A 68-year-old Brooklyn woman died after a crew of burglars raided her apartment early Friday and bludgeoned her and her roommate with a hammer, police said.

The victim, identified by police sources as Brenda Ramos, was inside the apartment on Kings Highway near E. 94th St. in Canarsie with her 40-year-old roommate Joseph Alexander when two men and a woman burst in around 3 a.m. The intruders attacked them both with the silver hammer and searched the place for valuables. “Oh my God, that’s horrible,” said stunned neighbor Karen Jackson, 52. “There has to be really something wrong with a person to attack someone with a hammer like that, to see the life go out of them.”(nydailynews.com)…[+]

President-elect Donald Trump again took to Twitter to complain about reports that Russia hackers helped swing the election his favor, this time suggesting that the cyberattack was justified because it dug up dirt on his rival.

“Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?” he tweeted around 6 a.m. Friday. U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself played a role in the plot, in which hackers broke into Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign databases, stole embarrassing emails and leaked them to whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

BRIDGETOWN – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a grant that will assist the Government of Grenada in its efforts to improve the efficiency of the country’s water and sewerage network. The Government is proposing to expand the St. George’s Water Supply System and make improvements to the sewerage system in St. George’s.

A feasibility study will be undertaken to inform how these improvements may best be facilitated. This study will update a sewerage project draft design report; prepare detailed designs for the upgrade of the Carenage/Lagoon Road Wastewater Collection System; examine the most feasible option for the expansion of the Southern St. George’s Water Supply; and formulate designs for the recommended solution.

“CDB is pleased to support this study, through resources allocated from the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF). The technical assistance provided has the potential to deliver a climate-resilient solution that will improve Grenada’s water and sewerage network, while maximising economic and social benefits for its residents,” said Andrew Dupigny, Head, Infrastructure Partnerships, CDB.

In addition to the technical assistance grant provided by CDB—utilising resources allocated from UKCIF—Grenada’s National Water and Sewerage Authority will contribute to the project. The total estimated cost of the technical assistance is £834,300.(CDB)…[+]

A 29-year-old man died after a motorist struck three people changing a flat tire on the side of an interstate in the Bronx early Thursday, authorities said.

The 52-year-old driver was traveling northbound on I-95 when he crashed into three men standing on the left shoulder of the three-lane thruway near Bartow Ave. in Baychester around 2 a.m., according to cops. Two of the victims suffered non-life threatening injuries and were taken to Jacobi Hospital, police said. The third victim was pronounced dead at the scene.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

WASHINGTON — In an unexpected reversal, President Barack Obama declined to sign a renewal of sanctions against Iran but let it become law anyway, in an apparent bid to alleviate Tehran’s concerns that the U.S. is backsliding on the nuclear deal.

Although the White House had said that Obama was expected to sign the 10-year-renewal, the midnight deadline came and went Thursday with no approval from the President. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama had decided to let it become law without his signature.

“The administration has, and continues to use, all of the necessary authorities to waive the relevant sanctions” lifted as part of the nuclear deal, Earnest said in a statement.

Under the Constitution, the president has 10 days after Congress passes a bill to sign it, veto it or let it become law with no signature if Congress is still in session. Although lawmakers have returned home for the holidays, Congress technically has not adjourned and is holding “pro-forma” sessions this week.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

How about we just tag the people sharing the latest, nasty body-shaming meme. You may have seen the “tag someone” memes float past your Facebook timeline, resulting in laughs, ridicule and revulsion toward the person in the image.

The memes feature images of overweight men and women, or people with disabilities, and a name. “I’m looking for (name), can you tag him?” There are several pages dedicated to curating different versions of the meme. Lizzie Velásquez was one of the faces going around in the trend.Velásquez, 27, who is 5 feet 2 inches and weighs about 60 pounds, was born with a rare congenital disease called neonatal progeroid syndrome that prevents her from accumulating body fat, no matter how much she eats. Velásquez took to Instagram to voice her disappointment with the trend.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

MARENGO, Ill. — An Illinois man who was one of the better-known atheists in the country and an activist for keeping religious and government affairs separate died in a plane crash last week, officials said Monday.

The McHenry County coroner said an autopsy Monday revealed that Robert I. Sherman, 63, of Poplar Grove, died from multiple crash injuries. Authorities said Sherman was piloting a small plane that crashed into a cornfield either Friday night or Saturday morning. The crash is under investigation. Sherman was an outspoken atheist and critic of using state money for religious purposes and having religious displays in public spaces. He also hosted a radio show and ran for public office several times.

“He was a proud fighter for religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He was a great activist and a great person,” David Silverman, president of American Atheists Inc., said in an email to the Chicago Tribune. “I’ve flown with him in that very plane when he gave me a tour of Chicago. He loved that plane and loved flying it.”(nydailynews.com)…[+]

An 11-year-old girl told police a green taxi driver molested her after she ran away from her Queens home, cop sources said Monday.

The girl, who lives in Ridgewood, slipped out of her house at about 1 a.m. Sunday to go to her cousin’s place in Astoria because she was distraught about being bullied in school, sources said. She got lost in the subway system, though, and headed to Manhattan before returning to Queens and getting out at the 61st St.-Woodside 7 train station.

She told cops a cabbie pulled up next to her near 30th St. and 30th Ave. in Astoria at about 4 a.m. and commanded her to get into the front seat, then fondled her chest, police sources said. The cabbie took her phone, cops said, but she grabbed it and got out of the cab when it stopped at a light on 31st Dr. near 12th St. She then called 911.

The girl also said she got the driver to let her go by convincing him to meet her later in the same spot, police sources said. The preteen gave police two possible license plates, and video shows her leaving a cab.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

At least 12 city EMS workers are expected to surrender to authorities early Tuesday — the first in a wave of disability fraud busts orchestrated by city and state law enforcement, the Daily News has learned. The initial dirty dozen were nabbed as part of a wide-ranging health insurance scam that focused on double-dipping EMS workers in the Fire Department, sources said.

More arrests are expected to follow and could include firefighters, sources told The News. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation are leading the probe. Authorities arranged for the implicated EMS workers to surrender themselves voluntarily on Tuesday morning.(nydailynews.com)…[+]

A jury convicted Cardell Hayes of manslaughter after a road rage melee that left former Saints star Will Smith dead and his wife wounded in New Orleans.

The verdict was read just before 11 p.m. Sunday. Saints head coach Sean Payton rushed to the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in Louisiana from Florida after his football team lost 19-11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Hayes, 29, pumped seven bullets into the 34-year-old Queens native during the April 9 attack. Smith was celebrating the French Quarter Festival with his wife, Racquel Smith, and two friends.(nydailynews.com)…[+]