Trump gushes over 'very nice' Christmas letter from Putin amid mounting tension between the countries

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday fawned over a Christmas letter he received from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The president-elect announced in a statement he received a "very nice letter" from the Russian president, and that Putin's "thoughts are so correct."

"I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts," Trump wrote, "and we do not have to travel an alternate path.

Trump did not make clear what an alternate path would be, but the letter came amid increased tension between the two countries and as the two leaders have both called for their nations to increase the capabilities of their nuclear weapons programs.

In the letter, dated December 15 but released by Trump on Friday, Putin extended his "warmest Christmas and New Year greetings" to "his excellency Donald Trump" and offered "sincere wishes to you and your family of sound health, happiness, well being, success, and all the best."

'Not me' - Kylie Jenner denies being a part of the sex-tape that was 'leaked' online

A website called CelebJihad recently claimed to have a sex tape of Kylie Jenner and her boyfriend, Tyga having sex together, even though the girl in the video looked nothing like Kylie. The tape, filmed by the man, was taken inside the changing room of a store. (Read here)
The reality star has since denied taking part in such. According to TMZ,

Duterte Says He'll 'Burn Down The United Nations'

Rodrigo Duterte offered his latest controversial remarks on Thursday. This time they were aimed at the United Nations’ human rights chief. The Philippines president attacked the U.N.'s high commissioner for human rights for suggesting the organization should open a murder investigation against Duterte, describing Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein as an "idiot" and claiming he'd "burn down the United Nations."

Duterte, who became president of the Philippines in June 2016, has repeatedly shared detailed accounts of killings against suspected drug dealers and criminals he committed on the streets of Davao, when he was mayor of the city. "In Davao, I used to do it personally, just to show the guys that if I can do it, why can’t you?" Duterte said earlier in December. His recent comments followed a statement from the United Nation’s high commissioner for human rights, who condemned the Duterte's remarks, which appeared to openly boast about killing civilians of the Philippines in the street

Otedola vs NaijaGistLive: Kiran & Jyoti Matharoo charged to court for blackmail & extortion through Naijagistlive, to be remanded in prison if they don't meet bail condition, pictured at court today

The two sisters were charged to court today Dec. 23rd for allegedly being part owners of notorious website, NaijaGistLive.com, where untrue stories were written about billionaire businessman Femi Otedola, his wife and daughter, DJ Cuppy. Otedola filed a complaint with the police who swung into action and during their investigation traced a phone number connected with the website to the two sisters. The owners of the website are alleged to have been using the site to extort money from Nigeria's very rich. Guess they messed with the wrong billionaire this time...

The sisters made confessional statements revealing they own the site and issued an apology to Otedola for allegedly plotting to blackmail him. The sisters are facing 4 years in prison for cyber bullying, blackmail and extortion if they are found guilty..See more exclusive photos after the cut...

Donald Trump challenges world to nuclear arms race

Donald Trump challenged the world to a nuclear arms race this morning, after calling for the US to “greatly” expand its weapons arsenal.

He told MSNBC: “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”

It follows widespread concern over a tweet the President elect sent last night, saying: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”

MOBY Alleged Thief Busted ... SHE GRABBED HIS PACKAGE!

Moby got a visit from his own personal Grinch -- a woman cops call an "obsessed fan" who tried to make off with a special delivery.

Law enforcement sources tell 3m360 ... the incident went down Wednesday afternoon when Moby's assistant noticed a woman on his Hollywood Hills property. When cops showed up, the suspect was still there holding a package with Moby's name on it.

She was arrested for petty theft, and we're told cops will also recommend trespassing charges. Moby wasn't home at the time.

This isn't her first trip to the EDM pioneer's property. We're told she's shown up multiple times in the past trying to meet Moby, but this is the first time cops got involved

Hero police officer Luca Scata who shot Berlin attack suspect Anis Amri dead was trainee who only just joined force

The hero police officer who shot Berlin Christmas market massacre suspect Anis Amri was a trainee who had only just joined the force.

Luca Scata, 36, fired at the alleged terrorist after the Tunisian national shot his colleague Christian Movio in the shoulder while shouting "Allahu Akbar".

His Facebook page has been flooded with praise from Italians with one friend telling Mirror Online: "I'm proud of him."

