President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter again on Monday evening to promise North Korea would not develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching US territory.
His comments come a day after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, appeared to try to put pressure on Trump by announcing his country is in the « final stages » of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
« North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US, » Trump tweeted. « It won’t happen!  »
Although Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear state, Trump has not previously clearly stated his policy on the isolated Stalinist state.
The Republican billionaire has already upended precedent by routinely taking to Twitter since his election last month to lambast critics and issue statements — sometimes about the most serious national security issues — sending analysts scrambling to divine what they may mean for US policy once he takes office on January 20.
He launched a solo bid to restart the Cold War arms race last month, tweeting that the United States must « greatly strengthen and expand » its nuclear capabilities.
He has also angered China by tweeting accusations of military expansionism and currency manipulation.
But he will need Beijing, Pyongyang’s closest ally, to deal with North Korea’s mounting confrontation.
However, he appeared to complicate that prospect with his latest criticism on Monday evening following his vow about North Korea.
« China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea, » he tweeted. « Nice!  »
In a 30-minute televised New Year’s speech on Sunday, Kim said Pyongyang had « soared as a nuclear power, » adding that it is now a « military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy.  »
Although he did not make a specific reference to the incoming Trump administration, he called on Washington to make a « resolute decision to withdraw its anachronistic hostile North Korea policy.  »
Analysts are divided over how close Pyongyang is to realizing its full nuclear ambitions, especially as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM.
However, North Korea carried out two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches last year in pursuit of its oft-stated goal — developing a weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.
Thae Yong-Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain who defected to the South in August, has said Kim was planning a « prime time » nuclear weapons push in 2017 to take advantage of leadership transitions in Washington and Seoul.

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A 17-year-old was found dead at the scene and three other children were transported to an area hospital where they later died, the Amarillo Globe-News reported.
The pesticide that was used contained aluminum phosphide, a chemical that, when mixed with water, creates phosphine gas, the newspaper said, citing local fire officials.
« This family may have been exposed to this for several days, » Amarillo Fire Department Captain Larry Davis told local TV station KDFA.
Names of the victims were not released, and Amarillo fire officials were not immediately available for comment.
There were five other people exposed to the gas who were in stable condition at an Amarillo hospital, the newspaper said citing fire officials. One other patient was transferred to a hospital in the Texas Panhandle city of Lubbock, and there was no information on the status of that person.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by David Gregorio)

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January 2, 2017, 6:02 p.m. — 1 mile east of Lower Lake, CaliforniaJanuary 2, 2017, 3:19 p.m. — 3 miles northwest of The Geysers, CaliforniaJanuary 1, 2017, 5:46 a.m. — 2 miles west of Cobb, CaliforniaDecember 29, 2016, 10:31 p.m. — 1 mile southwest of Kenwood, CaliforniaDecember 29, 2016, 7:28 p.m. — 4 miles northwest of Cobb, CaliforniaDecember 22, 2016, 9:26 a.m. — 2 miles west of Cobb, CaliforniaDecember 22, 2016, 2:27 a.m. — 4 miles south of The Geysers, CaliforniaDecember 21, 2016, 11:48 p.m. — 1 miles north of Castro Valley, CaliforniaDecember 21, 2016, 8:34 p.m. — 2 miles north of Castro Valley, CaliforniaDecember 21, 2016, 5:48 a.m. — 4 miles northeast of Alum Rock, CaliforniaDecember 19, 2016, 6:52 a.m. — 1 mile west of The Geysers, CaliforniaDecember 18, 2016, 5:36 p.m. — 3 miles northwest of The Geysers, CaliforniaDecember 17, 2016, 11:09 a.m. — 11 miles southwest of Clearlake, CaliforniaDecember 17, 2016, 11:09 a.m. — 11 miles southwest of Clearlake, CaliforniaJanuary 2, 2017, 5:05 a.m. — 14 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 31, 2016, 3:06 p.m. — 1 mile northwest of Brawley, CaliforniaDecember 31, 2016, 2:21 p.m. — 1 mile west of Brawley, CaliforniaDecember 28, 2016, 2:00 p.m. — 16 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 9:57 a.m. — 9 miles northwest of Morongo Valley, CaliforniaDecember 28, 2016, 8:28 a.m. — 18 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 6:40 a.m. — 17 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 1:33 a.m. — 17 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 1:17 a.m. — 17 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 12:22 a.m. — 12 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 26, 2016, 7:29 a.m. — 7 miles northeast of Anza, CaliforniaDecember, 4 2016 at 10:33 a.m. — 37 miles south of Eureka, CaliforniaNovember 15, 2016, 9:46 a.m. — 8 miles northwest of Rio Dell, CaliforniaOctober 18, 2016, 3:09 p.m. — 10 miles southeast of Hollister, California>> NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center January 2, 2017, 5:14 a.m. — 223 miles southwest of Ndoi Island, FijiDecember 29, 2016, 2:30 p.m. — 20 miles south of Tolotangga, IndonesiaDecember 20, 2016, 3:21 p.m. — 49 miles west of Kirakira, Solomon IslandsDecember 18, 2016, 8:30 a.m. — 128 miles south of Tarauaca, BrazilDecember 18, 2016, 4:46 p.m. — 51 miles west of Kirakira, Solomon IslandsDecember 17, 2016, 9:27 p.m. — 115 miles west northwest of Arawa, Papua New Guinea>> USGS World Seismicity Maps Experts believe that the Northern California area is one of the most seismically active areas of the state. Find out how you can PrepareNorcal.

