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4,298,122 | 2017-01-02 05:03:07 | Breitbart | Trump-mania: California Consumer Confidence Hits 9-Year High | The Conference Board reports that consumers in the Golden State are more confident that they have been since 2007, before the Great Recession. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
As voters, Californians rejected Donald Trump. As consumers, they love him.
The Conference Board, which measures consumer confidence, reports that consumers in the Golden State are more confident that they have been since 2007, before the Great Recession.
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The Orange County Register notes:
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for California rose in December to its highest level since October 2007. This was the first month the continuous polling that tracks shoppers optimism in eight big states and across the nation had fully reflected Trump’s upset win in the November presidential election. Exit polling showed the economy’s future was a major decision-changing topic for presidential voters across the nation. In California, where presidential votes went heavily in favor of Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, confidence fell for two months in advance of the election, pushing the state’s optimism to a nine-month low in October. The index then rose in November and December in the largest two-month surge in nearly two years.
The Conference Board also reported a surge in consumer confidence nationwide:
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased considerably in November, posted another gain in December. The Index now stands at 113.7 (1985=100), up from 109.4 in November. … “Consumer Confidence improved further in December, due solely to increasing Expectations which hit a 13-year high (Dec. 2003, 107.4),” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The post-election surge in optimism for the economy, jobs and income prospects, as well as for stock prices which reached a 13-year high, was most pronounced among older consumers. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions, which declined, still suggests that economic growth continued through the final months of 2016. Looking ahead to 2017, consumers’ continued optimism will depend on whether or not their expectations are realized.”
It is unclear how much of the surge is directly due to Trump’s victory, as consumer confidence decreased in some states where Trump won, such as Pennsylvania and Michigan, though confidence levels in both states were still at historically high levels, the Register reports.
In addition, there may be independent reasons for Californians to feel confident. Rains, for example, may have encouraged Californians to believe the state’s five-year drought is ending.
Still, the state seems to be experiencing a “Trump bump,” along with the rest of the nation, as consumers anticipate an end to the onslaught of federal regulation and a more favorable climate for entrepreneurship, economic growth and job creation.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | Joel B. Pollak | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/01/02/california-consumers-love-trump-confidence-hits-9-year-high/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,321,808 | 2017-01-02 05:11:49 | Breitbart | President Obama Hits Twitter to Celebrate Legacy | President Obama Hits Twitter to Celebrate Legacy | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
President Barack Obama starts the new year by dusting off his Twitter account, sending off a series of messages about his accomplishments as president.
“As we look ahead to the future, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the remarkable progress that you made possible these past 8 years,” he wrote on his POTUS Twitter account that his staff set up in 2015.
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Obama proceeded to share some charts.
One showing the end of the financial crisis and the job gains that were made under his administration as well as a jump of people who signed up for health insurance under the individual mandate required by Obamacare. He also boasted that under his administration, the country’s dependence on foreign oil was cut by more than a half, thanks to his clean energy policies.
“[W]e acted on a global scale to save the one planet we’ve got,” he said, referring to his Paris Climate agreement.
Despite campaigning as a supporter of marriage being between one man and one woman, Obama took credit for “realizing marriage equality.”
Obama also celebrated his record of foreign policy.
“We brought home more of our troops & strengthened U.S. leadership—leading with diplomacy & partnering with nations to meet global problems,” he wrote, despite the ongoing conflicts with Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS.
The president has previewed a farewell speech in Chicago, in which he will look back on his legacy and his path forward as a citizen.
“It’s been the privilege of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote on Twitter. “I look forward to standing with you as a citizen. Happy New Year everybody.” | Charlie Spiering | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/obama-dusts-off-twitter-account-celebrate-legacy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
3,942,190 | 2017-01-02 05:12:09 | HuffPost | Dakota Pipeline Protesters Dangle From Rafters At Vikings' Game | Unfurled "Divest" banner was message for stadium sponsor, U.S. Bank. | Adam Bettcher via Getty Images A Dakota Pipeline protester hangs from the ceiling of the U.S. Bank Stadium during the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears game.
Spectators at a Minneapolis Vikings football game were treated to an unexpected aerial act when a pair of North Dakota pipeline protesters hung from the rafters to unfurl a banner reading: “Divest.”
The message was for U.S. Bank, sponsor of the Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium, which pipeline opponents accuse of being a key financial backer of the controversial project. The pair unfurled the banner in the second quarter and were busted when they touched back down to earth at the end of the game was over, reported the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The football action continued without interruption, even as the two protesters — one wearing a Brett Favre Vikings jersey — dangled from the rafters. The banner, which included the “USBank” logo and “#NoDAPL,” hung over the crowd for the rest of the game.
Fans, however, were cleared from eight rows of seats beneath the protesters as a precaution.
Adam Bettcher via Getty Images Protesters hang out.
As the protesters dangled in the air, organizers of the action sent a release to news outlets quoting one of the climbers as saying: “We are here in solidarity with water protectors from Standing Rock to urge U.S. Bank to divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline’s route violates treaty rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and poses a significant threat drinking water and the health of the Missouri River.”
The organizers contend that U.S. Bank has tens of millions of dollars in credit lines active with the pipeline’s parent company. There was no immediate response from U.S. Bank.
SMG, the operators of the stadium, issued a statement saying that the protesters had climbed over a guardrail to reach a roof truss leading to a catwalk beneath the roof. The Minneapolis Police Department identified the climbers as Karl Mayo, 32, and Sen Holiday, 26. They were charged with burglary and trespassing, and a third person was charged with obstructing the legal process, reported WCCO-TV. It’s not the first time pipeline protesters have targeted banks. Last month Minneapolis protesters blocked Wells Fargo Bank employees from going to work. On another occasion last month protesters briefly padlocked doors to a Wells Fargo branch in the city. Construction of the pipeline is currently on hold. In the wake of a widescale onsite protest by Native Americans and supporters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in early December denied a permit for the section of the pipeline planned for beneath the Missouri River in North Dakota. But pipeline protesters are worried about incoming President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he supports the pipeline — and owns stock in companies building the project. The $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline will run almost 1,200 miles from North Dakota’s oil-rich Bakken Formation to Illinois, moving as many as 470,000 gallons of crude oil a day. The Vikings won 38-10. | Mary Papenfuss;Trends Reporter;The Huffington Post | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dakota-pipeline-opponents-pull-aerial-protest-at-vikings-game_us_5869bc61e4b0d9a5945bea05?ir=Sports&utm_hp_ref=sports | LEFT |
4,273,784 | 2017-01-02 05:13:43 | USA Today | Grieving grandfather seeks Trump's ear on child abuse | Grieving N.Y. man certain president-elect and his family can help him fight child abuse. | Skip in Skip x Embed x Share In an effort to spark reform of child protective services nationwide, Irondequoit grandfather John Geer is trying to get a the attention of President-elect Donald Trump. Geer's granddaughter Brook Stagles died in November 2016 as a result of blunt force trauma, allegedly at the hands of her father's girlfriend. Brook's father Michael Stagles and his girlfriend Erica Bell have been criminally charged. Wochit-All
Brook Stagles, 3, was hospitalized late Nov. 13 and died the next morning. Her death has been ruled a homicide. (Photo: Provided)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — John Geer is a desperate man.
Reeling from grief after his 3-year-old granddaughter Brook Stagles died last month from injuries sustained in a beating that allegedly came at the hands of her father's girlfriend, Geer has found his mission: raising awareness of child abuse and the pressures faced by the often undermanned, overburdened agencies responsible for protecting the most vulnerable.
And he's trying to get the attention of a significantly higher power: President-elect Donald J. Trump.
To that end, Geer, a 46-year-old small business owner from Irondequoit, has sunk nearly $100,000 into buying billboards around the country that will deliver his message, "Don't let children die from child abuse … like Brook Stagles." The billboards have already gone live in Chicago, Cleveland and Allentown, Pa. More are coming Monday, in cities that include Philadelphia; Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Another will be erected that day in Henrietta.
He's also purchased the domain name trumpforchildren.com and set that up with a website that details his efforts.
John Geer of Irondequoit. After the death of his 3-year-old granddaughter in November, Geer is buying billboards around the country to raise awareness of child abuse. He hopes to catch the attention of President-elect Donald Trump. (Photo: Meaghan M. McDermott)
"I want the system fixed," said Geer. "And I have to make something happen. This needs to be in the national spotlight, that's why I want Trump to look at it. This is nationwide and we need real reform."
In the days since Brook died, Geer — whose daughter Ashley is Brook's mother — has busied himself reading news stories online about children who have died as a result of neglect or abuse. He's found it overwhelming.
"There are so many cases, so many of these scenarios and it's happening everywhere," he said. "It's mind-blowing and I was so blind to all of this before."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's most recent data, state and local child protective services across the country received an estimated 3.4 million referrals of children being abused or neglected in 2012. Of those, an estimated 686,000 children were victims of maltreatment, and 18% of those were victims of physical abuse. The agency estimates roughly 1,640 children in the United States died from maltreatment that same year.
Brook's father, Michael Stagles, and his girlfriend Erica Bell face criminal charges in connection with the girl's death. Bell has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, while Stagles has been charged with criminally negligent homicide. Trials for both have been scheduled to begin May 15.
Michael Stagles and Erica Bell (Photo: Provided)
Prosecutors have not given specifics about Brook's death, but Michael Stagles is accused of failing to get medical help for his injured daughter; while Bell is accused of acting with "depraved indifference to human life" and engaging in “conduct which created a grave risk of serious injury or death to Brook Stagles, a person less than 11 years old, and caused her death.” The conduct is alleged to have occurred between Nov. 9 and Nov. 12.
Brook died Nov. 14 after being hospitalized the night of Nov. 13. Her death was ruled a homicide four days later.
Geer said Brook's injuries were so severe that family members were asked at the hospital if the girl had been in a car accident, and Assistant District Attorney Sara Van Strydonck has said Brook was "bruised from head to toe."
Geer said his granddaughter died of sepsis caused by a ruptured intestine.
Turning to Trump
He said he and other family members contacted Monroe County's Child Protective Services in September to report that they believed Brook was being abused. Geer's daughter Ashley and Michael Stagles had ended their long relationship earlier in the summer, but continued to amicably share custody. It was after Stagles began dating Bell in late August or early September that family started to notice unexplained bruises and marks on the girl, Geer said.
He said the response from CPS was inadequate and too slow to save his granddaughter.
In a written statement, Department of Human Services Commissioner Corinda Crossdale has said, "As a community, our hearts are heavy at the loss of any child. Unfortunately, the Department of Human Services cannot discuss any case under investigation."
John Geer's billboard raising awareness of child abuse. (Photo: Provided)
A staunch Trump supporter, Geer is hopeful the president-elect will hear of his campaign.
"The whole family is big on helping kids," he said, noting the Eric Trump Foundation and its work raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. With Eric Trump deciding earlier this month to stop directly soliciting contributions for the charity, due to the possibility that donors could try to use him for access to his father, Geer said child abuse prevention and child protective services reform could become a new banner for the Trump family to carry.
In addition to the billboards, Geer is looking at buying advertising on the sides of buses that would run near Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C. He also has $150,000 he says he's willing to provide the president-elect to be used for any purpose if Trump would just give him 10 minutes of time on the phone.
"This is what I need to do, I need to get this to Trump," said Geer. "Once I know he knows what's happening, I'm going to have a million pounds lifted off of my shoulders."
Follow Meaghan M. McDermott on Twitter: @meagmc
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2hHPH3R | Meaghan M. Mcdermott;Rochester;N.Y.;Democrat;P.M. Est January | www.usatoday.com | http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/01/grandfather-seeks-trumps-attention-abuse/96069074/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories | CENTER |
4,632,046 | 2017-01-02 05:15:11 | Fox News | Man detained in Germany on suspicion of financing terror | Authorities say a man has been detained in western Germany on suspicion of financing terrorism. | Authorities say a man has been detained in western Germany on suspicion of financing terrorism.
Police and prosecutors in Saarland state, on the French border, wouldn't give details before a news conference planned later Monday.
They said that the 38-year-old man from Saarbruecken was detained on Saturday, news agency dpa reported. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/man-detained-in-germany-on-suspicion-financing-terror.html | RIGHT |
4,492,863 | 2017-01-02 05:15:47 | Fox News | Myanmar gov't admits video shows police beating villagers | Myanmar's government has vowed to take action against police officers shown beating villagers in a video that has circulated on the internet. | Myanmar's government has vowed to take action against police officers shown beating villagers in a video that has circulated on the internet.
Monday's front-page story in the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper about the Nov. 5 incident was a rare official acknowledgment of abuses taking place in the western state of Rakhine. The authorities have been conducting counterinsurgency operations there since an attack in October by unidentified armed men killed nine border guards.
Human rights groups accuse security forces of abuses against the Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine, including rape, killings and the burning of more than 1,000 homes.
Monday's story, which cited the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and police, did not say what punishment the police might face. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/myanmar-govt-admits-video-shows-police-beating-villagers.html | RIGHT |
39,013,575 | 2017-01-02 05:32:04 | The Guardian | Childcare shortage fears as demand for subsidised places to swell by 300,000 | Labor warns of ‘looming crisis’ as budget figures show the number of children accessing subsidised childcare is expected to grow to 2 million by 2020 | New parents may struggle to find childcare places over the next three years as the number of children accessing subsidised care swells by nearly 300,000.
Figures in the government’s midyear budget update, released in December, show the number of children accessing subsidised childcare is expected to grow by almost 300,000 by 2020, from 1.7 million in 2016-17 to 2 million in 2019-20.
Labor has warned the extra demand would require up to 1,600 new long daycare centres, or 2,300 new outside school hours care services, and said the Turnbull government’s proposed childcare changes would do nothing to boost the supply of places.
Labor's Kate Ellis urges radical overhaul of childcare system Read more
“Despite knowing about this looming crisis, Malcolm Turnbull has no plans to help families struggling with chronic waiting lists,” Kate Ellis, Labor’s spokeswoman on early childhood education warned.
Childcare workers are underpaid because we’re women. We are the working poor | Margaret Carey Read more
“If parents can’t get a childcare place, they can’t return to work,” she said on Monday. “It’s one thing to fund places but if the services don’t exist then that is of no assistance to any parent.”
But the education minister, Simon Birmingham, blasted Ellis’s characterisation of the expected growth in subsidised places as a looming crisis.
He said his reforms would encourage the private sector to build more childcare centres to cater for the influx.
“It’s absolutely correct that around 300,000 additional places are budgeted [and] forecast to be created, and that means new centres,” he said.
“I’m not going to predict how many new centres that will be, but we can be absolutely confident based on the fact there have been many new centres in the last two years ... that if we can get our childcare reforms through the parliament ... there will be new centres built in the future to fill those 300,000 spots.”
Ellis told the National Press Club in October that the government should consider abandoning the childcare subsidy system in favour of alternatives including universal childcare or the government directly purchasing places.
The government had no “levers of control” over the costs and availability of places, and there was no mechanism to cap parents’ out-of-pocket costs nor to make sure that places were available in areas of undersupply, she said.
She also questioned whether the $10bn the federal government contributed to childcare was well spent considering the industry made $1bn of profit.
But Birmingham said the rate of growth in childcare prices had decreased to about 5.2% in the year to September 2015, well below the 10-year September quarter average of 6.7%, and 7.4% during Labor’s last term in office.
He said his reforms would end the midyear cut-out of childcare assistance that plagued many families, while putting in place new measures to constrain fee growth.
“If the Labor party is seriously concerned about helping Australian families access affordable childcare then they would support our solutions in the parliament as soon as possible,” he said. | Gareth Hutchens | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/02/childcare-shortage-fears-as-demand-for-subsidised-places-to-swell-by-300000 | LEFT |
3,732,129 | 2017-01-02 05:33:08 | Reuters | MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf may have firm tone as more markets start year | Gulf stock markets may have aslightly firm tone on Monday as most reopen after New Yearholidays, although there is very little direction from globalmarkets or fresh corporate news within the region. | DUBAI, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets may have a slightly firm tone on Monday as most reopen after New Year holidays, although there is very little direction from global markets or fresh corporate news within the region.
