tables in an attack claimed by Africa's deadliest Islamic militant group.
Witnesses reported seeing several bodies.
"It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible," said Charles Njenga, who ran from a scene of blood, broken glass, burning vehicles and pillars of black smoke.
Al-Shabab  the Somalia-based group that carried out the 2013 attack at the nearby Westgate Mall in Nairobi that left 67 people dead  claimed responsibility for the carnage at the DusitD2 hotel complex, which includes bars, restaurants, offices and banks and is in a well-to-do neighbourhood with many American, European and Indian expatriates.
Authorities sent special forces into the hotel to flush out the gunmen.
Late Tuesday night, about eight hours after the siege began, Interior Minister Fred Matian'i said that all of the buildings affected by the attack had been secured and that ...

Al-Shabab extremists claim deadly attack on Nairobi hotel

The Taliban issued a statement Tuesday threatening to end contact with the US even as Washington's peace envoy makes another round of the region in pursuit of a negotiated end to Afghanistan's protracted conflict before a frustrated President Donald Trump makes good on his 2016 campaign promise to end America's involvement.
Earlier in the day, the US Embassy in Kabul said Zalmay Khalilzad had arrived in Kabul following visits to India, the United Arab Emirates and China. Khalilzad was to meet President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other political leaders to discuss the next steps in US efforts to get an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process started.
The Taliban have refused repeatedly to meet directly with representatives of the Kabul government. According to the insurgent statement, the US agreed in meetings in November on a two-point agenda: Withdrawal of foreign troops and guarantees that Afghanistan would not again be used as it was by al-Qaida to plot ..

Taliban threaten to end talks with US on ending Afghan war

Scientists behind the world's largest atom smasher have laid out their multibillion-euro vision to build an even bigger one, in hopes of unlocking even more secrets of matter and the universe in the coming decades.
Officials at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, presented Tuesday their study for a "Future Circular Collider" inside a 100-kilometer circumference tunnel which could start operating in 2040.
It would sit next to the current 27-kilometer (17-mile) circumference Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, which is perhaps best known for helping confirm the subatomic Higgs boson in 2012.
Officials hope for a decision by CERN's 22 member states within the next few years about the project that would debut with an electron-positron collider at an estimated cost of 9 billion euros (USD 10.25 billion).

CERN lays out vision for next-generation particle collider

Two Ukrainian men have been charged with hacking into computers of the Securities and Exchange Commission to steal quarterly and annual reports of publicly traded companies before their public release.
An indictment released Tuesday alleges Artem Radchenko and Oleksandr Ieremenko sold the information and used it to make stock trades in 2016 and 2017.
Both men are fugitives.
The SEC also filed civil charges Tuesday against Ieremenko and five others from the U.S., Ukraine and Russia.
Officials cited one example in which the group allegedly made more than USD 300,000 in about 30 minutes of trading. They allegedly made about USD 4 million in all.
The defendants allegedly sent bogus emails to SEC employees to try and get inside the federal agency's network, and eventually created an automated program to extract documents.

2 charged with hacking SEC computers in trading scheme

The company that publishes the "Choose Your Own Adventure" novels is suing Netflix, seeking $25 million in damages over an interactive film in the science fiction anthology "Black Mirror" series.
In the federal suit filed Friday, the Waitsfield, Vermont-based company Chooseco claims Netflix violated its trademark with "Bandersnatch," released in December.
"Bandersnatch" uses a format similar to those of the books, allowing viewers to choose among actions taken by the characters without knowing the outcome.
The suit says the show refers to the gimmick by having the protagonist refer to a book he is adapting into a video game as a "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel.
Netflix declined to comment Tuesday.

'Adventure' books publisher sues Netflix over 'Bandersnatch'

A member of a pioneering group of women who flew military planes in the United States during World War II has died.
Millicent Young of Colorado Springs, a member of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, died Saturday of complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her son Bill Young told The Gazette. She was 96.
WASPs flew bombers and other warplanes to free up male pilots for combat service overseas. They served as civilian employees but were granted veteran status in 1977.
Of the about 1,000 women chosen for the job, fewer than 30 are still believed to be alive, said Bill Young, who wrote a book about the program.  "They opened so many doors for women," he said.
Young, born near Lodgepole, Nebraska, dreamed of flying since she was 6 when a pilot landed at her family's farm and told her "Don't touch that plane, little girl", according to her family. She learned to fly at an airstrip in Ogallala, Nebraska, using money she earned growing wheat on land leased 