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DEL RIO, Texas — A fossil found in limestone along a remote South Texas riverbed could be that of a dolphin-like reptile that swam in oceans 90 million years ago, according to paleontologists.
The discovery was made two years ago by petroleum geologist James Harcourt, who works for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry. It went largely unnoticed until a photo of the fossil appeared on the cover of the commission’s 2016 annual report.
The find is unique because it appears to be a nearly complete fossil of an ichthyosaur, which grew to about 6 feet long and had the sleek body of a dolphin and long, toothy jaws of a dinosaur, the Houston Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/2ilbe3c ).
The fossil was found on private land near the border town of Del Rio as Harcourt and some colleagues were studying the Eagle Ford formation, which is one of the state’s most productive shale oil basins. Harcourt spotted a row of bones imprinted on rock. When the surface dirt was cleared away, Harcourt and his colleagues realized the limestone held a large skull, long spine and ribs.
“Very rarely do we get really complete skeletons out of the Eagle Ford,” said Josh Lively, a doctoral candidate specializing in marine reptile fossils at the University of Texas. “Whenever you have an associated skeleton like this, when you have multiple parts of the animal, it’s a really an important find.”
Ichthyosaurs were disappearing from the seas when the Eagle Ford formed, some 88 million to 96 million years ago. Lively said there’s a chance it could be a plesiosaur, a much larger underwater reptile, and paleontologists won’t know for sure until the bones are exhumed, which can only happen with the property owner’s permission.
Fossils can’t be studied, and their contributions to science can’t be measured, until they are out of the ground, said Matt Brown, the director of vertebrate paleontology collections at UT Austin.
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Last Updated Jan 2, 2017 6:59 PM EST
U. S. government officials have been notified of new cases of attempted or potentially successful cyber intrusions, CBS News has learned.
Officials would not go into specifics or reveal the number of new cases. But the revelation raises concerns that Russian cyberattacks have been more extensive than originally thought. Since the U. S released a report on election-related cyberattacks on Thursday, a government official said more cases have come to light, CBS News’ Justice and Homeland Security correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.
U. S. officials do not often release the details of their investigations — but they did Thursday. The release was part of an ongoing effort to pu…
The intelligence information made public last week revealed some of the tools and infrastructure allegedly used by Russian hacking units. Those signatures were flagged over the weekend after officials connected with Vermont’s electric grid confirmed that malware code used in operation “Grizzly Steppe” was found on a Burlington Electric Department laptop.
A team of Department of Homeland Security analysts are working to determine if Russian hackers successfully breached Vermont’s system. But so far, investigators have not been able to determine the intent behind the Vermont incident , and there are no indications the power grid is compromised.
“While our analysis continues, we currently have no information that indicates that the power grid was penetrated in this cyber incident,” said Todd Breasseale, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
Monday’s revelation about new cases of attempted or potentially successful cyber intrusions came just days after the Obama administration announced a series of actions in response to what the White House called “the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U. S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U. S. election.” In addition to sanctions announced on Thursday, 35 Russian diplomats have been expelled from the United States .
While President Obama and most congressional Republicans have denounced Russia for its alleged election interference, President-elect Donald Trump has been reluctant to do so , even after FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper backed the CIA’s judgment that Russia interfered. The CIA said in December it has high confidence that Russians tried to influence the election and that they favored Mr. Trump.
“I know a lot about hacking,” Mr. Trump said before his New Years Eve party at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night. “And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else. And also – I know things that other people don’t know – and so they cannot be sure of the situation.”
Mr. Trump promised new information on Tuesday or Wednesday. But Sean Spicer, the Trump transition’s spokesman, seemed to walk that back.
“Well it’s not a question of necessarily revealing, remember the president-elect is privy to a lot of classified information, intelligence reports, he gets briefed by his national security team on a daily basis,” Spicer said, speaking on CNN.
It is unclear, however, where Mr. Trump or his national security team are getting their intelligence reports. All U. S. intelligence agencies are in agreement that the Russian government with the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated “aggressive” cyberattacks prior to and during the U. S. election.

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