Some foreign investors may remain absent as they haven't yet returned from the holidays. But many investors expect a stronger 2017 because of higher oil prices and governments' partial success in cutting their budget deficits.
A Reuters poll of 13 leading Middle Eastern fund managers, published on Thursday, found 62 percent expect to raise their allocations to regional equities in the next three months and none to reduce them - the most bullish view of equities since February 2014, before oil prices began to plunge.
A 0.4 percent gain by Saudi Arabia's index on Sunday may be taken as a modestly positive signal for the region in the new year. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia) | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-stocks-idUSL5N1ES02D | CENTER |
116,921,832 | 2017-01-02 05:33:34 | CNN | Twitter's top China executive leaves after 8 months | Kathy Chen, a managing director at Twitter, is exiting after spending just eight months on the job. | Twitter's top executive in China has flown the coop.
Kathy Chen, a managing director at the social media firm, is exiting after spending just eight months on the job.
Chen announced her departure on Twitter over the weekend, saying it was the "right time" to leave. She said she was taking "some time off to recharge, study about different cultures and then pursue more international business opportunities."
Chen was hired to pitch Twitter to advertisers and other businesses in China and Taiwan. Twitter's Asia-Pacific team in Singapore will now handle Chinese advertisers, Chen said.
7/12 Now that the Twitter APAC team is working directly with Chinese advertisers, this is the right time for me to leave the company. — Kathy Chen (@kathychen2016) December 31, 2016
Chen's exit is the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the ailing social media company, including longtime CTO Adam Messinger and COO Adam Bain.
Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) hyped Chen's hiring back in April. CEO Jack Dorsey announced the appointment in a tweet, and Chen introduced herself in a video posted to Twitter's then-newly created Greater China account, @TwitterGCN. That account last tweeted in October.
Twitter is freely accessible in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but the service is blocked by government censors in mainland China. Users there can access the site only by disguising their computer's location.
Related: Twitter has hired a China executive despite ban
At the time of her hiring, Chen's background as an engineer in the People's Liberation Army sparked concerns among activists. Many worried that the hiring signaled a shift in policy by the social media firm.
But Twitter defended Chen, saying in a statement that the opening of China's economy provided a chance for her to leave in 1994.
Chen's first tweets did little to assuage activists' fears. Shortly after she was hired, Chen tweeted a promise to work with state-run China Central Television "to tell great China story to the world!" | Sherisse Pham | money.cnn.com | http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/02/technology/twitter-china-kathy-chen-leaves/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fedition_asia+%28RSS%3A+CNNi+-+Asia%29 | UNDEFINED |
3,020,969 | 2017-01-02 05:37:12 | Reuters | RPT-State Bank of India cuts lending rate by 90 bps across maturities | State Bank of India, thecountry's biggest lender by assets, said on Sunday it had cutits lending rates by 90 basis points for maturities ranging fromovernight to three-year tenures, after experiencing a surge indeposits. | (Repeats to widen distribution without changes to text)
MUMBAI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender by assets, said on Sunday it had cut its lending rates by 90 basis points for maturities ranging from overnight to three-year tenures, after experiencing a surge in deposits.
After the move, its so-called overnight marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) fell to 7.75 percent from 8.65 percent, while three-year loan rates will now be 8.15 percent from 9.05 percent previously.
Lending rates were also cut across other maturities effective Sunday.
Banks have received an estimated 14.9 trillion rupees ($219.30 billion) in old 500, and 1,000 rupees notes from depositors since the government in Nov. 8 unexpectedly banned the banknotes in a bid to fight counterfeiting and bring unaccounted cash to the economy.
That had raised expectations banks would have room to cut lending rates, which is seen as vital to increase credit growth and spark a revival in private investments.
Although India's gross domestic product grew 7.3 percent in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace of growth among large economies, much of that has been led by consumer demand.
Lower lending rates will be welcome by the Reserve Bank of India, which has cut the policy rate by 175 bps since the start of 2015 but has felt banks were being too slow in cutting their lending rates.
The SBI move also comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday admonished banks to "keep the poor, the lower middle class, and the middle class at the focus of their activities," and to act with the "public interest" in mind.
Modi's comments were made in a special New Year's eve speech in which he defended his ban on higher value cash notes and announced a slew of incentives including channelling more credit to the poor and the middle class. ($1 = 67.9445 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Michael Perry) | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/state-bank-of-india-lending-rate-idUSL4N1ES0ZE | CENTER |
38,890,681 | 2017-01-02 05:42:00 | The Guardian | Donald Trump's Indonesian business partner considers running for president | Billionaire developer Hary Tanoe, who is building two Trump resorts, says he has ‘access’ to the US president-elect | Donald Trump’s Indonesian business partner, a billionaire developer and media mogul, has announced he might run for president in Indonesia’s 2019 elections.
“If there is no one I can believe who can fix the problems of the country, I may try to run for president,” Hary Tanoesoedibjo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“Not for myself, for the country,” he said, adding that the nation of about 260 million people needs “a leader with integrity who can bring a solution for the country”.
Trump spokesman on Russia: president-elect already getting 'wins' abroad Read more
Known locally as Hary Tanoe, the tycoon is building two Trump developments – a 100-hectare, six-star luxury resort on the coast of Bali and a resort outside Jakarta with a championship golf course designed by former world No 1 Ernie Els. The resort will have 300 villas and adjoin a theme park.
Both projects are due to be completed while Trump is in office.
Unlike Trump before his presidential run, the 50-year-old has already delved deeply into politics. Tanoe made a failed attempt in 2014 to get the nomination for vice-president and has since set up his own political party, United Indonesia, using Twitter and appearances on his TV stations as a platform.
His company, Global Mediacom, also known as MNC Group, saw stocks rise significantly when Trump won the election in November.
Tanoe said he has “access” to Trump although it was limited and most of his contact regarding the joint developments was with the president-elect’s adult children; Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka. “Each of them has different roles. Don Jr has responsibility for the overall project, Eric the design and golf, and Ivanka more of detail – the fit-out of the hotel,” he said.
Vast foreign business interests held by an incoming president have been flagged as a potential conflict of interests, especially if the ventures are linked to businesspeople with aspirations for power.
In Indonesia’s last election, Tanoe threw his support behind former general Prabowo Subianto, who went on to lose to Joko Widodo, meaning Trump’s biggest financial stake in Indonesia is run by a political adversary to the country’s leader.
And Tanoe has already arranged for two controversial Indonesian politicians to meet Trump. The first was Setya Novanto, the speaker of the House of Representatives who was at the centre of a $US4bn corruption scandal in Indonesia. He denies all allegations.
The second was Fadli Zon, the deputy speaker, who is close to Indonesian religious hardliners who have been pushing for Jakarta’s governor to be jailed for blasphemy.
Jakarta's violent identity crisis: behind the vilification of Chinese-Indonesians Read more
Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, is fighting a racially charged attempt to prevent him from winning a second term next month by Islamists who are against a Christian Indonesian of Chinese heritage being in power.
But Tanoe, also a Chinese Indonesia Christian, said the country was ready for a leader of any background. “The majority of the people are more realistic. They want to see a leader who can bring solutions,” he said.
He blamed the president, known as Jokowi, for not responding “quickly enough” to quell protests in that capital that saw roughly half-a-million people rally against Ahok on 2 December. “The issue is more with President Jokowi. He has to show his leadership is firm enough to make people calm down.” | Oliver Holmes | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/donald-trumps-indonesian-business-partner-considers-running-for-president | LEFT |
4,646,032 | 2017-01-02 05:45:13 | Fox News | Afghan official: Police officer killed in a bomb blast | An Afghan official says that at least one police officer has been killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Logar province. | An Afghan official says that at least one police officer has been killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Logar province.
Salim Saleh, spokesman for the provincial governor in Logar, said Monday that four other people including a district police commander and three road construction engineers were wounded in the blast.
Meanwhile at least six people were wounded in another explosion near the western city of Herat Sunday evening.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks in Logar and Herat provinces. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/afghan-official-police-officer-killed-in-bomb-blast.html | RIGHT |
79,080,530 | 2017-01-02 05:58:00 | Politico | Black pols plan Trump resistance | 'Our community is counting on us as the last line of defense between Donald Trump and the worst of what America could offer,' one African-American lawmaker says. | After eight years of the nation’s first African-American president, black lawmakers were in for an adjustment no matter who won the White House.
But members of the Congressional Black Caucus say they’re bracing for the worst in Donald Trump, fearing a presidency that could set minorities back decades.
Story Continued Below
Leaders of the group told POLITICO they have already begun discussing strategies to deal with Trump and any policies they believe would disenfranchise African-Americans — from public school funding to low-income housing to voting restrictions. Though the president-elect’s supporters call the alarm unwarranted, black lawmakers say Trump’s campaign and his Cabinet picks more than justify their concern.
“The stakes are incredibly high and our community is counting on us as the last line of defense between Donald Trump and the worst of what America could offer,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said.
“This is not the normal incoming president,” added Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “We had no plan for George Bush. I think Charlie Rangel and John Conyers would tell you they didn’t even have a plan for Richard Nixon. But this is not the norm.”
Incoming CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) is expected to outline his priorities for the new administration when he officially takes the reins of the caucus on Tuesday. Some members suggested challenging Trump on his home turf — Twitter — while others advocated nonviolent protests reminiscent of the civil rights movement.
Trump has tried at times to appeal to the African-American community. He talked about “a new deal for black America” on the campaign trail and predicted his plans to revive the economy would pay big dividends for minorities.
But Trump also often showed a deep misunderstanding of the socioeconomic makeup of black America and at times touted wildly inaccurate claims about African-American poverty and employment levels. His appeal to black voters for their support — “What the hell do you have to lose?” he said at one August rally in Michigan — was offensive to many.
Trump proposed blanket policies targeting ethnic and minority groups, like banning Muslims and building a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants. And he was at the forefront of the “birther movement," which CBC members viewed as a racially motivated attempt to delegitimize the nation's first African-American president.
"The campaign that we saw over the last 12 months is very frightening. And there’s been no effort on his part to even temper his comments since being elected,” said outgoing CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.). "It’s going to be very contentious, I suspect, if Mr. Trump even follows through on half of his promises during the campaign."
Still, Trump's African-American supporters, such as South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, say it's too early to judge what he'll do as president.
“What I say to folks is, 'Let’s give Mr. Trump a chance. Let's gauge progress in his administration by what he does,” Scott said on "Face the Nation" earlier this month. “My hope is that what we’ll do over time is we’ll see that progress has not been stymied under a Trump administration, but we’ll see that it has prospered.”
Robert Johnson, the billionaire businessman who founded Black Entertainment Television and backed Hillary Clinton, has also preached the same open-minded message.
“I think the Congressional Black Caucus members and African-American voters in general should see this as an opportunity to engage President-elect Trump and his administration,” Johnson, who has spoken positively about Trump since meeting with him after the election, said in an interview.
“Being afraid and fearful is an emotion. It’s not a strategy to increase black political gains, economic gains and social gains,” he added.
Johnson said the CBC and black voters should use their leverage as a voting bloc to work with Trump instead of always toeing the Democratic line and being taken for granted by party leaders.
“Whether you’ve got a Harvard degree or a high school degree, [African-Americans] vote one way — Democrat, Democrat, Democrat,” Johnson said. “We are voting as if one party is our permanent friend and the other party is our permanent enemy.”
But more than a half-dozen CBC members interviewed for this story expressed serious unease, especially with some of Trump’s Cabinet choices.
“We speak for vulnerable people, we speak for the disenfranchised — and we take that seriously,” Richmond said. “And those appointments seem to be tone-deaf to sensitivity and to, I think, just common sense.”
Among the figures chosen to join Trump's inner circle whom lawmakers called unsettling are Jeff Sessions, the Alabama senator and prospective attorney general who was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 over allegations of racism; and Steve Bannon, Trump’s senior adviser who until joining the campaign led Breitbart, the far-right website that appeals to white nationalists. (Bannon does not require Senate confirmation.)
“The appointments should concern not just minorities but all Americans,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). “When you look at Sessions, I mean he doesn’t have the most stellar reputation for civil rights and voting rights. It’s rough.”
Since his nomination, Sessions and his allies have worked to revamp his reputation into that of a longtime civil rights champion.
It’s not just Sessions and Bannon who present concerns for black lawmakers. Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department, is a school-choice advocate who has championed voucher programs, which Obama and other Democrats argue siphon money away from public schools.
And Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and 2016 presidential candidate, has been tapped to lead the Housing and Urban Development Department, an area with which he has little, if any, pertinent experience.
“Ben Carson, DeVos, the education nominee, those just don’t fly in the face of good governing,” Richmond said. “And to the extent that they’re going to be there, we’re going to fight.”
Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
CBC members wouldn’t rule out working with Trump on potential areas of common ground. A big infrastructure package is one possibility. But lawmakers say those policy agreements are likely to be few and far between.
Civil rights leaders also are monitoring Trump’s Cabinet picks closely.
National Urban League President Marc Morial and leaders of several other prominent civil rights groups sent a public message to Trump shortly after the election, calling on him to “abandon the divisive rhetoric and policy proposals of his campaign.”
Trump has done little to allay those worries, Morial said.
“I think the concern is that he has a cozy relationship with racist and white supremacist elements,” Morial said, adding the apprehension extends beyond Cabinet selections to Trump's imminent Supreme Court nominee and other judicial appointments. “No one should downplay the sense of concern, the sense of fear," he added.
Still, with Republicans controlling the Senate and Cabinet nominees requiring a simple majority for approval, there’s little Democrats can do to stop Trump from filling his agencies with whomever he wants. That means his Democratic critics will have to devise other ways to push back when they disagree with his actions.
“We’ve dealt with loud, bombastic people our entire life. Ask our seniors and elders who went through the segregation in the civil rights movement,” Richmond said. “We’ll just go back to that fight and remember tactics from those days. But the one thing that will be clear is we’re going to have to be unified and we’re going to have to be focused and very strategic.” | Heather Caygle;Burgess Everett;Jeremy Herb;Connor O Brien;Louis Nelson;Ben Schreckinger | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/african-american-lawmakers-trump-resistance-233040 | UNDEFINED |
79,082,848 | 2017-01-02 05:59:00 | Politico | New GOP Congress confronts a crushing to-do list | Repealing Obamacare, confirming Donald Trump's Cabinet and killing Obama regulations will dominate an action-packed January. | Contentious confirmation fights, a GOP assault on Obamacare — and, more than likely, hints of Republican infighting to come.
Welcome to the new Congress.
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Lawmakers convene in Washington on Tuesday for the 115th Congress, kicking into high gear as they prepare for the incoming Trump administration and lay the groundwork to pass major GOP priorities.
Since Republicans will control all the levers of power in Washington for the first time in almost a decade, they’ll hit the ground running on some issues: Both chambers, for example, hope to pass a budget blueprint that makes a critical down payment on repealing Obamacare even before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
But it won’t take long for the inherent divide between Senate and House Republicans to rear its head. The House wants to pass a number of bills to scrap Obama-era rules and curb executive branch regulatory powers. But those will be a much heavier lift in the upper chamber.
Here’s a look at what Hill Republicans will try to accomplish the first month of the 115th Congress — and their likelihood of success.
Obamacare repeal
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed that the chamber’s first vote of the year will be to scrap President Barack Obama’s health care law. The Kentucky Republican is making good on that promise this week by bringing to the floor a budget that would unlock a fast-track process enabling Republicans to jam repeal through Congress along party lines.
After the Senate acts, the House will follow suit, as soon as the second week back from the holiday recess. And Republicans hope to clear the budget before Trump’s inauguration.
Technically, the bill won’t include an official repeal. Rather, the fast-track process, known as reconciliation, contains instructions for committees to write repeal bills. Republicans want to pass repeal legislation in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, but there could be disagreements about which elements of Obamacare they want to demolish and how to achieve their goals.