Luca – who is still on probation – was named at a press conference in Rome by Italian interior minister Marco Minniti.

Ondo workers invade accountant-General’s office, drag him to bank for their salaries

Just three days to Christmas celebration, workers in Ondo State, Thursday forcefully dragged the Account-General (AG), Mr. Felix Ajibokun to bank to begin the process of payment of workers’ salaries.

The aggrieved workers, who earlier picketed the A-G office at Alagbaka Akure, the state capital, were being owed six months salaries.

They were led by their Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) Chairman, Mr. Sunday Adeleye and the State Chairman, Mrs. Bosede Daramola and other union leaders.

Adeleye, while speaking with reporters, said the union leaders recently met Governor Olusegun Mimiko and they both resolved that the workers should be paid a month for them to have money to celebrate the Christmas.

Two Armed Robbers Arrested While Robbing Banks in Rivers State (Photo)

Two of the robbers caught by the police

Men of the Nigerian police have paraded two out of the three armed robbers caught robbing a bank in Rivers state.

Three armed robbers were caught on Thursday by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command who foiled what would have been a major bank robbery in the state.

According to reports, the security officials stormed the bank and arrested the bank robbers at a new generation bank located at Eagle Cement to arrest the suspected hoodlums.

The hoodlums were said to have opened fire on the advancing police team led by a Divisional Police Officer, Felix Nnebue. One of the SARS operative was injured during the gun duel that ensued between the robbers and the policemen.

Houseboy who murdered his female boss at her home in Parkview shared a dance video on IG same day he killed her

This guy goes by the name @william_smith1059 on IG and on Tuesday December 20th, he posted a video of himself dancing, same day he allegedly killed his boss, Dayo Adeleke (read here). He was arrested within an hour of the murder. He's in Panti police station right now.

People need to be careful about domestic staff. Dayo, just 33 years old, who friends say was an amazing girl, helped the houseboy who was a refugee and living in a church. She gave him accommodation and a job and this is what she got. Quite sad! See the video after the cut...

72 years ago, the Nazis launched their last great offensive of World War II — here are 13 photos of the Battle of the Bulge

By late 1944, Allied forces had pushed Nazi Germany back in much of Europe, retaking Paris and Rome.

US Army intelligence determined that the thick evergreen forest of the Ardennes in Belgium would be a good place to rest and reorganize combat units, as enemy forces in the area were largely low-quality troops.

The Nazis, however, were preparing a great counteroffensive, forming up 30 crack divisions that would cut the Allied army in two and push for the Belgian port of Antwerp.

On the morning of December 16, 1944, more than 200,000 German troops and almost 1,000 tanks drove into the Ardennes, across an 85-mile stretch of the front line, running from southern Belgium to the middle of Luxembourg.

Stories abound of German paratroopers dropping behind the lines, of English-speaking Nazi troops impersonating Americans, and of massacres of American prisoners of war at Malmedy.

Beat FM rounds up the year on a high note.. As Migos, Krept & Konan, WSTRN, Falz and others, shut down beat Christmas Concert

Last Night, the 2016 edition of the Beat FM Christmas concert took place at The Federal palace Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos. Notable faces like Naeto C, Dorcas Fapson, VJ Adams, Ehiz, Bizzle, DJ Cuppy, DJ Lambo graced the event, which saw amazing performances from both international acts present at the concert.

There was an excellent mix of both International and local acts, which set the upbeat mood for the concert. Also featured were notable Nigerian artistes such as Davido, Patoranking, Wande Coal, Adekunle Gold, Lil Kesh, Uzikwendu, Dammy Krane, Simi, Falz, Mayorkun and a couple of others

The concert opened with performances from Nigerian artistes like Saeon, Mayorkun, Uzi, Mologo, Dot man who dictated the mood and pace of the concert.

West London group, WSTRN thrilled the fans with some of their hit singles like In2A-list, Come down, Got love, Coming home, wait for it, Social, Trap love and the reception was very encouraging as the musicians gave an absolutely amazing performance at the concert.

London rap duo, Krept & Konan are not new to the Nigerian audience so it felt more like a back to back as they were here last year for the same concert. They also got fans screaming and singing along to some of their popular songs like Freak of the week, Young and Reckless

True to his moniker, Omo Baba Olowo, Davido brought the show to a standstill when he climbed on stage and gave a show stopping performance, which left revelers screaming.