Woman who was among pioneer pilots in WWII has died at 96

Zimbabwe's police and military patrolled the streets of the capital, Harare, Tuesday as a helicopter fired tear gas at demonstrators blocking a road and burning tires on a second day of deadly protests after the government more than doubled the price of fuel in the economically shattered country.
The streets of the capital were quiet by the evening as most residents stayed indoors to avoid violence. Eight people were killed Monday when police and military fired on crowds, according to Amnesty International.
Another rights group said 26 people suffered gunshot wounds and that some were afraid to go to hospitals for fear of arrest or assault.
Police and soldiers went door to door and barged into homes in Mabvuku and other Harare suburbs and assaulted people, according to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and witnesses. Many males in Mabvuku went into hiding to avoid being beaten, said residents. The opposition MDC party said its headquarters was attacked.
The anti-government ...

Zimbabwe military quells fuel price hike protests; 8 killed

JPMorgan Chase & Co's fourth-quarter profits badly missed analysts' forecasts on Tuesday, caused by weakness in the bank's bond-trading business.
The nation's largest bank said it earned USD 7.07 billion in the last three months of the year, or USD 1.98 per share, up from USD 4.23 billion, or USD 1.07 a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Last year's results were impacted by the passage of the Republicans' tax law, which caused many big banks to make accounting adjustments and write off billions of dollars in what are known as tax-deferred assets.
So while JPMorgan's profits were up 67 percent from a year earlier, they still missed Wall Street's expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for JPMorgan to earn $2.20 a share.
The turmoil that whipsawed the markets in December weighed heavily on JPMorgan's results. While banks do like some volatility because it allows their traders to look for opportunities in markets, the movements in recent months were too ...

PMorgan misses estimates, caused by trading troubles

Extremists launched a deadly attack on a luxury hotel in Kenya's capital Tuesday, sending people fleeing in panic as explosions and heavy gunfire reverberated through the complex. A witness said he saw five bodies at the hotel entrance alone.
Al-Shabab - the Somalia-based Islamic extremist group that carried out the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi that left 67 people dead - claimed responsibility.
"It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible," said a man who ran from the scene, Charles Njenga.  As night fell, gunfire continued more than two hours after the first shots were heard at the complex, which includes the DusitD2 hotel, along with bars, restaurants, banks and offices and is in a well-to-do neighborhood with large numbers of American, European and Indian expatriates.
It was not clear how many attackers took part.
"We are aware that armed criminals are holing up in the hotel, and special forces are now currently flushing them out," said Kenya's national police chief, ...

Extremists attack hotel in Nairobi; al-Shabab claims role

A witness to the attack on an upscale hotel complex in Kenya's capital says he saw five bodies.
The man who only gave his name as Ken said the bodies were at the hotel entrance. He says other people were shouting for help and "when we rushed back to try rescue them, gunshots started coming from upstairs and we had to duck because they were targeting us and we could see two guys shooting."
Separately, rescue workers say two of the people they rushed to a local hospital were dead on arrival.
The rescue workers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Authorities have not yet released any figures on dead or wounded.

Kenya attack witness says he saw 5 bodies

A Saudi teen whose flight from her allegedly abusive family captured global attention says she wants to work in support of freedom for women around the world for years to come.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun was granted asylum in Canada at the request of UN officials.
She made a public statement Tuesday, saying through an interpreter that her first goal is to learn English.
Alqunun fled her family while visiting Kuwait before flying to Bangkok. Once there, she barricaded herself in an airport hotel to avoid deportation and tweeted about her situation.
Her situation has highlighted the issue of women's rights in Saudi Arabia, where several women fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home.

Saudi teen says wants to work for freedom for women

Authorities in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia said 17 people, including five alleged members of an extremist Islamist cell, were arrested Tuesday as part of an ongoing anti-terror operation.
As well as having terror links, the suspects also allegedly committed theft, drug trafficking and other crimes, according to the Mossos d'Esquadra regional police.
More than 100 agents were taking part in the operation, which was still taking place mid-afternoon, a spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman, who declined to be identified by name in line with the police force's standard practices, said six venues had been searched in and near Barcelona.
Catalan regional minister of security, Miquel Buch, told reporters that most of the arrests had taken place in a central neighborhood of the Catalan capital, but some had been in the nearby town of Igualada.
The five suspected of being part of an extremist cell were originally from Algeria, Buch told reporters.
"They were determined about ...