The resulting sprint could feel more like a marathon as Democrats lay plans for a messaging offensive against Trump and the GOP, charging them with depriving millions of Americans of health care with no clear plan for what comes next.
Snags: Internal GOP disagreements over the substance of the repeal bill are likely. Democratic resistance, most significantly in the Senate, is guaranteed.
Outlook: Almost assured. Timing hiccups may crop up, but it’s a matter of when — not if — a repeal bill passes.
Confirmations
The Senate is heading toward a partisan showdown over Trump’s Cabinet. Incoming Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned McConnell against scheduling simultaneous confirmation hearings. And Democrats are already turning Rex Tillerson, tapped for secretary of state, into a test case for a broader push to vet the tax returns of Trump’s multi-billionaire cast of advisers.
But the ExxonMobil CEO won’t be the only Trump nominee subject to intense scrutiny by Democrats, who are in no mood to treat the president-elect with the same deference on nominations that Republicans showed Obama in 2009.
"I don’t know how they’re going to put all this together, but the American people have a right to know who’s running these agencies and what their goals are, whether they’re working for the taxpayers or working for their own interest," Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the incoming No. 3 Democratic leader, said in a brief interview.
Thanks to a rules change pushed through by Democrats in 2013, Trump’s non-Supreme Court nominees will need only a simple majority to be confirmed. Given Republicans’ 52-vote majority, that means they can lose as many as two votes even if Democrats succeed in keeping their moderates in the fold on opposing nominees seen as particularly egregious.
The GOP is already prepared to force Democrats’ hand if they try to delay confirmations.
"While Democrats may want to create a new, unprecedented standard for Senate consideration of nominees, they will not be successful,” one Senate Republican aide said. "If they attempt these extraordinary, dilatory tactics, the Senate will confront it with votes potentially at all hours. It’s really up to them."
Snags: The Senate clock.
Outlook: Confirmation of Trump’s entire Cabinet slate is almost assured, barring unexpectedly damning information uncovered during hearings.
Regulatory rollbacks
House Republicans’ schedule for January has a theme: "restoring" and "reclaiming" congressional authority under Article 1 of the Constitution, which they say Obama has whittled away over the past eight years. Now it's the Hill GOP's turn to seek revenge on the outgoing president for, as they see it, ignoring Congress while making policy through regulations.
This week, House Republicans plan to pass the "REINS Act," a measure they’ve been trying to enact for the better part of a decade. It would require congressional approval of any executive-branch regulation that costs more than $100 million. They also intend to approve a so-called "midnight rules" bill that would allow Republicans to repeal a host of Obama-era regulations in clusters using the Congressional Review Act.
That law lets Congress axe any regulations that have been approved in the prior 60 legislative days with a simple majority in both chambers. Republicans are already making lists of which Obama regulations they want to repeal, from a Labor Department overtime rule to Interior Department restrictions on the coal industry.
But each challenge takes a separate debate and vote, forcing the GOP to make tough choices about which Obama rules to target. The "midnight rules" bill would ease that hurdle.
The House is expected to once again pass a law overturning the Supreme Court precedent known as "Chevron deference," which requires courts to accept an agency’s interpretation of ambiguous laws.
Snags: The Senate, where eight Democratic votes are likely needed to approve the "REINS" and "midnight rules" bills. And while the GOP needs only a simple Senate majority to dismantle some of Obama’s newer regulations, his older rules won’t be eligible for the fast-track tool.
Outlook: One or more Obama rules are likely to be killed using the Congressional Review Act. But expect many of the House’s hopes and dreams for Article 1 to die in the Senate.
UN Rebuke
One of the first pieces of legislation expected to clear the new Congress is a resolution disapproving of the U.N. Security Council’s recent action condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the Palestinian territories — a direct rebuke of Obama's failure to veto the U.N. measure during his final days in office.
That resolution, which will be approved by the House this week or next and head to the Senate thereafter, would give Trump a symbolic early victory on foreign policy.
Snags: Few.
Outlook: Likely.
Ryan’s reeelection as speaker
Conservatives once plotted his demise and Trump supporters even toyed with taking him out over his lack of support of the president-elect. But now Trump says he wants to work with Ryan, even comparing him to a “fine wine” during a December rally in Wisconsin.
Conservatives are hardly in the mood to tick off the incoming president, so they’ve dropped their knives and will give Ryan another term as speaker.
Snags: None. Some staunch conservatives may vote against Ryan, but he’ll get the votes to keep the gavel.
Outlook: Consider it done.
New House rules
For the first time in the nation’s history, House GOP leaders want to delegate the chamber’s punishment authority to a nonpartisan officer of the House — a contentious move that’s currently scheduled for a Tuesday vote. The new rule — a GOP response to the Democrats’ 25-hour gun control sit-in last June — would allow the sergeant-at-arms to fine lawmakers $2,500 for livestreaming or taking pictures of the House floor.
Snags: Democrats are up in arms, and former House lawyers say the proposal raise constitutional issues since the full House typically must vote to sanction lawmakers.
Outlook: Iffy, in its current form.
Burgess Everett contributed to this report. | Rachael Bade;Elana Schor;Nancy Scola;Kenneth P. Vogel;Ben Schreckinger | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/a-new-gop-congress-confronts-a-crushing-to-do-list-233058 | UNDEFINED |
79,068,614 | 2017-01-02 06:00:00 | Politico | Jeb Bush’s consolation prize | There may be a silver lining for Jeb Bush — the elevation of his longtime friend, patron and political ally, Betsy DeVos, as education secretary. | There may be a silver lining to the 2016 presidential election for Jeb Bush — the elevation of his longtime friend, patron and political ally, Betsy DeVos, as education secretary.
If DeVos is confirmed by the Senate as most expect, Bush could see his views on education — repeatedly ridiculed on the campaign trail by Donald Trump — given new life as she turns their shared vision into national policy.
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For years, the former Florida governor and DeVos worked side-by-side to push “school choice” policies that steer taxpayer funding to charter and private schools — and which critics blame for undermining traditional public schools. They served together on the board of Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, to which DeVos and her husband gave large contributions. The DeVoses also contributed to Bush’s presidential campaign.
One of Trump’s biggest education promises — a proposed $20 billion block grant promoting charter and private schools — was developed with input from DeVos’ D.C.-based advocacy group, the American Federation for Children. Not surprisingly, it aligns closely with Bush’s education philosophy.
Now, the programs the two crafted together in Florida and other states are likely to serve as models for federal policymaking — indeed, they have already influenced Trump’s statements on the campaign trail.
Little wonder that Bush was effusive about DeVos’ selection last month by the man who had derided him all year as “low energy.”
“I cannot think of a more effective and passionate change agent to press for a new education vision, one in which students, rather than adults and bureaucracies, become the priority in our nation’s classrooms,” Bush said.
The ties between Bush and DeVos are seen not just through their ideas and state legislative crusades but also through their shared reliance on the same network of policy staffers and experts — some of whom are likely to assume key Education Department posts.
A member of Bush’s inner circle, Josh Venable, who has worked as national director for advocacy and legislation at his foundation, is helping DeVos prepare for her confirmation hearing, sources told POLITICO.
Bush’s former deputy commissioner of education in Florida, Hanna Skandera, is also being considered for a top position beneath DeVos, sources told POLITICO. Skandera is a core member of the advocacy group Chiefs for Change, created by Bush in 2008 to highlight leaders of the so-called education reform movement.
Those ties have already proved politically ticklish for DeVos. Bush’s critics on the right who revile him for his support of the Common Core academic standards are also suspicious of her — despite her recent insistence that she does not support the standards. Trump had vowed on the campaign trail to get rid of Common Core.
“Will Betsy DeVos Be ‘Jeb’s Revenge?'” wrote the conservative group American Principles Project, zeroing in on Common Core last month.
“Everything in her history would indicate that she pretty much lines up with him on education issues,” said APP senior fellow Jane Robbins.
DeVos has sought to distance herself from Bush on that issue, at least. “Many of you are asking about Common Core,” she tweeted soon after her selection. “To clarify, I am not a supporter — period. Read my full stance, here: http://betsydevos.com/qa.”
Matt Archbold, a columnist for the Cardinal Newman Society, a group that promotes Catholic education, recently wrote, “As Catholics, we welcome all converts. Let’s hope DeVos’ conversion away from Common Core is genuine.”
Critics of the “school choice” movement on the left are as dubious of DeVos as they are of Bush.
“I’m sure he’s gushing over Betsy because, if she’s confirmed, it would give these policies a national stage,” said Joanne McCall, a Bush critic and president of the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union.
Private school choice programs, such as vouchers, are legal in only about half of states, and seven states still prohibit charter schools. But as Education secretary, DeVos would likely prod more states to get on board, perhaps dangling millions of dollars in federal grants as an incentive.
DeVos isn’t granting interviews ahead of her confirmation hearing, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team said. Bush could not be reached for comment, and his foundation’s CEO declined an interview request.
The policies that Bush and DeVos fought for in their home states will likely guide DeVos if she takes the helm of the Education Department.
Bush co-founded Florida’s first charter school in 1996. In 1999, during Bush's first year as governor, Florida became the first state to launch a statewide voucher program. In the years since, Bush has vigorously pushed for the expansion of charter schools and vouchers in states across the country.
DeVos and her husband, meanwhile, have given millions in campaign donations to lawmakers in their home state of Michigan who support school choice — while funding primary challengers against those lawmakers who don’t. The couple also pushed for a statewide voucher ballot initiative, but voters overwhelmingly rejected it in 2000, despite the DeVos family spending more than $5 million on a pro-voucher campaign.
Bush’s education foundation has sought to export the “Florida formula” to other parts of the country — encouraging states to adopt vouchers, expand charter schools and implement education savings accounts, which allow parents to use taxpayer dollars for a full menu of options, including private schools, online courses, textbooks and tutoring. The foundation has also lobbied states to adopt Florida-style education policies like assigning A-to-F letter grades to schools or ramping up students’ use of technology in the classroom.
DeVos and Bush have supported each other through their foundations. One of DeVos’ philanthropic organizations, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, donated $25,000 to Bush’s foundation in 2014, and $50,000 in 2015. DeVos herself stepped down from the board of Bush’s foundation only after she was named Trump’s pick.
She has also been listed as treasurer for Excellence in Education National Inc., Bush’s 501(c)(4) that has lobbied to dramatically increase school choice options for children across the country. Financial filings for 2013 and 2014 show she wasn’t compensated and worked an average of one hour per week.
Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education is based in Florida — a state where DeVos’ school choice lobbying has been particularly active. She has cited Florida’s tax credit scholarship program as one of her biggest successes, helping tens of thousands of at-risk students attend the school of their choice.
The program functions similar to a traditional private school voucher, but it is less vulnerable to legal challenges because its funding comes from money that is redirected from corporate taxes — before they are collected — toward the scholarships. When companies choose the tax credit, these dollars bypass the state and go directly to vouchers — making it harder for opponents to argue that “public” money is going to private schools. The state budget, though, still takes a hit.
Florida’s scholarship program boasts more than 97,000 students, according to the nonprofit Step Up for Students, which administers it. The scholarships, for low and middle-income students, are worth nearly $6,000. Nearly 70 percent of students are black or Hispanic and more than 1,700 private schools participate in the program.
The Florida Education Association and other groups sued the state in 2014 over the program, which was created by Bush in 2001. The union argues that — despite the corporate tax workaround — it still violates the separation of church and state because the scholarships allow children to attend private religious school on the public’s dime, among other issues.
“Public schools are supposed to be the cornerstone of our democracy,” said McCall, the union’s president. “If we’re going to give kids a voucher to an unregulated private school, then how do we know they’re getting a good education?”
DeVos, through the American Federation for Children, paid for a $1 million rally earlier this year that called on the union to drop the lawsuit. The Florida Education Association has so far been losing in court, but is appealing the suit to the state Supreme Court.
DeVos also worked with Bush on legislation to make Florida the second state in the country, following Arizona, to pass an education savings account program in 2014 called the Gardiner Scholarship Program.
DeVos gave the nonprofit Step Up for Students, which also administers that program, $100,000 to launch it.
“Step Up For Students had to raise $1 million privately to get the program off the ground, so it was a significant donation,” said John Kirtley, the founder of Step Up For Students. Kirtley is vice chairman of DeVos’ American Federation for Children. DeVos stepped down as chair last month when Trump selected her for his Cabinet.
Former Republican state Rep. Erik Fresen of Miami, who helped spearhead the legislation to create the education savings account program, said DeVos was “intimately involved” in spreading a positive message about it.
“I didn’t really have to spend my political time or capital on messaging the issue because she helped,” he said.
Kirtley said DeVos is redefining the idea of public education.
“Today public education means district magnets, charters, virtual schooling, dual enrollment with colleges, and even scholarships to private schools,” he said.
“I know Gov. Bush shares Betsy's belief in this new definition of public education,” Kirtley said. | Caitlin Emma;Kenneth P. Vogel;Seung Min Kim;Burgess Everett;Nancy Scola;Ben Schreckinger | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/jeb-bushs-consolation-prize-233097 | UNDEFINED |
38,953,284 | 2017-01-02 06:00:17 | The Guardian | It is now May’s task to tell Trump the truth about Putin | The PM has talked tough on Russian aggression. Convincing Washington will be a greater challenge | The American eagle swoops a little closer to the growling Russian bear. Tensions mount between Washington and Moscow. Russian diplomats are expelled by the US president.
Trump questions claims of Russian hacking: 'I know things others don't' Read more
Is this a second cold war? No: it is the first hotdesk war. Its soldiers can work anywhere, on laptops, in internet cafes, or in the heart of the Russian intelligence establishment. Their weapons are bytes, not bullets. Their mushroom cloud is digital chaos.
This is Theresa May’s first full-blooded geopolitical challenge (Brexit was part of her inheritance). To date, Barack Obama has responded to Russia’s cyber-attacks during the US presidential election with a range of sanctions; Vladimir Putin has declined, for transparently tactical reasons, to retaliate; and Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to praise the Russian president’s decision as “very smart!” (Isn’t there something especially pleading about that exclamation mark?)
The prime minister must now decide how to position herself in this spaghetti western standoff between the Good, the Mad and the Fugly. She could do nothing, of course. But that would be a craven lapse into paralysis, given the manner in which she has handled Putin in recent months. In October she accused Russian forces of “sickening atrocities” in Aleppo, and undertook to send 800 troops to Estonia, one of four Nato battalions dispatched to deter Russian aggression.
In November, the prime minister declared that the west needed to “keep up the pressure on Russia” over its conduct in Syria. Meanwhile, she authorised the transfer to Estonia of high-precision long-range missiles to be deployed alongside drones, tanks and RAF jets. I doubt that May ever believed Putin could be driven out of Syria. But the buildup of forces in the Baltics is an unambiguous warning to him not to push his luck.
She knows too that conventional warfare is but the half of it. As Andrew Parker, director-general of MI5, said in his Guardian interview last year, Russia “is using its whole range of state organs and powers to push its foreign policy abroad in increasingly aggressive ways – involving propaganda, espionage, subversion and cyber-attacks. Russia is at work across Europe and in the UK today.”
In this context, May can hardly now pick up the pom-poms and join Trump on the cheerleading mat. And just to remove any doubt, her allies are categorical that there will be no strategic shift in response to a single tweet by the president-elect. As a starter, she indicated over the weekend that Russian oligarchs with links to Putin would no longer be welcome at Tory fundraising events – hardly a dagger in Moscow’s flesh, but a clear enough indication that she has no intention of following Trump down the road of appeasement.
Still, he is going to be president in less than three weeks. It is central to the prime minister’s vision of Britain’s place in a post-Brexit world that the “special relationship” should survive and prosper, especially in the form of a new bilateral trade deal. Her allies were delighted that Trump raised the precedent of Ronald Reagan’s bond with Margaret Thatcher in his first phone call with May.
To be fair, they are realistic: nobody knows how the 45th president will respond to the counsel and promptings of his foreign counterparts. But Team May is determined at least to try. Aside from the prime minister’s forthcoming visit to Washington, there are plans for senior No 10 staff to make a separate trip to meet their opposite numbers in the new White House.