American hip-hop group, Migos gave a terrific performance as they kept the crowd cheering while they did the closing performance of the concert. 

Here’s why you should never buy and hold gold

Buying and holding a commodity like gold may be the most ignorant strategy ever…

That’s a heresy to some gold “experts” who think they can predict its price direction.

But here’s the cold hard truth: The market doesn’t care about what you, I, or any “expert” thinks should happen.

To make money from gold, you’re either on the right side or the wrong side of the price trend.

Today, I’m going to show you how to be “right” when investing in gold…

Bionic eye that restores sight to the blind is made available on the NHS: £150,000 device uses tiny video camera to transmit images to a chip on the back of the eyeball

A bionic eye which restores sight to blind people is to be made available on the NHS for the first time.

The £150,000 system beams images from a tiny video camera to a chip implanted at the back of the eye, allowing patients who have been blind for decades to see again.

Up to 320 people in Britain with retinitis pigmentosa – an inherited disease that causes blindness – could eventually benefit from the Argus II system.

NHS England will fund it for ten patients in a 12-month pilot starting next month. They will then be assessed for a year before officials decide whether to roll the system out more widely in early 2019.

Berlin's most wanted: Police hunt 'armed and dangerous' Tunisian asylum seeker, 23, after his ID is found under lorry driver's seat at scene of Christmas market massacre

This is the Tunisian asylum seeker who has become Europe's most wanted man after his ID was found under the seat in the lorry used to massacre 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market.

Police today revealed they are hunting Anis Amri, 23, a refugee who came to Germany earlier this year. His paperwork was found in truck's footwell.

He is probably armed, 'highly dangerous' and a member of a 'large' Islamic organisation and has weapons training abroad, security sources say.

The suspect was also in contact with a 'network of leading Islamist ideologists'.  

Amri, who was born in the desert town of Tataouine in 1992 – a well-known ISIS stronghold close to the Libyan border - was apparently recently arrested for GBH but vanished before he could be charged.

In August 2016 he was arrested with a fake Italian passport and released but his phone was said to be monitored. He then disappeared in December, according to Die Welt. 

A Facebook profile in his name shows 'likes' linked to Tunisian terror group Ansar al-Sharia, a Tunisian group with followers linked to extremists who murdered 22 at Tunis' Bardo Museum in March 2015 and then 39 tourists at a beach resort in Sousse 

Amri has temporary permission to stay in the country but was due to face an asylum hearing.

Despite an unfolding international manhunt the first pictures of him released in Germany have his eyes deliberately covered, thought to be because of strict privacy laws there. MailOnline has uncovered unblurred images. 

Police are believed to have found blood in the truck's cab and now assume that the suspect may be badly injured.

Squads of officers have been to every hospital in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg. They also arrested another unnamed suspect in connection with the terror attack but have since ruled him out. 

Amri was living in Berlin but a police operation is now underway in North Rhine-Westphalia - the industrial region of Germany containing Cologne, Dortmund and Bonn. His ID was issued on the town of Kleve close to the border with the Netherlands and Belgium.

Voyeur accidentally reveals his identity when he films himself installing a camera in a public toilet

A voyeur accidentally revealed his identity after he filmed himself installing a spy camera in a public toilet.

The man, who appears to be in his late fifties, caught himself in his own footage when he was placing a video camera in a toilet in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. 

The video was then released by an anonymous man who warned: 'Anyone can become a victim of this pervert.'

It has now sparked a search for him. 

He is believed to have spent years installing hidden cameras in public bathrooms such as theatres, schools, museums and hospitals, and then selling the footage online.

He has always eluded the authorities and his identity had remained a secret, but this new video brings renewed hope of his capture. 

The clip shows a balding man with glasses, wearing blue jeans and a distinctive striped shirt.

Planes grounded as smog chokes China for fifth day)

Heavy smog suffocated northeast China for a fifth day Tuesday, with hundreds of flights cancelled and road and rail transport grinding to a halt under the low visibility conditions.

More than 20 cities have entered a state of red alert since Friday evening, implementing emergency measures aimed at cutting emissions and protecting public health from the toxic miasma.