Spain arrests 17 arrested in ongoing anti-terror operation

The death toll from a gas explosion at an apartment building in southern Russia climbed to four Tuesday after the bodies of three missing people were found in the rubble.
The explosion on the top floor of the nine-story building ripped through the structure in the city of Shakhty before dawn Monday. One woman was found dead. Two people who were rescued from the wreckage shortly after the blast remained hospitalized in stable condition.
As the search operation continued, emergency crews found the body of an elderly woman early Tuesday. The bodies of a missing middle-aged couple were located later in the day, Vyacheslav Butko, top regional official for Emergency Situations Ministry, told Russian news agencies. One person still was unaccounted for.
Emergency officials said they expect the search to finish by the end of the day.

Death toll in Russia's gas explosion climbs to 4

The US Embassy in Kabul says special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has arrived in Kabul following visits to India, the United Arab Emirates and China.
A statement released Tuesday says Khalilzad has arrived to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other political leaders to discuss next steps in U.S. efforts to facilitate an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.
In a trip in December, Khalilzad said the only solution to the conflict is for all parties is to sit down together and reach an agreement on the political future of Afghanistan with mutual respect and acceptance.

US Embassy says special envoy has arrived in Afghanistan

An Iranian satellite-carrying rocket blasted off into space on Tuesday, but scientists failed to put the device into orbit in a launch previously criticised by the US as helping the Islamic Republic further develop its ballistic missile programme.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has alleged that Iran's space program could help it develop a missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon to the mainland US, criticism that comes amid the Trump administration's maximalist approach against Tehran after withdrawing from the nuclear deal.
Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains that its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. Tehran also says they don't violate a United Nations resolution that only "called upon" it not to conduct such tests.
The rocket carrying the Payam satellite failed to reach the "necessary speed" in the third stage of its launch, Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said.
Jahromi said the ...

Iran satellite fails to reach orbit in US-criticized launch

The White House has named the members of a scaled-back delegation that will represent the Trump administration next week at an annual economic conference in Switzerland.
President Donald Trump had planned to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, but canceled his trip because of the partial government shutdown.
The White House said Tuesday that a smaller delegation led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (mih-NOO'-shin) will still attend. Joining Mnuchin will be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Dropped from the delegation are the labour, transportation and homeland security secretaries, and the small business administrator.
Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner  both senior White House advisers  also are no longer attending the forum.

White House names scaled-back delegation for Swiss forum

A Zimbabwean military helicopter on Tuesday fired tear gas at demonstrators blocking a road and burning tires in the capital on a second day of deadly protests after the government more than doubled the price of fuel in the economically shattered country.
Soldiers moved in to disperse crowds at the busy intersection and transport hub in Harare amid Zimbabwe's biggest unrest since deadly post-election violence in August. Witnesses also reported violence in the eastern city of Mutare, where people attacked passenger buses and destroyed some shops.
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were disabled. Businesses and schools were shut down and public transport vehicles grounded in most of the country despite government assurances that security would be provided.
The government over the weekend announced a price of $3.11 per liter (0.26 gallons) for diesel, and $3.33 per liter for gasoline. That means gasoline in Zimbabwe is now the most expensive in the world, based on data ..

Military deploys in Zimbabwe fuel hike protests; 5 killed

Bad weather continued to afflict parts of Europe on Tuesday with avalanches in Austria striking buildings and roads but resulting in no injuries.
An overnight avalanche in Ramsau, central Austria, slammed a hotel. All 60 visitors and staff, most of whom were from a Danish ski club, got out of the building unharmed.
The head of the ski club from western Denmark said "fortunately no persons were present in the part of the" the hotel where some 50 of its members were staying.
Niels Leth-Soerensen, chairman of the Hobro Skiklub, praised the hotel staff in Ramsau and local rescue teams for swiftly evacuating all guests to another hotel.
Leth-Soerensen who himself was part of the party, said on the club website that the 200-year-old hotel had never been hit by an avalanche.
Warmer, wetter weather after days of heavy snowfall has increased the risk of avalanches in parts of southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In Bavaria, snow melt has flooded several roads and some basements in the ...

Avalanches, flooding cause disruptions in Austria, Germany

South Korea has stopped calling North Korea an "enemy" in its biennial defense document in an apparent effort to continue reconciliation with Pyongyang.
The development comes as US and North Korean leaders are looking to set up their second summit to defuse an international standoff over the North's nuclear program.
South Korea's defense white paper published Tuesday doesn't include its typical term labelling North Korea its "enemy, "present enemy" or "main enemy."
The terminologies have been a source of animosity between the Koreas because the North called it a provocation that demonstrated how hostile the South was.
South Korea first called North Korea a "main enemy" in its 1995 document, a year after North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into "sea of fire.

AP

AP

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