The specific conundrum May faces is that the standoff between Russia and the US is (apparently) about to yield place to a love-in. The greater threat in the era of Trump and Putin is not conflict but convergence – and not a convergence of peace, but a new struggle on many fronts, within and between nations, in which Russia and the US are on the same side.
Already, one can see the lineaments of that struggle: internationalists versus nativists; autocracy versus liberalism; traditionalism versus pluralism. It is fast rendering obsolete the old matrix of left-right, and east versus west. Trump and Putin are very different politicians. One is a tycoon and television star; the other a pitiless product of the KGB. But in this newly ordered world they are potential allies – of the worst sort.
May’s priority must be to dash any hopes the president-elect may have that Britain will be a wholly compliant Airstrip One
How chilling are the resonances with Nineteen Eighty-Four – and particularly the passages from “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” read by Winston Smith. This text describes a world in which great geopolitical blocs are “not divided by any genuine ideological difference”, in which “the fighting, when there is any, takes place on the vague frontiers whose whereabouts the average man can only guess at”, and in which the “cultural integrity” of each bloc is its true priority. From this fictional warning, it is not such a great leap to Trump’s Oceania and Putin’s Eurasia.
To persist with the metaphor, May’s priority must be to dash any hopes the president-elect may have that Britain will be a wholly compliant Airstrip One. In this respect, she faces a more nuanced diplomatic challenge than confronted, say, Thatcher or Tony Blair. Reagan and his “dear friend, Margaret” agreed on practically everything. Blair and George W Bush were from different sides of the political divide, but discovered common ground after 9/11.
It is self-evident that Trump and the prime minister do not enjoy any such identity of conviction. Yes, they are conservatives who share a core belief in the primacy of the nation-state. But on Nato, protectionism, climate change, Islam and much else, they differ fundamentally. May’s mission is to find common ground without selling out. It is a task of spectacular complexity.
On Russia, however, she cannot budge an inch. Her task as the only G8 leader in Europe not facing an election in the next 18 months is to confront Trump with the ineluctable facts about Putin: that he is an inveterate regional aggressor, a globally active enemy of democracy, and a mostly unchecked threat to the stability of the west. That his campaign of cyberwarfare alone mandates those nations he has targeted to enact further sanctions – and not only the symbolic kind.
Somebody needs to tell the president-elect that his political crush on Putin, as well as dividing his own party and country, and splitting the west, will send the worst possible signal to an autocrat just waiting for the green light. As the Iron Lady once said: this is no time to go wobbly. | Matthew D'Ancona | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/02/may-trump-truth-putin-russian-aggression | LEFT |
5,039,297 | 2017-01-02 06:01:23 | CNN | Turkey attack: Victims from 14 different countries | The massacre of New Year's revelers at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul reverberated around the world, with victims hailing from Turkey and 13 other countries. | Istanbul (CNN) A Turkish security guard who was among the first to die in Sunday's attack on an upscale Istanbul nightclub had narrowly escaped a double bombing in the city just three weeks earlier.
Fatih Cakmak was on duty at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul when an attacker opened fire on New Year's revelers, leaving at least 39 people dead and scores injured.
Cakmak had considered himself lucky after surviving the attack on December 10 outside Istanbul's Vodafone Arena, where he was working security for a football match.
His father, Hassan Cakmak, said he is stunned that he survived his son, who was 32 years old.
The gut wrenching sound of deep sorrow as a family is forced to say goodbye to their security guard son in the #istanbulnightclub attack. pic.twitter.com/qFdyHZ3LrZ
"It was just a regular day. He lived at home. He went to work and now he's gone," Hassan Cakmak told CNN at his son's funeral in Istanbul's Bagcilar neighborhood on Monday.
Favori Vip, a security company that employed Cakmak, shared a post on Facebook mourning Cakmak's death on Sunday. Ilyas Tas, owner of Favori Vip, posted two photos of Cakmak on his Facebook page, writing that he "felt broken." Tas, who described Cakmak as a "very valuable friend," confirmed to CNN that Cakmak had been working at the Vodafone Arena at the time of twin blasts in early December.
JUST WATCHED Manhunt underway for Istanbul suspect Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Manhunt underway for Istanbul suspect 02:16
ISIS claimed responsibility Monday for the New Year's attack as Turkish authorities continued their search for the gunman. The terror group made the claim in a statement posted to Twitter and cannot be independently verified by CNN.
At least 27 victims of Sunday's attack were foreign nationals who hailed from 14 countries, according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu.
People from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Canada were among the 39 dead, Anadolu reported.
Young policeman among the dead
A police officer and a waiter were among the dead, said Ali Seker, a parliament member in Istanbul, according to Anadolu.
At least 11 were Turkish nationals, Anadolu reported. Burhanettin Kocamaz, mayor of Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, confirmed the identity of Turkish police officer Burak Yildiz. The 22-year-old was the youngest of three children and his brother is an officer in Istanbul, Anadolu reported. Many left condolences on his Instagram page.
Burak Yildiz, a 22-year-old police officer, was killed in the attack on an Istanbul nightlclub
Another victim, a Belgian man, had dual Belgian-Turkish citizenship, according to Anadolu. Belgium's foreign ministry spokesman Didier Vanderhasselt confirmed Kerim Akyil's dual citizenship. Akyil, 23, lived east of Belgium.
Kerim Akyil, a 23-year-old with dual Belgian-Turkish citizenship who died in the Istanbul nightclub attack.
A Palestinian citizen of Israel was killed
Several countries -- Kuwait, Canada, Syria and Israel -- each lost one citizen in the attack, Anadolu reported.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that one victim was a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the town of Tira. The victim was identified as Leanne Nasser, 19, according to ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon.
Leanne Nasser, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the town of Tira, was killed in the attacks.
One Russian national was also killed in the attack, Anadolu said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "Our common duty is to respond decisively to the terrorist aggression," according to a statement released by the Kremlin.
Putin also offered condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Anadolu reported seven victims were Saudi Arabians who traveled to Istanbul to attend New Year's festivities.
Female entrepreneur among seven Saudis killed
Lubna Ghaznawi was one of seven Saudis -- four women and three men -- killed in the attack, according to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Ghaznawi was on holiday in Istanbul. The industrious 34-year-old worked full-time as a communications manager for one of Saudi Arabia's largest banks and also co-owned a start-up with her sister called Exclusave Card, the first student discount card in Saudi Arabia.
"Lubna loved life. She loved traveling and loved everything that was beautiful," Ghaznawi's childhood friend Doha al-Shali told CNN over the phone. "She was my soul mate. I went to her with all my secrets, all my troubles and she was there for me. She was supportive, positive and wise."
Another friend of hers, Seham al-Shahrani, described the Saudi entrepreneur as a "torch of energy."
"She was an optimist and loved going to new places ...laughter and happiness filled whatever place she went to," al-Shahrani told CNN.
Victims from India: Film producer, designer
Two victims from India were among the dead, according to the Twitter account of Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. She identified the two as Kushi Shah and Abis Rizvi.
Rizvi, a film producer, was the director and CEO of Rizvi Group of companies, according to the website of the company, which is involved in the real estate, education and entertainment businesses.
"We are extremely heart broken and devastated to announce the sudden demise of Abis Rizvi. May his soul rest in peace," the film company Rizvi worked for posted on Facebook.
Khushi Shah, a young Indian fashion designer based in Mumbai, was in Istanbul for work. Shah had started her own label -- KhushiZ.
Shah's older brother, Akshay Shah, and her cousin, Hiren Chawra, were on their way to Istanbul to identify and repatriate her body, Shah's cousin Priyanka Shah told CNN.
Indian fashion designer Khushi Shah, who was in Istanbul for work, was killed in the attack.
Lebanon and Iraq each lost three citizens, Anadolu reported. The family of Lebanese national Rita Chami announced her death, her brother Haitham Chami told the National News Agency.
Lebanese national, Rita Chami was killed in the attacks, her brother Haitham Chami told the National News Agency.
The Lebanese General Consul in Istanbul also confirmed the deaths of Elias Wardini and a third victim, the National News Agency reported.
Lebanese national Elias Wardini was killed in the attack at an Istanbul nightclub.
Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan each lost two victims, Anadolu reported. Tunisia's Foreign Ministry reported the deaths in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
In a statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife offered their condolences to all the victims.
"We mourn with the people of Turkey today and with all countries who lost citizens in this vicious attack," he said. "We also grieve the senseless loss of a Canadian citizen and remain steadfast in our determination to work with allies and partners to fight terrorism and hold perpetrators to account."
The nationality of one of the slain has yet to be determined, Anadolu reported.
Prayers from Pope Francis
Pope Francis condemned the attack during his Angelus address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.
"I pray for the many victims and the injured and for the whole nation in mourning, and I ask the Lord to support all people of good will who courageously roll up their sleeves to face the plague of terrorism and the bloody stain that envelops the world with a shadow of fear and bewilderment," the Pope said in a statement. | Darran Simon;Mayra Cuevas;Sara Sidner | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/europe/turkey-nightclub-attack-victims/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fedition_world+%28RSS%3A+CNNi+-+World%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,784,373 | 2017-01-02 06:01:23 | CNN | Turkey nightclub attack: Victims from 14 different countries | The massacre of New Year's revelers at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul reverberated around the world, with victims hailing from Turkey and 13 other countries. | (CNN) The massacre of New Year's revelers at a nightclub in Istanbul reverberated around the world, with victims hailing from not only Turkey, but 13 other countries.
People from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Canada were among the 39 dead, according to state news agency Anadolu . At least 27 were foreign nationals, the agency reported.
A manhunt continues for the attacker, who authorities said entered the Reina nightclub early Sunday and opened fire, killing at least 39 people. Nearly 70 other people were hospitalized after the attack.
Turkish authorities quickly claimed the attack was the work of terrorists. No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting so far.
Young policeman among the dead
A police officer, a waiter and a private security employee were among the dead, said Ali Seker, a parliament member in Istanbul, according to Anadolu.
@ahmetsahin1940 seversin kardeşim sen 😂 A photo posted by Burak Yıldız (@burakkkyldz) on Dec 20, 2016 at 12:30am PST
At least 11 were Turkish nationals, Anadolu reported. Burhanettin Kocamaz, Mayor of Mersin Metropolitan Municipality confirmed the identity of Turkish police officer Burak Yildiz. The 22-year-old was the youngest of three children and his brother is an officer in Istanbul, Anadolu reported. Many left condolences on his Instagram page.
Burak Yildiz, a 22-year-old police officer, was killed in the attack on an Istanbul nightlclub
Another victim, a Belgian man, had dual Belgian-Turkish citizenship, according to Anadolu. Belgium's foreign ministry spokesman Didier Vanderhasselt confirmed Kerim Akyil's dual citizenship. Akyil, 23, lived east of Belgium.
Kerim Akyil, a 23-year-old with dual Belgian-Turkish citizenship who died in the Istanbul nightclub attack.
A Palestinian citizen of Israel was killed
Several countries -- Kuwait, Canada, Syria and Israel -- each lost one citizen in the attack, Anadolu reported.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that one victim was a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the town of Tira. The victim was identified as Leanne Nasser, 19, according to ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon.
Leanne Nasser, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the town of Tira, was killed in the attacks.
One Russian national was also killed in the attack, Anadolu said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "Our common duty is to respond decisively to the terrorist aggression," according to a statement released by the Kremlin.
Putin also offered condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Anadolu reported seven victims were Saudi Arabians who traveled to Istanbul to attend New Year's festivities.
Victim from India was a film producer
Two victims from India were among the dead, according to the Twitter account of Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. She identified the two as Kushi Shah and Abis Rizvi.
Rizvi, a film producer, was the director and CEO of Rizvi Group of companies, according to the website of the company, which is involved in the real estate, education and entertainment businesses.
"We are extremely heart broken and devastated to announce the sudden demise of Abis Rizvi. May his soul rest in peace," the film company Rizvi worked for posted on Facebook.
The victims are Mr.Abis Rizvi son of former Rajya Sabha MP and Ms.Khushi Shah from Gujarat. /2 — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) January 1, 2017
Lebanon and Iraq each lost three citizens, Anadolu reported. The family of Lebanese national Rita Chami announced her death, her brother Haitham Chami told the National News Agency.
Lebanese national, Rita Chami was killed in the attacks, her brother Haitham Chami told the National News Agency.
The Lebanese General Consul in Istanbul also confirmed the deaths of Elias Wardini and a third victim, the National News Agency reported.
Lebanese national Elias Wardini was killed in the attack at an Istanbul nightclub.
Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan each lost two victims, Anadolu reported. Tunisia's Foreign Ministry reported the deaths in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
In a statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife offered their condolences to all the victims.
"We mourn with the people of Turkey today and with all countries who lost citizens in this vicious attack," he said. "We also grieve the senseless loss of a Canadian citizen and remain steadfast in our determination to work with allies and partners to fight terrorism and hold perpetrators to account."
The nationality of one of the slain has yet to be determined, Anadolu reported.
Prayers from Pope Francis
Pope Francis condemned the attack during his Angelus address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.
"I pray for the many victims and the injured and for the whole nation in mourning, and I ask the Lord to support all people of good will who courageously roll up their sleeves to face the plague of terrorism and the bloody stain that envelops the world with a shadow of fear and bewilderment," the Pope said in a statement. | Darran Simon;Mayra Cuevas | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/europe/turkey-nightclub-attack-victims/index.html | UNDEFINED |
4,725,213 | 2017-01-02 06:01:50 | CNN | The new face of Mother Emanuel | The young pastor stood in a house filled with mourners ready to minister. His parishioner had been strangled, her body dumped. | Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) The young pastor stood in a house filled with mourners ready to minister. His parishioner had been strangled, her body dumped.
The Rev. Eric S.C. Manning prayed with the victim's devastated mother, reciting from Psalms, one of his favorite books in the Bible: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." Days later, Manning led the funeral for the young woman
It was his first eulogy for a murder victim.
"Standing there delivering the eulogy was hard but God brought me through that," he said, recalling that emotional moment 14 years ago.
Over the years, Manning has dealt with tragedy and death, including in his own family.
And the prayers and comfort he knows how to give to people who have lost a loved one in a sudden, savage way prepared him for what is one of the toughest recent pastor assignments in America: being the spiritual leader of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine members, including the church's beloved pastor, during a Bible study in June 2015.
The Rev. Eric S.C. Manning of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church prays with Anthony and Jatterah Wright as they baptize their 1-year-old son Kaiden Tysean Isaiah last month.
"God, through every aspect, every juncture of my life, was preparing me for this time," said Manning, 49, who was handpicked to shepherd a traumatized congregation that he admits he's still figuring out how to lead. "No one's ever seen this before."
Gifts and graces for the situation
Manning is a dignified man who often wears one of the 30 to 40 bow ties he owns. He wore his clergy robe when he sat in a Charleston courtroom last month providing what he called "a ministry of presence." Armed with his Bible, he listened as family members of victims and survivors gave graphic, emotional testimony during Roof's federal trial. Sometimes, Manning placed his hand on a shoulder or gave a hug.
"He has all of the gifts and graces that a situation like that could call for," said the Rev. Wendell Christopher Sr., who knows Manning and once led the Maryland church where the parishioner was strangled in 2002. "They couldn't have appointed a better man, a better pastor than Rev. Manning."
A jury swiftly convicted Roof on all counts. On Tuesday, the jury will decide his sentence. Some family members of victims appear torn over whether Roof should be sentenced to death.
JUST WATCHED Roof victim's brother calls for death penalty Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Roof victim's brother calls for death penalty 04:12
Manning, who is against the death penalty, said the trial drained him. But he plans to be back in court, Bible in tow, on Tuesday for phase two.
JUST WATCHED Chilling moments from Dylann Roof's trial Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Chilling moments from Dylann Roof's trial 01:20
Summoned to a traumatized church
Roof targeted the historically black church, often called Mother Emanuel, on June 17, 2015, because he wanted to start a race war, he told the FBI. He showed up at the Bible study, where the group welcomed him and handed him a sheet of verses. He sat with the victims for about 15 minutes and then, when they stood for prayers, pulled out a Glock .45-caliber pistol and fired 70 rounds at them.