Across the region, construction sites closed and authorities reduced the number of vehicles allowed on the roads in hopes of reducing the thick haze.

In Shijiazhuang, the capital of northern Hebei province, planes could not take off or land, according to a post on a verified social media account of the city's international airport.

Levels of PM 2.5 -- microscopic particles harmful to human health -- climbed to 844 in the area, according to the web site aqicn.org.

The number is almost 34 times the World Health Organization's recommended maximum exposure level of 25 over a 24-hour period.

Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov assassinated in Ankara (Assassination in Turkey: what we know)

The Russian ambassador to Ankara was shot dead in an attack at an art gallery in the Turkish capital on Monday by a gunman shouting “Don’t forget Aleppo”.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the death of envoy Andrey Karlov, which marked one of the most serious spillovers of the Syria conflict into Turkey.

Russia is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its air strikes were instrumental in helping Syrian forces end rebel resistance last week in the northern city of Aleppo.

The Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been “neutralized” soon after the attack, Relations between Moscow and Ankara have long been fraught over the conflict, with the two supporting opposing sides.

The attacker was smartly dressed in black suit and tie, and standing behind the ambassador as he made a speech at the art exhibition, a person at the scene told Reuters.

“He took out his gun and shot the ambassador from behind. We saw him lying on the floor and then we ran out,” said the witness, who asked not to be identified.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene said gunfire rang out for some time after the attack.

A video showed the attacker shouting: “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!”

As screams rang out, the gunman could then be seen pacing about and shouting as he held the gun in one hand and waved the other in the air. 

44 years after conviction, Freedom Rider Sala Udin is pardoned by Obama

President Obama’s decision this week to issue 78 Christmas season pardons — the most of his presidency — should have special meaning for veterans of the civil rights movement.

Among the recipients was former Pittsburgh City Council member Sala Udin, a onetime Freedom Rider who was beaten up registering voters in 1960s Mississippi. But Udin had been haunted for decades by a criminal charge that grew out of his youthful activism: Driving fellow protesters home from the South, he was stopped for speeding in Kentucky and arrested after police found an unloaded shotgun and a jug of moonshine in the car.

“I’m ecstatic,” Udin emailed Yahoo News shortly after he got the call from his lawyer that his long-languishing bid for a pardon had finally been granted by Obama. After waiting patiently for years, Udin had all but given up hope. Only days earlier, amid reports that Obama was contemplating a final round of pardons, Udin had told a friend: “I refuse to allow myself to be optimistic because I don’t want to risk the disappointment. It’s not going to happen.”

Udin, 73, was the subject of a Yahoo News story last year that highlighted Obama’s relatively stingy record of using his constitutional powers to pardon criminal offenders; one critic even called him a pardon “Grinch.” At that point, Obama had issued fewer pardons than any president since James Garfield. (This is separate from Obama’s commutation of sentences, another of his broad clemency powers and one that he has used liberally to reduce the lengthy prison terms of nonviolent drug offenders — a key part of his administration’s initiative for criminal justice reform. Obama separately commuted the sentences of 153 such offenders Monday.)

Jihadi mum kisses tiny daughters, aged seven and nine, goodbye - then sends them off on suicide bomb mission

The harrowing moment a mother kisses her two young daughters goodbye before sending them off on a suicide mission has been captured on camera.

One of the two girls, believed to be aged seven and nine, died after detonating a suicide bomb at a police station shortly after.

The young children are pictured with a bearded male fanatic in one clip, while separate footage shows the cameraman lecturing the two young girls and instructing them how to carry out an attack.

A burka-clad woman, understood to be their mother, clutches the children and affectionately kisses their heads and hands as they stand in a sparse room decorated only by a black and white flag.

The footage shows the male fanatic brainwashing the girls, who are both dressed in woolly hats and scarves.

Berlin manhunt: Police tracking Tunisian suspect

The German police are looking for a Tunisian man after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of the truck that ploughed into a Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people,according to Der Spiegel.

Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, said the document was in the name of Anis A, born in Tataouine in 1992. The suspect is also believed to go by two false names, it added.

The daily newspaper Bild reported that Anis A was known to the police as a possibly dangerous individual and part of a large Islamist network, according to Reuters.

