News Headlines - 17 February 2018

▽Russia Isn’t the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too. - The New York Times

“If you ask an intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all,” said Steven L. Hall, who retired in 2015 after 30 years at the C.I.A., where he was the chief of Russian operations. The United States “absolutely” has carried out such election influence operations historically, he said, “and I hope we keep doing it.”

▽Turkish army hit village in Syria's Afrin with suspected gas: Kurdish YPG, Observatory

Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group said the Turkish military carried out a suspected gas attack that wounded six people in Syria’s Afrin region on Friday.

▽KUNA : N. Korea poses threat to all allies - NATO chief

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, "which pose a threat to us all.
"All Allies are now within range of North Korean missiles. Pyongyang is closer to Munich than it is to Washington DC and therefore we must put maximum pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, by political and diplomatic means and, not least, through effective economic sanctions," he said at the opening session of the Munich Security Conference.

▽Massive Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un floats feature in carnival parade in Nice, France | Globalnews.ca

Carnival joy filled the French Riviera town of Nice on Saturday night as it welcomed the 134th edition of the King’s Carnival with space as its main theme, honouring French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

▽Why Winnie the Pooh is skater Yuzuru Hanyu's lucky charm - CNN

Hanyu's adoring fan club have taken to tossing Winnie the Pooh bears at their hero after he began carrying a tissue box in the shape of the much loved A.A. Milne character back in 2010.