Last June, a few days after the anniversary of the massacre, Manning was working in his office at Bethel AME in Georgetown, South Carolina, when his phone rang. It was Bishop Richard Franklin Norris, leader of the 7th Episcopal District that includes the scores of AME churches in South Carolina.
JUST WATCHED Charleston church massacre: A timeline Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Charleston church massacre: A timeline 08:28
"I need you to go to Mother Emanuel," Manning recalled Norris saying.
Manning took a step back and sat in a chair. Humbled by the request, he called his wife.
"I told him to follow his heart," Andretta Manning, 47, said.
In June 2016, Manning became Emanuel's new leader, replacing a pastor who had been reassigned after six months at the church following the Roof shootings.
'God will continue to guide me'
Word soon spread across South Carolina that Manning was Emanuel's new pastor. Mark Ross, a professor of theology at Erskine Theological Seminary's Columbia, South Carolina, campus where Manning had earned his master of divinity degree in 2011, sent his former prized pupil an email offering prayers.
"He's one of those students in your class that you're expecting great things will come of him," Ross recalled.
In the email exchange that Ross shared with CNN, Manning thanked his former professor for "being such a great inspiration" and wrote that, in retrospect, he could see "that the Lord was preparing me for such an awesome task (I never thought that it would be something such as this)."
"God will continue to guide me," he wrote.
Manning had led four AME churches in South Carolina over a dozen years before his appointment to Emanuel. At each church, he learned the names of his parishioners so he could address them personally when he prayed for them.
"My husband is the type of person that, wherever he's assigned, that's where his heart is, with the people," his wife said.
Manning bids farewell to the members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after a Sunday service last month.
At Emanuel, Manning said he reached out to the families of the victims and the survivors to get to know them. "We talked, we cried. ... We laughed," he said.
Clifford Jones, a lifelong Emanuel member whose cousin, Ethel Lance, 70, died in the shooting, said he has been impressed with Manning's devotion to the families and survivors who have suffered.
"We had those trials the last couple of weeks and he was there every day for the families," said Jones, 56, a disabled Army veteran living in North Charleston, South Carolina. "That just shows he's dedicated and he's passionate, and he cares."
Finding his call
Manning's path to ministry started to form early, though he didn't realize it at the time.
Manning recalled that a career placement questionnaire he filled out while in high school in the Philadelphia suburbs listed his possible career paths as the military, law and religion.
The military came first.
Manning spent six years in active duty in the Army in his late teens and early 20s, rising to the rank of sergeant. He laid eyes on his future wife when they were both stationed in South Korea. Andretta Manning came from a military family of eight siblings.
The couple married six months later, on January 25, 1991.
The Mannings later moved to Florence, South Carolina, where Manning's mother had relocated. She soon left her church but Manning stayed, and he set out on his path to the ministry. His initial sermon in 1995 touched on walking in the spirit and not the flesh. He was ordained two years later.
"Looking back at it, I responded in the due season that God would have me respond," Manning said.
Manning sits in his office at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after a service last month.
Prepared for 'difficult times'
By the late 1990s, the Mannings were parents of two young children. He moved the family to Maryland for a job in information technology, a career that was helping pay the bills while he also served as a pastor. The family later joined Mt. Moriah AME Church in Annapolis, where he became the associate pastor.
Manning would deal with several difficult deaths in his family.
In one instance, his father-in-law had beaten cancer in his lungs, but the disease then attacked his brain. Manning drove his wife back and forth on trips from Maryland to Rhode Island to care for her father. He ministered to her and her siblings, and eulogized his father-in-law at his funeral.
Manning's wife said the experience "prepared him for the difficult times ... having to be there for people that are close to you."
Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Thousands of people march on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday, June 21. People crossed the bridge, which spans the Cooper River, from Mount Pleasant to Charleston, joining hands in a unity chain to mourn the Emanuel AME Church shooting. Police arrested Dylann Storm Roof in the slayings of nine people at a prayer meeting at the church. Hide Caption 1 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Protesters stand on the South Carolina State House steps during a rally to take down the Confederate flag, on Saturday, June 20, in Columbia. Hide Caption 2 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Louise Brown walks down King Street during a "Black Lives Matter" march on June 20 in Charleston, South Carolina. Hide Caption 3 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting The men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity lead a prayer outside Emanuel AME Church, Friday, June 19. Hide Caption 4 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Young people grieve outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 19. Hide Caption 5 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Parishioners applaud during a memorial service on Thursday, June 18, at Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Hide Caption 6 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Olina Ortega, left, and Austin Gibbs light candles at a sidewalk memorial in front of Emanuel AME Church on June 18. Hide Caption 7 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting The Rev. Jeannie Smalls becomes emotional during a prayer vigil held at Morris Brown AME Church on June 18. Hide Caption 8 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting A woman places flowers outside the church on June 18. Hide Caption 9 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Mourners gather for a community prayer service at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston on June 18. Hide Caption 10 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Walter Jackson, the son of Susie Jackson who died in the church shooting, recalls stories about his mother with his niece Cynthia Taylor at Jackson's home in Charleston on June 18. Hide Caption 11 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting The Rev. Al Sharpton wipes away a tear after praying outside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 18. Hide Caption 12 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting People sit on the steps of Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston while services are held June 18. Hide Caption 13 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting A woman wipes her eyes at a makeshift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 18. Hide Caption 14 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting The Rev. Keith McDaniel, pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, is surrounded by others in prayer on June 18 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Hide Caption 15 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Tyler Francis, right, hugs Shondrey Dear after praying together June 18 at a makeshift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church. Hide Caption 16 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting A group of women prays together at a makeshift memorial on the sidewalk in front of the Emanuel AME Church on June 18. Hide Caption 17 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pauses while speaking in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, June 18, on the church shooting in Charleston. Hide Caption 18 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Members of the U.S. Congress gather in front of the Capitol Building in Washington on June 18, during a moment of silence for the nine killed in a church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Hide Caption 19 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting South Carolina state Sen. Vincent Sheheen gets emotional on June 18 as he sits next to the draped desk of Sen. Clementa Pinckney at the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. Pinckney was one of the nine people killed in the church shooting. Hide Caption 20 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Charleston resident Noah Nicolaisen kneels at a makeshift memorial down the street from the church on June 18. Hide Caption 21 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Kim Hamby prays with her daughter Kayla as they lay flowers at a makeshift memorial in Charleston on June 18. Hide Caption 22 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting A man leans against a light pole as he visits a memorial in Charleston on June 18. Hide Caption 23 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Chaplain James St. John leads senators in prayer June 18 at the statehouse in Columbia. Hide Caption 24 of 25 Photos: Reactions to Charleston church shooting Sandra Bridges lays a card at a memorial on June 18. Hide Caption 25 of 25
His readiness to deal with a violent death was tested in September 2002 when his parishioner was violently killed.
"It was a murder; it was something I'd never dealt with. I never thought we would have to deal with," he said of the death of Paula Edwards, the parishioner. "But we did."
Forgiveness brings peace
Edwards, 34, was a mother of three girls and a school bus driver. Police found her body on September 7, 2002, said her mother, Betty J. Edwards, 79, a retired teacher.
She recalled that Manning visited the family the next day after church service. He told her, "God will give you the strength that you need."
Edwards, of Severna Park, Maryland, said Manning: "just consoled me in what he said."
Paula Edwards' oldest daughter, Monica Alexander, also remembers Manning's consoling advice. "You're not going to forget but when you are ready in your life, you'll have to find some type of forgiveness so that you can have peace," Alexander, 29, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, recalled him saying.
Her father was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing her mother.
'I am here to serve you'
In the days leading up to his arrival at Emanuel, Manning prayed and fasted. He declined interviews, he said, because he wanted the congregation to learn about its new pastor in person, not through media reports.
He hoped to show parishioners he believed he was "a pastor after God's own heart," he said. He settled on scriptures from Psalms for his first sermon, including the familiar "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
He told his congregation "he didn't know how to lead them," he recalled, but he would lean on God's guidance.
After the sermon, he said one member told him, "We're going to take care of you while you're here." He responded: "No, I am here to serve you."
The choir watches as Manning preaches during a Sunday service last month.
Bearing a heavy load
Emanuel now draws a steady stream of visitors who know what happened there. Some come to worship, some come out of macabre curiosity.
"If they come to be a spectator, who knows, they might leave a worshiper," Manning said. "If they come ... out of curiosity, they may leave having a deeper understanding of God's love and grace."
Manning believes that grace was visible as he and the families of the victims endured the trial last month. In one of the most chilling moments of the roughly weeklong proceeding, they watched a police video of Roof laughing after confessing to the shootings.
JUST WATCHED Survivor spared from church shooting massacre Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Survivor spared from church shooting massacre 00:53
Like everyone, Manning felt the heavy weight of the trial. One night he asked his wife, "How much more do you think I can handle?"
He knows the congregation's healing continues -- and that they will heal together.
In his sermons, he often refers to the congregation as one: "We are Mother Emanuel."
"We are a body of believers who have gone through a tragedy; the world has watched us," he said. "We will continue to have resilience. ... We will continue to believe that God is still in the midst." | Darran Simon | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/us/emanuel-african-methodist-episcopal-church-pastor/index.html | UNDEFINED |
79,078,317 | 2017-01-02 06:04:00 | Politico | This Is What It’s Like to Read Fake News For Two Weeks | I lived Michael Flynn Jr.'s media diet so you wouldn’t have to. | A few weeks ago, perplexed by the persistence of fake news, I attempted to think like someone I wasn’t. On December 13, I created a dummy Twitter account. More of a clone, actually. I chose to emulate Michael Flynn Jr., the 33-year-old son of President-elect Trump’s choice to be national security adviser. Flynn Jr. was also one of the most prominent believers in the invented “Pizzagate” scandal that had prompted an armed man to fire shots inside a D.C. pizzeria in hopes of breaking up a child sex ring that didn’t exist. My working theory was that you can learn a lot about a fake news adherent from the company he keeps—especially on social media, where it’s possible to create bespoke echo chambers.
In the days after the election, fake news—the vast majority of which demonized Hillary Clinton or manufactured good press for her opponent—had become the fixation of the mainstream media. Watchdogs published lists of websites to disbelieve. Facebook pledged to vet bogus information; gullible readers would be educated by cigarette pack-style warnings. And yet there was no perceptible decrease in the quantity of fact-free fare being peddled by enterprising young internet trolls, from California to the Balkan states—“Trump Offering Free One-Way Tickets to Africa & Mexico for Those Who Wanna Leave America"; “Van Full Of Illegals Shows Up To Vote Clinton At SIX Polling Places, Still Think Voter Fraud Is A Myth?”) Unlike the #pizzagate gunman, whose parents suggested that psychological trauma from a car accident might have contributed to his confused thinking, a number of people who should have known better clung to the most sensational of made-up stories. People like Michael Flynn, Jr. I was aware that the president-elect was susceptible to the occasional National Enquirer cover story (remember Ted Cruz’s dad and the JFK assassination?), but to understand what produces strenuous conviction in such absurdities, I knew I’d need to do more than take a stroll through the checkout line.
Story Continued Below
So I became @HighCastlePhil. I decided I’d take Flynn Jr.’s tailored feed (944 accounts; a couple of dozen users with private accounts declined my request) and wear it myself for a while. I picked my Twitter handle in honor of Philip K. Dick, who wrote the ultimate alt-reality novel “The Man in the High Castle,” about a world in which the Nazis won the war. I didn’t tweet but watched and tried to imagine what was going through the mind of the man who sees the world through faux-tinted glasses. I noted that when Flynn Jr. opened his account several years ago, he evinced a conventionally conservative outlook, following Rush Limbaugh and the Heritage Foundation. He enjoyed the sports talk personality Colin Cowherd and wasn’t above checking out what @WhiteHouse had to say. Over time, though, he began collecting users who associated themselves almost exclusively with Donald Trump, alt-right white nationalism, or both. Many of them had similar handles: “Deplorable Aaron,” “Deplorable Vet,” “Johnny Deplorable.” As a diagnostic system it wasn’t perfect; I couldn’t replicate a dummy Facebook account, where the most mendacious garbage tends to mushroom. Still, Flynn Jr. used the medium regularly, and followed enough people to yield a good sample size for my experiment.
I began lingering on Phil Dick’s Twitter feed and kept at it over the course of a couple weeks. At the same time I scaled back on the information I gathered from mainstream outlets or my own social media feeds. If there is such a thing as a parallel information universe I had at least one foot planted firmly in it. One thing I learned is that a lot of people have low tolerance for serious articles published in respectable publications. So I thought it best to present my findings in the form of a clickbait listicle. Without further ado, the five craziest things you’ll learn when all you read is fake news.
Pizzagate Isn’t Dead
The John Podesta-is-running-a-child-sex-trafficking-organization-out-of-a pizzeria conspiracy theory ricocheted from 4chan to reddit to fake news sites then back to social media throughout October and November. But only after real bullets were fired at the pizzeria on December 3 did mainstream news outlets begin thoroughly debunking the story. Michael Flynn Jr. wasn’t having it. “Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it'll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many "coincidences" tied to it,” he tweeted. Within a few days, Flynn Jr. was formally relieved of his duties on the Trump transition, and most of us in the pro journalism orbit moved on. But in the world of bizarro news, tens of thousands of pizzagate truthers were just warming up, convinced that our lack of interest was proof of a cover-up.
Over the course of a couple days after I set up my feed, alt-right standard-bearer Mike Cernovich (183,000 followers, of which Flynn Jr. and @HighCastlePhil were two) went on a tweetstorm positing that liberal organ Salon was wrapped up in a “money-laundering mechanism for pedophiles.” Cernovich posted screenshots of several recent (non-fake) confessional-style articlespublished on the site with titles like “I’m a Pedophile But Not a Monster.” Cernovich was trawling for evidence that liberal media pizzagate deniers were sympathetic toward child abusers. He was in turn widely derided by journalists, which, he said, only proved his point. “Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, and Upworthy already attacking (weak) me for this investigation. This means we are on point. Investigate Salon.”
Eager to learn more, I read a piece by a blogger named Aaron Kesel that Cernovich had been retweeting. Published on www.wearechange.org, it was titled “‘Virtuous Pedophiles’– Mike Cernovich Reveals Salon’s Dirty Secret.” Now Keseltoo started connecting dots between the Salon articles and Pizzagate, begging his readers to “FOCUS ON THE REAL EVIDENCE,” like “declassified FBI pedophile symbols.” “Then tell me how places like Comet Ping Pong Pizza were not possible pedophile meeting places or places to network given their symbols for pedophiles?”
Kesel also linked to some YouTube footage about old pedophilia scandals, which is how I eventually stumbled upon a former TheStreet.com writer named David Seaman who has refashioned himself into a Pizzagate authority. A December 6 video homed in on CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who had urged Flynn Jr. to knock it off via direct Twitter message. Seaman said his hackles were raised by Tapper’s interest in quashing the story, combined with the presence of his name in certain of the leaked John Podesta emails, plus an interview Tapper’s wife had given in which she identified Comet Pizza & Ping-Pong as one of her favorite restaurants to take the children. “Do you have something you want to tell us here, Jake?” Seaman asked, on camera. At last count, the video had racked up more than 239,000 views. No way to know if Flynn Jr. watched the video, but for @highcastlephil, the path to Seaman’s videos was marked like an airplane runway at night.
Aleppo Is Free
As the sex-fixated of the alt-rightists continued to research the link between the Pizzagate politicians and their MSM abettors, a different clique of foreign policy mavens focused on terrorism.
