USA

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nobel laureate Dr. James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA helix and father of the Human Genome Project, has been stripped of honors by his laboratory following "reprehensible" remarks on race and ethnicity.

The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), the New York facility where Watson worked for nearly four decades and which has a school named after him, said that it was acting in response to his remarks made in a television documentary which aired earlier this month.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space technology firm SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, will lay off about 10 percent of its more than 6,000 employees, according to media reports.

The cuts were cited in an email sent to employees.

In a statement, a company spokesman confirmed the layoff without specifying how many employees will be released.

"To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company," said the statement of the company.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday called “most insulting” a published report that federal law enforcement officials were so concerned about his behavior in the days after he fired James Comey from the FBI that they opened an investigation into whether he had been working for Russia against U.S. interests.

The New York Times report Friday cited unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Green Book” co-writer Nick Vallelonga has apologized for a 2015 tweet about Muslims and 9/11 that has resurfaced a few days after the film won a Golden Globe Award.

In the tweet, he said then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump was “100% correct” that local television news in New York on 9/11 showed Muslims in Jersey City cheering when the towers came down, and he had seen it.

There is no evidence such celebrations occurred.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials became so concerned by President Donald Trump’s behavior in the days after he fired FBI Director James Comey that they began investigating whether he had been working for Russia against U.S. interests, The New York Times reported Friday.

The report cites unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

12 Jan 2019; AFP: A 21-year-old man has been charged with murdering the parents of an American teen as part of a calculated plot to kidnap her, police said Friday, after 13-year-old Jayme Closs was found alive following three months in captivity.

The subject of a nationwide search since her parents were found murdered in their home in rural Wisconsin in October, Closs made a seemingly miraculous escape Thursday afternoon, seeking help from a neighbor who alerted authorities.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- As the clock struck midnight, the U.S. partial government shutdown over disputed congressional funds for President Donald Trump's border wall entered its 22nd day on Saturday, marking the longest government closure in U.S. history.

There is still no compromise in sight, no deal, and no easy alternative.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Friday stepped up its battle against starvation in Yemen with a 32-million-U.S. dollar transfer of funds from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to the humanitarian relief effort in the war-scarred country.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and the Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP) David Beasley announced the contribution here at UN Headquarters.

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Rachael Weatherly is a senior adviser for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but she’s considering trying to get a job at a grocery store.

Weatherly is among the 800,000 federal employees who aren’t getting paychecks for the first time Friday because of the lingering government shutdown.

They are scaling back spending, canceling trips, applying for unemployment benefits and taking out loans to stay afloat, with no end in sight for a partial shutdown that enters its 21st day Friday and will be the longest in history by this weekend.

11 Jan 2019; AFP: The world's oceans are heating up at an accelerating pace as global warming threatens a diverse range of marine life and a major food supply for the planet, researchers said Thursday.

The findings in the US journal Science, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, debunk previous reports that suggested a so-called pause in global warming in recent years.