White House goes to war with the press over dubious claims about crowd

President Donald Trump's top officials stood defiant for a second day in the face of withering media criticism over dubious White House claims about the size of Trump's inauguration.

During a visit to CIA headquarters in Virginia on Saturday, Trump asserted that there were over a million people at Friday's inauguration, though independent estimates put the crowd at closer to 250,000 attendees.

There are no official government estimates of the crowd size, but photographic evidence comparing Trump's inauguration to past inaugurations and metro ridership statistics suggested that the number was far lower than the White House claimed.

But Trump officials refused to admit Trump made factual inaccuracies or exaggerations, instead taking aim at the media.

Samsung announces what caused the Galaxy Note 7 to overheat and explode

Samsung says bad battery design and a rush to release an updated version of the Galaxy Note 7 caused some of the devices to overheat and explode in a new report the company released Sunday night.

Samsung said in the report that two separate battery malfunctions caused some Note 7 phones to overheat and even catch fire in some cases.

The first problem affected the first batch of Note 7 phones that launched last fall. In those phones, the battery was too large for the casing of the phone, which caused some to overheat, according to Samsung's report.

After Samsung recalled the initial batch of Note 7 phones, it manufactured the phone with a battery from a different supplier. But Samsung was in a rush to get the new phones out, and the new battery produced by the supplier had a defect that also caused it to overheat, the report said.

In the end, Samsung ended up recalling all Note 7 phones and canceled the product altogether.

I know what it’s like to be told by your teacher that you’ll never amount to anything - T.I Writes new Open letter

Rapper T.I. recently issued an open letter to former President Obama and a second letter to Donald Trump.
Now he has released his third letter, and this time the letter has been issued to US. Each of the letters were inspired by his latest musical projects, “US or Else,” and “Us or Else: Letter to the System.”
Read after the cut....

MLB star, Yordano Ventura dies in car accident at 25

25 years old Royals pitcher and Major League Player, Yordano Ventura has died. According to Cristian Moreno of ESPN, he died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic early this morning Jan. 22nd. His team, The Royals have since confirmed Ventura’s death, according to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan.

Ventura made his debut for the Royals in 2013 and was immediately known for his fastball. Sadly, he is the second major league player who has died over the past five months. Former Marlins ace Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident on September 25, 2016.

14 people killed as severe weather strikes Georgia

Catherine Howden, the spokeswoman for Georgia Emergency Management Agency confirms that 14 people were killed in a severe weather that struck southern Georgia in the overnight hours of Saturday into Sunday. She said the agency was working to assess the damage but she also confirms that at least two of the deaths occured in Brooks County.

Trump discusses Iran threats, White House visit with Israel's Netanyahu

US President Donald Trump Sunday discussed threats from Iran with Benjamin Netanyahu, inviting the Israeli prime minister to visit the White House early next month.

The two leaders spoke by telephone and "agreed to continue to closely consult on a range of regional issues, including addressing the threats posed by Iran," the White House said in a statement, signalling the new administration's tougher line on Tehran.

The statement also said that Trump invited Netanyahu "to an early February meeting at the White House."

Israel approved hundreds of new settler homes in east Jerusalem Sunday hours before the telephone call, which an Israeli statement described as "very warm".

But a potentially explosive plan to annex a large West Bank Jewish settlement unilaterally was shelved until after Netanyahu and Trump meet.

Ex-President Yahya Jammeh leaves The Gambia after losing election

Gambia's former President Yahya Jammeh has left the country in the wake of elections that ousted him after 22 years in power.

He boarded a plane to Guinea and from there will travel on to exile in Equatorial Guinea, regional group Ecowas says.

Mr Jammeh was defeated in December's election by Adama Barrow but went on to challenge the results.

Mr Barrow has been in Senegal but says he will return to The Gambia soon.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Barrow said he wanted to create a truth and reconciliation committee to investigate allegations of human rights abuses during Mr Jammeh's time in office.

Marcel de Souza, president of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), said the military operation that had sent West African troops into The Gambia in support of Mr Barrow, was now ended, although some would remain to ensure security.