First, a piece of alarming news began circulating on my feed. “Final Battle Brewing As Confirmed Terrorist Training Camps Within U.S. Protected, Arming for Jan 20,” read a tweet on December 13from @bfraser747. I followed the link, which took me to an article by the same name on www.endingthefed.com, which itself pilfered the piece from www.conservativedailypost.com, and featured a map of 20 putative ISIS training grounds in the United States, mostly clustered around D.C. and the coasts. The sites have been called out by several prominent fake news policepeople, including Buzzfeed’s Craig Silverman and Merrimack College’s Melissa Zimdars. Given the lack of any cited evidence in the post, this seems justified.
Later that day, something curious seemed to be taking place in Syria. @GeorgiaTeaParty, tweeting under the name “Deplorable Muslim,” and since suspended from Twitter, retweeted a tweet celebrating the “liberation of Aleppo from ‘US-backed’ terrorists.’” @_Makada_ joined in a little later. “Fake news media won’t report on massive celebrations due to Russia & Syria kicking ISIS out of #Aleppo! MSMS is supporting Al Qaeda & ISIS!” This didn’t sound anything like what the real/fake outlets like the New York Times were reporting. Earlier on I’d made the mistake of breaking character and listened to a snippet of public radio. According to what I heard from New York Times Beirut Bureau Chief Anne Barnard, appearing the next day on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” the mood in Aleppo, following Assad’s seizure, was far from jubilant.
I scanned my feed to determine who was right. Cernovich was mostly doing Pizzagate coverage but also recommended I return to www.wearechange.org, where a contributor named @LukeWeAreChange was narrating developments in Syria. Luke was filming himself at his desk, where he addressed the dichotomy head on. “With Assad having victory, the west and the mainstream media are freaking out in full hysteria,” he told his viewers. “A lot of biased information meant to emotionally manipulate you.” He pulls up a headline from the Times that reads “’Complete Meltdown of Humanity’: Civilians Die in Fight for Eastern Aleppo.” Then he pulls up a video of people massed in a dark area, shouting and appearing to celebrate. It comes from the Twitter feed of Lizzie Phelan, a reporter for RT, the Russian state-run, U.S. cable channel. Luke says, “You’re not getting this side of the story by the American mainstream media.”
There is in fact something to this last point. Much of the news coverage I encountered out of Aleppo emphasized the humanitarian crisis that Assad’s conquest seemed to portend for his enemies. But few lingered on the fact that much of the city’s citizenry wasn’t thrilled to be living under rebel rule, either. The problem with the feeds Flynn Jr. is accessing is that they swung wildly in the other direction, by trying to embarrass the western media and turn Assad into a good guy; by regurgitating the Vladimir Putin party line.
Pro-Kremlin sentiment, intentional or not, was all over my feed. Part of that seemed connected to the likely Russian hack of emails that weakened the Clinton campaign and were published on Wikileaks, an organization that seems to have the trust of the alt-right. Anti-ISIS sentiment was baked in, and many Tweeters were just parroting the nation’s most prominent Russophile, Donald J Trump. In any event, Russian propaganda intersected with Trumpian propaganda to such an extent that I observed no skepticism of Putin or RT, his English-language mouthpiece. At one point user @neverRINOs retweeted an image of Bashar Al-Assad on RT, saying, “Western media has no credibility, morality.” Above it, he wrote, “FACT CHECK: TRUE.” As Cernovich tweeted, “Putin is a larger than life alpha male who loves his country and will fight to defend it. Why don’t you admire him? Brainwashing.”
Fake News Is Real News and Real News Is Fake News
Just as they appropriated the insult “deplorable” as a way to proudly self-identify, many of my new Twitter acquaintances used the “fake news” label to attack journalism they disagreed with. For the most part this manifested in Trump supporters jeering “fake news CNN” on Twitter. But some took it further. One website that intersected frequently with @highcastlephil’s interests was www.truthstreammedia.com, run by a young couple named Aaron and Melissa who specialized in paranoid YouTube videos.
In one November 29 video, Melissa argued that the attempt to police misinformation on the Internet was in fact a plot to silence dissenters. “The fake news psy-op,” as she called it, exhibited a “classic Hegelian problem-reaction solution.” Melissa explained. The black screen filled with block letters that read HEGELIAN DIALECTIC
Agenda
Shut down alt media
Thesis
Faking “fake news” to cause public outcry
Antithesis
Online big brother censorship
Synthesis
Removal of free speech on the web
Set aside her grossly simplistic distillation of a concept that isn’t even technically Hegelian. Melissa’s general point is worth unpacking: Big business and big government were conspiring to silence alternative voices such as hers. “What a bait-and-switch,” she said. By late December, the convenient conflation of fake and real news was gaining left-wing exponents too. A week into the experiment, I came across a tweet from @DrJillStein: “#Fakenews is the liberal elites’ latest propaganda-and-smear campaign. Take in all information with a healthy skepticism. #WednesdayWisdom.
Hillary Clinton Murdered (At Least) Five People in 2016
At that point in the recent political news cycle when the media was most focused on Russian involvement in the John Podesta and Democratic National Committee email hacks, two responses tended to pop up in my feed. The first was to post memes and jokes blaming everything on the Russians. The second was to raise questions about an alleged scandal far graver than a little email hack.
“If liberals were really so interested in the truth, they’d investigate the unsolved murder of Seth Rich,” @HuxleyHill wrote on the morning of December 14.
Rich was the young DNC staffer who was shot and killed in Washington, D.C. this summer after an apparent mugging attempt. I took @HuxleyHill’s advice and began poking around. Soon I discovered a pervasive theory that Rich was the source of the DNC leaks and was gunned down by Clinton’s lackeys in retribution.
Once again, Aaron and Melissa of TruthStreamMedia.com had a video on the topic. “Assange has hinted strongly that it could have been a DNC staffer that leaked the WikiLeaks stuff,” intoned Aaron. “It’s possible that was Seth Rich.” (Both used to work in some capacity for InfoWars, the platform of infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.) They went on to tick off the mysterious deaths of four more people, most notably former Clinton Foundation CEO Eric Braverman—another rumored leaker—about whom bogus media stalwarts such as www.pmnightlynews.com and www.morningnewsusa.com had been reporting—without evidence—that he was dead or missing. “They’re dropping dead,” Aaron said. As of this writing, the video has over 1.1 million views.
Sometimes Real News Is Stranger than Fake News
For the most part, the folks in Phil Dick’s twitter feed are not that interested in policy. While much of the “corporate media” was scrutinizing Donald Trump’s cartoonishly rich and well-connected cabinet appointees, Johnny Deplorable and the rest were posting racist memes about Michelle Obama. (And this was before Trump ally Carl Paladino posited that she should move to Africa and play with gorillas.) Mainstream commentators suggested Trump’s working-class supporters would feel betrayed by their candidate’s sudden lurch towards plutocracy. But judging by my sample size, the news from the #swamp wasn’t even coming across their computer screens.
All that said, real news did occasionally find its way into the feed. But it lived or died based on its partisan potential. Two non-invented stories in particular were shared widely. First came a Detroit News report that more ballots had been counted in some parts of the city than there were voters. (In one precinct, it was 0.16 percent more votes, not quite enough to sway the election.) Second, more recently, was the news that a professor at Drexel University had sent out a possibly satirical tweet that seemed to endorse “white genocide.” On the other hand, reports of Russian interference in the presidential election were denied or mocked as irrelevant. When former Illinois Republican Congressman Joe Walsh sent a tweet expressing concern over the hacks, one of the users I follow suggested he “shut the hell up, you insufferable moron.”
After a week, I’d seen enough, and stepped out of the echo chamber.Overall, I found plenty of evidence that, yeah, fake news is a poisonous influence on the supporters of Donald Trump. But I’m not sure all that much would change if the teenagers in Skopje knocked it off and shut down their bogus sites. Social media will continue to facilitate the distribution of odious memes and the bullying of dissenters. @HighCastlePhil & co. will scrutinize and pass along information that they think might yield a politically useful smoking gun, and ignore information that doesn’t. In that regard they’re no different than any partisan. But there’s a difference between wearing political blinders, as we all do, and actively embracing ludicrous untruths manufactured for the purpose of making money. The tragic irony of the new credulousness is that it badly exacerbates the tribalism and distrust that turned so many fake news adherents against “establishment” politicians and journalists in the first place.
With that in mind, I didn’t delete Phil’s account. I’ll keep it to remind myself every now and then what’s cooking over in the parallel disinformation universe. Until the corporate stooges at Twitter shut down my “fake” account, that is. | Glenn Thrush | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/this-is-what-its-like-to-read-fake-news-for-two-weeks-214591 | UNDEFINED |
79,065,438 | 2017-01-02 06:06:00 | Politico | Wilbur Ross’s Chinese Love Affair | Donald Trump’s commerce secretary pick is talking tough on Beijing now, but he has a long history of admiration for China and its culture. | A decade after Wilbur Ross used a tariff on imported steel to weather Chinese competition and make his American mills profitable, he hung a picture taken in Beijing on his office wall. It shows a poster of three women in military uniforms marching proudly through Tiananmen Square, a platoon of People’s Liberation Army soldiers behind them. The picture followed a pair of Qing dynasty guard dog statues that Ross had stationed at the headquarters of his investment firm in New York and six sculptures of Coca-Cola bottles rendered in white-and-blue Ming porcelain displayed in the dining room at his waterfront villa in Palm Beach.
As Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Commerce Department, the billionaire investor will be tasked with implementing the president-elect’s promise to get tough on China. But since making his first fortune by going to war against Chinese steel in the early years of the 21st century, Ross has become a devoted Sinophile. In addition to assembling a formidable collection of Chinese art -- some 200 pieces in total, according to one profile -- he has partnered in shipping and energy ventures with Chinese state-owned firms, contributed to relief efforts after the country’s devastating 2008 earthquake and even compared the Chinese Communist Party’s five-year plans to the United States’ industrial policy.
Story Continued Below
As Ross recalibrates his stance and prepares to even the score with Beijing for, in Trump’s words, “raping this country,” his years-long love affair with the Middle Kingdom calls into question whether his heart will really be in it.
“I think the China-bashing is wildly overdone in this country,” said Ross in one CNBC interview, a statement that would have come across as a veiled swipe at Trump if he hadn’t made it in 2012. “The reality is that if something were to happen that cost China jobs, like if they upwardly revalued the currency a lot, those jobs aren’t going to come back to the U.S., they would go to Vietnam, they would go to Thailand, they would go to whatever country was the lowest cost, so it’s a fiction on both sides that those jobs will come back.”
Asked about outsourcing four years earlier by Profit Magazine, he said, “China has become the whipping boy in the U.S., just as Japan was some 15 years ago. This certainly is intellectually wrong.”
And in May, Ross, 79, explicitly departed from his future boss on a flashpoint in international trade, noting that China’s currency is in fact overvalued, not undervalued as Trump had been claiming on the campaign trail. “I disagree with my friend Mr. Trump in that particular regard,” he told Bloomberg.
But by September, Ross had begun toeing the Trumpist line, sounding more like “Death by China: Confronting the Dragon” author Peter Navarro -- Trump’s pick to lead the National Trade Council and Ross’s new collaborator on economic policy – and the president-elect himself.
In a campaign white paper Ross co-authored that month with Navarro, a Harvard-educated economist who has become one of China’s fiercest critics, he asserted that the renminbi was undervalued after all. “In a world of freely floating currencies, the U.S. dollar would weaken and the Chinese yuan would strengthen because the U.S. runs a large trade deficit with China and the rest of the world,” they wrote.
In the same paper, Ross and Navarro argued that China and the U.S. remained in direct competition for manufacturing jobs, writing, “When auto companies like GM or Ford build new factories in China or Mexico rather than in Michigan or Ohio, additional jobs are also lost throughout the economy.”
They also described Chinese trade practices in harsh terms, using the kind of language U.S. officials generally don’t. “China is both the biggest trade cheater in the world and that country with which the U.S. runs its largest trade deficit,” they wrote. “The elaborate web of unfair trade practices includes illegal export subsidies, the theft of intellectual property, the aforementioned currency manipulation, forced technology transfers and a widespread reliance upon both ‘sweat shop’ labor and pollution havens. The People’s Republic of China also engages in the massive dumping of select products such as aluminum and steel below cost.”
And they called China’s 2001 accession to the WTO “a critical catalyst for America’s slow growth plunge,” citing research that argued the move “raised the unemployment rate, depressed wages and the labor participation rate, and reduced the lifetime income of workers in American manufacturing most exposed to the shock.”
Ross’s views on the Trans-Pacific Partnership have also changed since he entered Trump’s orbit.
In May of 2015, he was among the signatories of a letter, published by the Huffington Post, from business leaders to New York’s congressional leaders in support of the deal. “Trade experts and economists agree that the TPP would be a catalyst for creating new jobs in the United States, attracting more foreign investment to this country, and benefitting American workers in a broad range of industries,” the letter read.
By Nov. 30, the day Trump announced Ross as his pick for Commerce, Ross had changed his tune. He appeared on CNBC and called the TPP “horrible,” saying it was too soft on China. He cited the deal’s rules of origination, which govern the amount of parts and raw materials that can come from countries that have not signed on to the deal, for being too lenient. “In automotive, a majority of a car could come from outside TPP, namely could come from China, and still get all the benefits of TPP,” he complained.
Neither the Trump transition nor Ross’s office responded to questions about why his views had evolved over the years from a mix of muted praise and nuanced criticism to strident China-bashing. And to be sure, Ross has long advocated tools like short-term tariffs and a value added tax that would apply to imports from China and elsewhere. But his positions have been nothing like those of Navarro, one of America’s most prominent China hawks. And Ross’s reversals come after a lengthy period of warming to, then embracing, the country.
After more than two decades as a bankruptcy specialist at Rothschild and Co. — where he helped a flailing Trump salvage his personal finances and Atlantic City casino empire in the 1990s — Ross struck out on his own, launching a distressed asset fund on April Fool’s day 2000.
After consulting with contacts in Washington, Ross correctly predicted that George W. Bush would levy a temporary tariff on steel, which lasted from 2002 to 2003, long enough for the American mills purchased by Ross’s International Steel Group to make themselves competitive with Chinese importers.
From there, Ross concluded that capitalizing on China’s system could be just as good as competing with it. He organized International Textile Group, an apparel manufacturer, to exploit China’s entry into the WTO, opening a joint venture there in 2005.
Gary Hufbauer, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the move was one of many that have made it hard to find a consistent pattern on trade among Trump’s economic team. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg of contradictions between the campaign rhetoric of candidate Trump and the actions of his key advisers like Wilbur Ross and his own investments abroad,” he said. “We’re talking about 180-degree opposition.”
While Ross was making a fortune in distressed, he was investing the profits in more rarefied ones, earning a reputation as a leading collector of fine art.
At first, that reputation rested on his holdings from Western artists, like the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte -- famed for mind-bending works like his 1929 painting of a tobacco pipe floating above the words “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.”
“In Belgium there’s a Magritte museum that has a pretty good collection of Magrittes but not as good as Wilbur Ross’s apartment,” recalled Howard Gutman, who served as President Barack Obama’s first ambassador to Belgium and dined at Ross’s New York home in late 2009 around the opening of a Magritte exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Following the dinner, Gutman, who supports Ross’s nomination to Commerce, held several follow-up discussions with Ross about potential energy ventures in Europe.
But nothing came of the talks. By that time, Ross’s art and business interests were both drifting increasingly to the East. During his travels to China for his textile business, Ross had acquired a taste for Chinese artists, including the dissident photographer Liu Bolin and the Muslim sculptor Zhang Hongtu, drawn in by their efforts to synthesize Eastern traditions with the modern West. “It's a very interesting experimental form of art," Ross told Forbes in 2013. "It tries to combine the heritages of two very diverse cultures."
In 2007, when art collector and publisher Larry Warsh began assembling a group of investors to buy up Chinese art, he met with Ross at the billionaire’s Midtown office, and was surprised to learn that Ross was already a knowledgeable collector. Warsh, the editor of “Weiwei-isms,” a collection of quotes from the artist Ai Weiwei, said he and Ross discussed their shared expectation that the value of Chinese art would explode as Chinese nationals began buying in a market then dominated by Western patrons.
