Where's the party? No state dinner in Trump's first year
President Donald Trump couldn't stop talking about the red carpets, military parades and fancy dinners that were lavished upon him during state visits on his recent tour of Asia. "Magnificent," he declared at one point on the trip.
But Trump has yet to reciprocate, making him the first president in almost a century to close his first year in office without welcoming a visiting counterpart to the US with similar trappings. Trump spoke dismissively of state dinners as a candidate, when he panned President Barack Obama's decision to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping with a 2015 state visit.
Russian officials bar Navalny from running for president
Russian election officials on Monday formally barred Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president, prompting calls from him for a boycott of next year's vote. The Central Election Commission decided unanimously that the anti-corruption crusader isn't eligible to run.
Navalny is implicitly barred from running for office because of a conviction in a fraud case which has been viewed as political retribution. He could have run if he was given a special dispensation or if his conviction was cancelled. Incumbent Vladimir Putin is set to easily win a fourth term in office in the March 18 election, with his approval ratings topping 80 per cent.
'Sound of Music' actress Heather Menzies-Urich dies at 68
Actress Heather Menzies-Urich, who played one of the singing von Trapp children in the hit 1965 film, "The Sound of Music," has died. She was 68. Her son, actor Ryan Urich, told Variety that his mother died late Sunday in Frankford, Ontario. She recently had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
"She was an actress, a ballerina and loved living her life to the fullest," Urich said. Menzies-Urich played Louisa von Trapp, the third-oldest of the seven von Trapp children, in the film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. "The Sound of Music" captured five Academy Awards, including best picture.
Serena ready to play in Abu Dhabi
Serena Williams is set to launch comeback in Abu Dhabi. Twenty-three time grand slam champion Serena Williams will play her first match since the birth of her daughter when she faces off against French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi next week.
The match with be the 36-year-old Williams' first in almost a year as she prepares to try to defend her Australian Open crown in January, a title she captured earlier this year while pregnant.
Nadal out of season-opening Abu Dhabi event
Rafa Nadal has withdrawn from next week's season-opening exhibition event in Abu Dhabi due to ongoing fitness problems, the world number one has said.
The 16-time grand slam champion, who won the French and U.S. Opens earlier this year, withdrew from the ATP Finals in November after struggling with a knee injury during his round-robin defeat by Belgian David Goffin.
AP and Reuters