Bild, which is owned by Business Insider's parent company Axel Springer, has published a photo of the suspect, who is said to be between 21 and 23 years old.

Michael Phelps releases photos of his super secret Mexico wedding to Nicole Johnson in October

Olympics legend Michael Phelps, 31, has finally released photos of his super secret October wedding to Nicole Johnson, 31, in October at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In the cute photos they both can be seen kissing, while another photo shows them carrying their young son Boomer as they prepare to wed.

 23-time Olympic Gold medalist, Phelps, who released the photos to Brides.com, revealed to the website that he cried 'tears of happiness' when he saw Nicole walking down the aisle and that he and Nicole partied with their guests until close to 3am after the ceremony. The pair got legally married in June in a ceremony that had only 5 people in attendance at their backyard.

 More photos from the wedding below...

'The internet will shut down for 24 hours next year

It’s December — that time of the year when many industry experts make all sorts of predictions for the year ahead. But one prophecy caught Business Insider’s eye: the whole internet will shut down for 24 hours.

The dire forecast comes from US technology security vendor LogRhythm. According to the company’s chief information security officer and vice president James Carder, it won’t just be a technical issue stopping people from uploading their selfies on Instagram.

"In 2017, we’re going to see it hit big sometime, somewhere. If the internet goes down, financial markets will tank," he said.

The security expert told Business Insider that all the signs were there this year, with criminals "testing missiles by shooting them into the ocean".

DEA: Heroin Haul Largest Ever in Afghanistan, 'if Not the World'

A joint U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, American Special Forces and Afghan counternarcotics operation in October resulted in an eye-popping seizure of 20 tons of drugs, which officials said was the "largest known seizure of heroin in Afghanistan, if not the world."

The operation was kept under wraps until today, when a DEA official confirmed the contents of a field intelligence report obtained by ABC News but did not explain why a successful "superlab" takedown — which agency veterans agreed is an unprecedented narcotics haul — was not officially announced.

"This drug seizure alone prevented not only a massive amount of heroin hitting the streets throughout the world but also denied the Taliban money that would have been used to fund insurgent activities in and around the region," DEA spokesman Steven Bell told ABC News yesterday.

He said a conservative estimated street value was about $60 million for the 12.5 tons of morphine base, 6.4 tons of heroin base, 134 kilograms of opium, 129 kilograms of crystal heroin and 12 kilograms of hashish seized in the Oct. 17 raid, which took place in the western Afghan province of Farah, on the border with Iran.

"If that was Pablo Escobar's stash, that would be considered a lot of frickin' heroin," said one combat veteran of the DEA's 11-year counternarcotics mission to blunt the country's heroin trade, referring to the Medellin, Colombia, narcotics kingpin killed two decades ago. "That's going to make a dent in the European market."

The operation's success is all the more extraordinary, given that the footprint of the U.S. military in Afghanistan is now below 10,000 service members and the DEA's numbers have diminished to a handful in-country, sources said. This downsizing has eliminated the DEA's Foreign-Deployed Advisory Support Teams (FAST) in Afghanistan, which target drug traffickers.

A Green Beret A-team aided the agents in executing a warrant search in the western Afghanistan province. After a brief gunfight with insurgents near the compound outside a remote village, the teams also found tons of chemicals in what one report called a "superlab" used to process the poppy into heroin base.

Obama warns Russia on hacking: ‘We can do stuff to you’

President Obama warned Russia on Friday not to wage cyberwarfare against the United States, saying, “We can do stuff to you” as he defended his handling of Moscow’s alleged hacking of Democrats’ emails to influence the 2016 election.

“Our goal continues to be to send a clear message to Russia or others not to do this to us, because we can do stuff to you,” Obama told reporters at his final press conference of 2016.

His comments came shortly after it was disclosed that the FBI agrees with the CIA’s conclusions that Russia targeted Democrats with the aim of helping President-elect Donald Trump win on Nov. 8.

Obama promised that any U.S. retaliation against Russia would come “in a thoughtful, methodical way” that might be hidden from the U.S. public.

“Some of it we do publicly, some of it we will do in a way that they know but not everybody will,” he said. “The message will be directly received by the Russians and not publicized.”

Obama defended his response to Moscow’s alleged intrusion, saying, “We handled it the way it should have been handled.”