In their discussion of contemporary Chinese calligraphers and photographers — many of whom have since surged to stateside prominence and had their work displayed at the Getty, the MoMa and the Met — Warsh said Ross stuck out from the other Western businessmen he was meeting. “Other people cared about money,” Warsh said. “He was about the essence of the culture.”
Warsh said that such insights into Chinese culture would give Ross an edge in other dealings in the country. “Nonfinancial cultural exchange sets an amazing foundation for economic exchange. That’s something important to have when you’re dealing with China today.”
That cultural exchange is present not only in the works that hang on Ross’s walls, but in some of the walls themselves. When Ross and his third wife Hillary were refurbishing their property in Southampton a few years back and looking to shade its pool house from the sun, the couple’s longtime designer, Mario Buatta, suggested constructing a pagoda-like structure over it. The Rosses jumped at the idea. “They happened to like Chinese so it worked out very well,” Buatta said.
The Chinese happen to like Ross back, and their government enterprises have made him a business partner in recent years. In 2008, he entered into a joint venture with the state-owned China Huaneng Group, led by a son of former Chinese premier Li Peng. At the time Ross – who had taken heat in 2006 when 12 workers died at a coal mine in West Virginia weeks after he purchased it -- said the venture would finance clean coal, among other projects. He also contributed to recovery efforts in the wake of the deadly earthquake that year Sichuan province as a co-chair of the China Relief Fund. Since then, Ross has also gone into business with China Investment Corp, a state-owned sovereign wealth fund that chipped in $500 million alongside his investment in Greenwich, Connecticut-based Diamond S Shipping.
Along the way, Ross,who has said he would divest from assets that Trump deemed to present conflicts of interest, has acquired a taste for the Chinese way of doing business.
In a 2010 Charlie Rose interview, Ross, a former Democrat, gushed over the Chinese government’s muscular interventions in the nation’s economy, a view that roughly aligns with Trump’s approach but amounts to apostasy against conservative free-market orthodoxy. Ross specifically expressed his admiration for China’s ability to quickly jumpstart a green energy industry by forcing utilities to prioritize renewable power and pay a premium for it. “Now that’s how you have an industrial policy,” he said, while bemoaning the United States’ more laissez-faire approach. “We don’t even do easy things,” he lamented.
In a portion of the interview that might give his friend David Koch a heart attack, Ross went on to praise China’s system of rigid, socialist-style economic planning. “They really make a five-year plan and they really hold themselves to it,” he said. “They really believe in it. And if you’re thinking in terms of five years rather than the next 10 minutes you have a different thinking process.”
In 2013, Ross joined the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution, and in recent summers has hosted Brookings policy salons at the Hamptons house featuring the likes of Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, former ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, journalist David Wessel and Harvard Kennedy School Dean Doug Elmendorf.
Unlike Trump, who rarely reads anything but the briefest of policy briefings, Ross immersed himself in the think tank’s economic research, according Brookings president Strobe Talbott.
“To quite an admirable degree he would read carefully particularly reports and analysis that came out of our economic studies program,” Talbott recalled, saying Ross would often call up scholars to discuss and debate their latest findings.
His dual bona fides as a tycoon and consumer of policy papers could give Ross the cachet to temper the more aggressive impulses of both Navarro and Trump.
“He will be a positive influence on the U.S.-China relationship,” wrote former Goldman Sachs President John Thornton, a friend of Ross’s, funder of Brookings’ China center and recipient of China’s Friendship Award, the highest honor the country bestows on non-citizens, in an email. “He is a pragmatist, not an ideologue.”
Newsmax founder Chris Ruddy, who has long known both Ross and Trump from Palm Beach social circles, sounded a similar note.
“My experience with Wilbur is that he doesn’t approach things on an ideological basis,” he said. “He’s a very practical thinker. Donald likes people who are practical and who are aggressive, who go in and get the job done.”
“He’s a businessman. He’s done business in China,” Hufbauer said of Ross. “He could be a moderating force.”
Daniel Lippman contributed to this report. | Ben Schreckinger;Glenn Thrush | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/wilbur-rosss-chinese-love-affair-214590 | UNDEFINED |
116,943,037 | 2017-01-02 06:07:00 | CNN | Behind the scenes at a Trump photo shoot | "Wow, I look better there than in real life!" Trump exclaimed during a portrait session for CNN's new book about the election. | President-elect Donald Trump has posed for just two portraits since his election day victory: One for Time magazine's Person of the Year cover and one for CNN.
David Hume Kennerly, one of the world's most distinguished photographers, took the second portrait for a second printing of "Unprecedented," CNN's book about the election.
Kennerly, who has photographed every American president since Richard Nixon, described the November 21 portrait session in an interview with CNNMoney.
"I had it set up in a chair that was actually right next to his desk in his office in Trump Tower," he said. "I had very minimal lighting set up."
The portrait session did not take long.
"The deal was, they had no picture approval on the portraits," Kennerly said. "But after I'd taken two or three shots, Trump asked, can I see what you're doing? I said, 'Sure.' I'd do that for anybody. I showed him the back of the camera, and he said, 'Wow, I look better there than in real life!'"
"So that told me we were on the right track," Kennerly added.
On Monday the book received some surprise attention when the president-elect tweeted about it, saying, "Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!"
Trump was apparently referring to the first printing of the book, which went to the presses just a few days after the election.
He thought the original cover image — showing both Trump and Hillary Clinton — was unflattering.
The new cover with Kennerly's new portrait were unveiled on Monday, ahead of Trump's inauguration on January 20.
Asked about the new image, a Trump spokeswoman had no immediate comment from Trump.
The original cover photo was taken by Kennerly too, back on election night. It showed Trump speaking at a podium, and it was shot from below, looking up at the brand-new president-elect.
Trump is known to care deeply about his appearance in photos and videos. The November 21 photo shoot immediately followed Trump's off-the-record meeting with representatives of five major television networks.
During that meeting, Trump reportedly complained about an unflattering photo of him shown on NBC.
In an recent interview with Politico, NBC's Chuck Todd recalled how Trump, while running for president, would spend time re-watching his TV appearances.
"He wants to see what it all looked like. He will watch the whole thing on mute," Todd said, calling Trump "a very visual guy."
Kennerly experienced that first-hand. He spent the last few days of the campaign on the trail with the Trump press corps and was struck by the passion of Trump's crowds.
"I called up my wife the day before and said, 'I think Trump's going to win this election,'" he recalled in an interview with CNNMoney on Monday morning.
On election night, Kennerly sought access behind-the-scenes with Trump and his family. His hope was to take photos while the election returns came in.
"We had really lobbied to get me in there, to document history, one way or the other," Kennerly said.
There are iconic photos of past presidents watching and waiting for the results.
But the Trump campaign declined the requests for access. Kennerly's guess is that it's because "they weren't sure they were going to win."
"It's too bad," he said, "because I think it was a major historical opportunity lost."
So Kennerly spent the evening inside Trump's election night party at the Hilton in midtown Manhattan.
When Trump won, and came out to speak around 2:45 a.m., "it was still hard to believe, watching it happen," Kennerly said. That's when he took the photo for the first cover. | Brian Stelter | money.cnn.com | http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/02/media/donald-trump-portrait-cnn-book/index.html?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28CNNMoney%3A+Top+Stories%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,335,057 | 2017-01-02 06:40:30 | Breitbart | 1,565 Refugees Diagnosed with Active TB Since 2012 | Between 2012 and 2015, 1,565 refugees were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, according to the CDC. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Between 2012 and 2015, 1,565 refugees were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, according to annual reports published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The CDC data, which has been public but obscure until now, shows that the number of refugees diagnosed with active TB in recent years is more than three times greater than previously reported by any media outlet.
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The number of refugees diagnosed with TB in the United States has increased every year since 2012, the first year the CDC began publishing data on foreign-born cases of the disease by category, when 358 were diagnosed. In 2013, 396 refugees were diagnosed with TB. The following year, 2014, 402 refugees were diagnosed with TB, and in 2015, the number of refugees diagnosed with TB rose again to 409. Data for 2016 has not yet been reported.
In October, Breitbart News reported that 476 cases of active TB among refugees have been reported in the fifteen states that made that data available. Thirty-five states did not make the data available, even though they had apparently reported it to the CDC:
Until Breitbart News discovered the public, but effectively hidden, CDC reports, the scale of the TB problem among refugees was underreported by more than 1,000 cases over recent years – off by a factor of more than three.
The number of refugees resettled annually in the United States increased from 58,238 in FY 2012 to 69,933 in FY 2015, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The number of refugees resettled in FY 2016 increased to 84,995, according to the Department of State’s interactive website. During the first three months of FY 2017, the number of refugees resettled in the country increased to 25,671, almost double the 13,791 resettled during the first three months of FY 2016.
The increase in the number of refugees diagnosed with active TB from 358 in 2012 to 409 in 2015 was partially responsible for the increase in the total number of foreign-born cases of active TB increased from 6,274 to 6,350 during those four years.
Other categories of foreign-born cases of TB that increased included those who arrived under regular immigrant visas, which increased from 1,437 in 2012 to 1,670 in 2015, those who arrived in the “other” category, which includes illegal immigrants (called “undocumented immigrants” in the CDC reports), which increased from 1,312 in 2012 to 1,408 in 2015, and those who arrived under student visas, which increased from 158 in 2012 to 191 in 2015.
Foreign-born TB cases as a percentage of all TB cases diagnosed in the United States increased from 63.1 percent in 2012 to 66.4 percent in 2015.
The total number of TB cases diagnosed in the United States declined from 9,945 in 2012 to 9,421 in 2014. In 2015, however, for the first time in 23 years, the number of TB cases diagnosed in the United States increased, instead of declined, to 9,557.
Two other important findings arise from the CDC data:
(1) Several of the 35 states for which no data was previously available about the number of active TB cases among refugees have a significant, and previously unreported, public health problem associated with unusually high rates of active TB among refugees. (2) The number of cases of active TB among refugees in several of the 15 states for which complete or partial data was reported by those states significantly and inaccurately under reported the true incidence of active TB among refugees
Georgia, for instance, is the most surprising untold story. During the four years between 2012 and 2015, 96 cases of active TB were diagnosed among refugees in the Peach State. On a per capita basis, Georgia has one of the highest instances of refugee TB of any state in the country. Yet nowhere has this important story been reported.
Texas is known to have one of the highest rates of foreign-born TB in the country. What was not previously reported, however, is the significant role refugees have played in that phenomenon. During the four years between 2012 and 2015, 186 cases of active TB were diagnosed among refugees in the Lone Star State.
Similarly, it has been widely reported that TB is a public health issue in California.
Breitbart News was unable to obtain the full story from the California Department of Public Health about the number of refugees diagnosed with active TB in California until discovering the CDC annual reports. We had only been able to document three cases of active TB among refugees in California based upon publicly available data from the state.
The CDC data, however, makes clear that California has a significant problem with active TB among refugees. During the four years between 2012 and 2015, 251 cases of active TB were diagnosed among refugees, which is 248 more than the three cases previously reported.
Breitbart News will provide a number of additional reports based on the data contained in these annual CDC reports in the coming weeks. | Michael Patrick Leahy | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/1565-refugees-diagnosed-active-tb-2012-three-times-more-reported/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,700,677 | 2017-01-02 06:41:24 | CNN | Istanbul nightclub attack: ISIS claims responsibility | Terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly New Year's attack that left at least 39 club patrons and staff dead at an upscale Istanbul nightclub. | Istanbul (CNN) Terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly New Year's attack that left at least 39 club patrons and staff dead at an upscale Istanbul nightclub.
"In continuation of the blessed operations which ISIS carries out against Turkey, a soldier of the brave caliphate attacked one of the most popular nightclubs while Christians were celebrating their holiday," a statement posted to Twitter reads.
The claim, which comes a day and a half after the attack, cannot independently be verified by CNN -- ISIS did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that the attacker carried out the attack on its behalf.
It adds that "the apostate government of Turkey should know that the blood of Muslims who get killed by Turkey's planes and artillery will set afire inside their country."
The statement did not contain any information about the attacker.
The Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK, earlier issued a statement distancing itself from the attack, which took place during the early hours of January 1.
"No Kurdish forces have anything to do with this attack," the statement read. "The Kurdish freedom fight is also the fight for democratization of Turkey. That's why we won't target innocent and civilian people."
JUST WATCHED Turkey vows to find nightclub shooter Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkey vows to find nightclub shooter 01:33
Turkish authorities continue to hunt for the man they believe is responsible for the bloody attack, which also saw 69 people hospitalized, including one American. A handful of the injured were in critical condition. As of Monday, 46 were still being treated, according to the Istanbul governor's office.
The victims hailed from 14 countries , according to Turkey's semi-official news agency Anadolu, including India, Morocco, Jordan, Canada, Russia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The suspected shooter, who stormed the Reina nightclub soon after the clock struck midnight, appears to have evaded the tight security that blanketed Turkey's largest city over the New Year. Yet, authorities are confident that they will apprehend him soon.
"There is strong coordination and we will find him, no delay," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters gathered outside an Istanbul hospital, where he had been visiting people injured in the attack.
Footage of the attacker shooting a security guard and police officer at the entrance of the nightclub has emerged, lending credence to Turkish authorities' claim that he carried out the attack alone.
JUST WATCHED Istanbul attack: Video shows gunshots ricochet Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Istanbul attack: Video shows gunshots ricochet 00:52
A security official showed the entrance to CNN, confirming that it was the site of the video.
Despite no group yet claiming responsibility, Turkish authorities quickly characterized the attack as the work of terrorists.
"We are face to face with a terror attack," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters Sunday morning, adding, "the efforts to locate the terrorist are ongoing. Security forces have begun the necessary operations. God willing soon (the attacker) will be apprehended."
World leaders condemned the shooting and US officials also called it a terrorist attack, making it the first of 2017.
Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey An ambulance rushes from the scene of an attack in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, January 1. A popular nightclub in Istanbul was attacked shortly after midnight. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A woman is consoled at the site of the attack. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Medics wheel a stretcher at the scene. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Turkish riot police officers stand guard. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey People leave the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A Turkish medic reacts near the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A wounded victim is rushed from the scene. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Medics and security officials work at the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A wounded person is put into an ambulance. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey People walk in the rain near the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey An ambulance transports those wounded in the attack. Hide Caption 12 of 12
'At first we thought it was a fight'
JUST WATCHED Turkey witness: I got shot in the leg Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkey witness: I got shot in the leg 01:23
Witnesses said a celebratory evening turned into a bloodbath.
"We were having fun. At first we thought it was a fight, then there was a lot of gunfire," eyewitness Yunus Turk told CNN after police secured the nightclub in the Ortakoy neighborhood.
"After the gunfire everyone started to run toward the terrace. We ran as well. There was someone next to me who was shot and fell on the floor. We ran away and hid under the sofas."
Identifying victims
Twenty-four men and 15 women, said Ali Seker, a parliament member, according to Anadolu. Of those, 27 were foreign nationals and 11 were Turks, Seker said. One person is still unidentified.
Jihadist-inspired attack?
JUST WATCHED Why are attacks so frequent in Turkey? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Why are attacks so frequent in Turkey? 02:13
CNN Intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer said the attack bore the hallmarks of an attack perpetrated by, or at least inspired by, ISIS.
"I think it's probably Islamic State, or (the gunman) is affiliated at the very least. (An attack targeting) celebrating New Year's, is highly symbolic for the philosophy of the Islamic State," he said, using a different name for ISIS.
Around 1:15 a.m. Sunday, the gunman shot a police officer who was guarding the front gate at the nightclub, killing him, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said.
"He entered the club and attacked innocent people who were there to celebrate the new year. It was a cruel, coldblooded act," the governor said.
Istanbul victims Turkey - 11
Saudi Arabia - 7
Iraq - 3
Lebanon - 3
India - 2
Jordan - 2
Morocco - 2
Tunisia - 2 (one French dual national)
Belgium - 1 (Turkish dual national)
Russia - 1
Canada - 1
Kuwait - 1
Syria - 1
Palestian citizen of Israel Source: Foreign ministries/news reports
Witnesses in the club said they heard a loud noise, then a security officer told everyone to get out.
One victim said he didn't know how many attackers there were, but he saw one person and hid.
"I got shot in the (expletive) leg, man," he told journalists as he was taken into an ambulance. "These crazy people came in shooting everything."
The club issued a statement on its Facebook page Sunday.
"This terrible incident is a terror attack against our citizens' peace, brotherhood, serenity, economy, tourism and against our nation. Our hearts bleed and the bullets are in our heart," the statement read.
Attack on 'Western lifestyle'
Turkey has endured a recent wave of terrorist attacks, leaving many people wary, said Aykan Erdemir, former member of the Turkish Parliament.
"Turkey is known to host these big parties to celebrate New Year's, but this year most citizens were wary of Islamist attacks so they chose to celebrate it at home with their friends," he said.
"This is an attack on the Western lifestyle. This is an attack on Turkey's secular, urban way of living. And this will simply fuel the ongoing cultural clashes, the ongoing polarization in Turkey," Erdemir said.
Mehmet Gormez, President of Religious Affairs, Turkey's religious authority, said that the attack was "savagery, horrendous" and that the "only nuance which differentiates the terrorist action committed tonight from others is that it aims to divide the nation and confront people from different lifestyles by inciting them."
The US State Department said attacks like this one on its NATO ally "only reinforce our strong determination to work with the government of Turkey to counter the scourge of terrorism."
CNN Map
A violent year
ISIS and Kurdish militants both have staged attacks in Turkey, which is still reeling from a bloody and failed military coup in July.
ISIS is suspected in a June attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that left 44 people dead and an explosion at an August wedding, not far from the border with Syria, that killed at least 54 people.
Meanwhile, Turkish security forces clash almost daily with Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, militants, mostly in predominantly Kurdish parts of southeastern Turkey.
pair of bombings in Istanbul killed 44 people and wounded 155 others December 10 in an attack by a breakaway group of the PKK. The two explosions occurred after a heavily attended soccer game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena. | Euan Mckirdy;Ian Lee | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/europe/turkey-nightclub-attack/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,679,143 | 2017-01-02 06:41:24 | CNN | Istanbul attack: Manhunt continues for nightclub shooter | Turkish authorities continue to search for gunman who evaded tight security at Reina nightclub and killed at least 39 people during New Year's celebration. | Istanbul (CNN) Turkish authorities continue to hunt for the man responsible for the deaths of at least 39 club patrons and staff in a brutal New Year's attack at an upscale Istanbul nightclub.
The victims hailed from 14 countries , according to Turkey's semi-official news agency Anadolu, including India, Morocco, Jordan, Canada, Russia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The suspected shooter, who stormed the Reina nightclub soon after the clock struck midnight, appears to have evaded the tight security that blanketed Turkey's largest city over the New Year. Yet, authorities are confident that they will apprehend him soon.
"There is strong coordination and we will find him, no delay," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters gathered outside an Istanbul hospital, where he had been visiting people injured in the attack.
Footage of the attacker shooting a security guard and police officer at the entrance of the nightclub has emerged, lending credence to Turkish authorities' claim that he carried out the attack alone.
A security official showed the entrance to CNN, confirming that it was the site of the video.
Despite no group yet claiming responsibility, Turkish authorities quickly characterized the attack as the work of terrorists.
"We are face to face with a terror attack," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters Sunday morning, adding, "the efforts to locate the terrorist are ongoing. Security forces have begun the necessary operations. God willing soon (the attacker) will be apprehended."
World leaders condemned the shooting and US officials also called it a terrorist attack, making it the first of 2017.
JUST WATCHED Istanbul attack: Video shows gunshots ricochet Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Istanbul attack: Video shows gunshots ricochet 00:52
'At first we thought it was a fight'
Witnesses said a celebratory evening became a bloodbath instead.
"We were having fun. At first we thought it was a fight, then there was a lot of gunfire," eyewitness Yunis Turk told CNN after police secured the nightclub in the Ortakoy neighborhood.
"After the gunfire everyone started to run toward the terrace. We ran as well. There was someone next to me who was shot and fell on the floor. We ran away and hid under the sofas."
JUST WATCHED Turkey witness: I got shot in the leg Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkey witness: I got shot in the leg 01:23
Some people jumped into the Bosphorus strait, he said, a testament to the panic that engulfed the nightspot. Temperatures were near freezing in Istanbul and yet people were willing to leap into the frigid waters to escape.
Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey An ambulance rushes from the scene of an attack in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, January 1. A popular nightclub in Istanbul was attacked shortly after midnight. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A woman is consoled at the site of the attack. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Medics wheel a stretcher at the scene. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Turkish riot police officers stand guard. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey People leave the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A Turkish medic reacts near the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A wounded victim is rushed from the scene. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey Medics and security officials work at the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey A wounded person is put into an ambulance. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey People walk in the rain near the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Attack at nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey An ambulance transports those wounded in the attack. Hide Caption 12 of 12
Identifying victims
Thirty-nine people were killed in the attack -- 24 men and 15 women, said Ali Seker, a parliament member in Istanbul, according to Anadolu. Of those, 27 were foreign nationals and 11 were Turks, Seker said. One person is still to be identified.
Some 69 people, including one American, are reported injured.
Jihadist-inspired attack?
CNN Intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer said the attack bore the hallmarks of an attack perpetrated by, or at least inspired by, ISIS.
"I think it's probably Islamic State, or (the gunman) is affiliated at the very least. (An attack targeting) celebrating New Year's, is highly symbolic for the philosophy of the Islamic State," he said, using a different name for ISIS.
"This was, in their terms, a very well planned, tactically smart attack."
Around 1:15 a.m. Sunday, the gunman shot a police officer who was guarding the front gate at the nightclub, killing him, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said.
"He entered the club and attacked innocent people who were there to celebrate the new year. It was a cruel, coldblooded act," the governor said.
Istanbul victims Turkey - 11
Saudi Arabia - 7
Iraq - 3
Lebanon - 3
India - 2
Jordan - 2
Morocco - 2
Tunisia - 2 (one French dual national)
Belgium - 1 (Turkish dual national)
Russia - 1
Canada - 1
Kuwait - 1
Syria - 1
Palestian citizen of Israel Source: Foreign ministries/news reports
Witnesses in the club said they heard a loud noise, then a security officer told everyone to get out.
One victim said he didn't know how many attackers there were, but he saw one person and hid.
"I got shot in the (expletive) leg, man," he told journalists as he was taken into an ambulance. "These crazy people came in shooting everything."
The club issued a statement on its Facebook page Sunday.
"This terrible incident is a terror attack against our citizens' peace, brotherhood, serenity, economy, tourism and against our nation. Our hearts bleed and the bullets are in our heart," the statement read.
JUST WATCHED Why are attacks so frequent in Turkey? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Why are attacks so frequent in Turkey? 02:13
Attack on 'Western lifestyle'
Turkey has endured a recent wave of terrorist attacks, leaving many people wary, said Aykan Erdemir, former member of the Turkish Parliament.
"Turkey is known to host these big parties to celebrate New Year's, but this year most citizens were wary of Islamist attacks so they chose to celebrate it at home with their friends," he said.
"This is an attack on the Western lifestyle. This is an attack on Turkey's secular, urban way of living. And this will simply fuel the ongoing cultural clashes, the ongoing polarization in Turkey," Erdemir said.
Mehmet Gormez, President of Religious Affairs, Turkey's religious authority, said that the attack was "savagery, horrendous" and that the "only nuance which differentiates the terrorist action committed tonight from others is that it aims to divide the nation and confront people from different lifestyles by inciting them."
The US State Department said attacks like this one on its NATO ally "only reinforce our strong determination to work with the government of Turkey to counter the scourge of terrorism."
The US Embassy in Turkey warned citizens to avoid the area where the attack occurred.
CNN Map
A violent year
ISIS and Kurdish militants both have staged attacks in Turkey, which is still reeling from a bloody and failed military coup in July.
ISIS is suspected in a June attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that left 44 people dead and an explosion at an August wedding, not far from the border with Syria, that killed at least 54 people.
Meanwhile, Turkish security forces clash almost daily with Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, militants, mostly in predominantly Kurdish parts of southeastern Turkey.
pair of bombings in Istanbul killed 44 people and wounded 155 others December 10 in an attack by a breakaway group of the PKK. The two explosions occurred after a heavily attended soccer game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena. | Euan Mckirdy;Ian Lee | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/europe/turkey-nightclub-attack/index.html | UNDEFINED |
4,337,936 | 2017-01-02 06:44:40 | Breitbart | Expert: Obama Hacking Report Makes Him Question Whether DHS, FBI 'Know What They Are Doing' | Expert: Obama Hacking Report Makes Him Question Whether DHS, FBI 'Know What They Are Doing' | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
A report from a cybersecurity expert that concludes that the Grizzly Steppe report—issued the same day that President Obama issued sanctions against Russia for suspected hacking—raises new concerns that the Obama administration and departments like the FBI and Homeland Security may be playing fast and loose with facts surrounding their allegation of “Russian hacking” of the election.
In a blog post, cybersecurity company CEO and writer Robert M. Lee said that a list included in the report muddies the waters about “whether the DHS/FBI knows what they are doing.”
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The Grizzly Steppe report was hailed by the media as a significant step in the process of the Obama Administration making the case and proving its assertions about alleged Russian hacking. As the AP reported about the release:
The 13-page joint analysis by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI was the first such report ever to attribute malicious cyber activity to a particular country or actors. It was also the first time the U.S. has officially and specifically tied intrusions into the Democratic National Committee to hackers with the Russian civilian and military intelligence services, the FSB and GRU, expanding on an Oct. 7 accusation by the Obama administration.
Lee’s article Critiques of the DHS/FBI’s GRIZZLY STEPPE Report takes a detailed look at the report.
To be clear and fair to Mr. Lee’s analysis, he states his belief that Russia did, in fact, hack the DNC and he calls Obama’s explanation of reprisals against Russia “ultimately a strong and accurate statement.” Although he critiques aspects of the DHS/FBI report, Mr. Lee also says “POTUS’ statement, the multiple government agency response, and the validation of private sector intelligence by the government is wholly a great response.”
In other words, Mr. Lee is no Obama-basher and he’s even accepted the underlying argument—yet still publicly unproven—that the Obama administration has made about Russian involvement in the DNC hacking. This is exactly what makes his assessment of the Grizzly Steppe report so devastating—he’s broadly on the Obama administration’s side.
So when Lee says the Grizzly Steppe report “reads like a poorly done vendor intelligence report stringing together various aspects of attribution without evidence,” it’s stinging criticism.
Lee’s harshest judgment comes for a bizarre list in the 13-page report that might have gotten by people who don’t understand what the list is, but sent up immediate red flags for cybersecurity experts like Lee.
As Lee writes, “the list contains campaign/group names such as APT28, APT29, COZYBEAR, Sandworm, Sofacy, and others. This is exactly what you’d want to see,” before dropping the hammer by pointing out that “the government’s justification for this assessment is completely lacking.”
Lee goes on to explain in detail why the list is actually such an embarrassing mess:
…as the list progresses it becomes worrisome as the list also contains malware names (HAVEX and BlackEnergy v3 as examples) which are different than campaign names. Campaign names describe a collection of intrusions into one or more victims by the same adversary. Those campaigns can utilize various pieces of malware and sometimes malware is consistent across unrelated campaigns and unrelated actors. It gets worse though when the list includes things such as “Powershell Backdoor”. This is not even a malware family at this point but instead a classification of a capability that can be found in various malware families.
There’s no explanation for mixing the different data on the list, no explanation for what the list means, and no context for any of it.
Lee points out that “a mixing of data types that didn’t meet any objective in the report and only added confusion as to whether the DHS/FBI knows what they are doing or if they are instead just telling teams in the government ‘contribute anything you have that has been affiliated with Russian activity.’”
Others have also criticized the Grizzly Steppe report, with another cybersecurity expert named Jeffrey Carr stating that the report “adds nothing to the call for evidence that the Russian government was responsible” for the campaign cyber hacks.
The Obama administration has also ignored the role of Wikileaks, who published the damn revelations obtained from the hacks that showed DNC collusion to support Hillary Clinton in her primary bid against Bernie Sanders. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has denied that the information came from the Russian government and the Obama administration has failed to provide any evidence of this.
Get smarter every morning with a roundup on the day’s news with The Stranahan Report. Subscribe free here. | Lee Stranahan | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/expert-obama-hacking-report-makes-him-question-whether-dhs-fbi-know-what-they-are-doing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
79,079,104 | 2017-01-02 06:45:00 | Politico | Trump: North Korea will be stopped | Kim Jong Un said Sunday his nation is close to being able to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. | "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!" Donald Trump wrote on Twitter. | AP Photo Trump: North Korea will be stopped
President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Monday evening that North Korea won't reach the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon that will be able to hit the United States.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!" the president-elect wrote.
Story Continued Below
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during his annual New Year's address on Sunday that preparations for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile have "reached the final stage."
The development came after the country claims it tested its first hydrogen bomb last year.
North Korea, which has been at odds with the United States since the start of the Korean War in 1950, first tested a nuclear weapon in 2006. A nuclear test was conducted last year on Jan. 6. | Rebecca Morin | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-north-korea-nuclear-weapon-233109 | UNDEFINED |
4,283,003 | 2017-01-02 06:52:08 | Breitbart | Merkel's Open Door Migrant Policy 'Saved Our Dignity' | Presidential candidate Macron said Merkel's migrant policy "saved our collective dignity," said criticism of the policy was a "disgusting." | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
French left-socialist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has said German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door mass migration policy has “saved our collective dignity,” and warned that criticism of Merkel was a “disgusting simplification.”
Macron affirmed that even after the Islamic State attack in Berlin, committed by Tunisian migrant Anis Amri, he supports the migrant policy of Chancellor Merkel.
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Expressing his admiration for Germany, he told German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Chancellor Merkel and the whole of German society were at the same level of our [French] common values. They saved our collective dignity, by accepting, accommodating, and educating distressed refugees.”
The former economy minister, who announced his presidential candidacy in mid-December, added it was a “disgusting simplification” when Merkel was accused of surrendering her own capital and the whole of Europe with the admission of over one million migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
In response to questions of securing the continent against terrorism, Macron called for more European Union (EU) integration, including an expansion of the European Border Agency. He said EU nations “also need to overcome national unwillingness and create a joint intelligence system.”
Macron is deemed the election’s “third man” behind the Republicans’ François Fillon and Front National’s Marine Le Pen. The former Socialist Party member and protégé of François Hollande claimed he is “neither on the left nor on the right” and that his policies are a “progressive” appeal to voters who want France to be “open” and pro-European.
In October, Macron had said he believed France, after over a year of deadly terror attacks including in Nice and Paris, had disproportionately ‘targeted’ Muslims and suggested the country should be less stringent in applying its rules on secularism.
Macron’s comments come following the New Year’s addresses of French President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel, whose countries’ citizenries are set to go to the polls this year.
Merkel, who is running for a fourth term as chancellor, defended her migrant policy, telling the German people that Germany will fight the “hatred” of terrorism with “humanity” and “unity.”
Hollande denounced nationalism in his address, his comments roundly criticised by presidential candidate Le Pen who stated that after the populist victories of Trump and Brexit, the French share the worldwide “aspiration for independence” in the fight against globalism. | Victoria Friedman | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/02/macron-merkel-open-door-migrant-policy-saved-dignity/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,282,031 | 2017-01-02 06:54:13 | Breitbart | Government to Revive Pledge to Cut Migrant Benefits | The British government is pledging yet again to stop European Union migrants from claiming benefits after EU officials slapped down the plans last year. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
The British government is pledging yet again to stop European Union migrants from claiming benefits after EU officials slapped down the plans last year.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron made the promise a key part of his demands while attempting to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership. However, other EU leaders would only agree to a temporary compromise, forcing Mr Cameron into an embarrassing climb down and helping fuel the Brexit vote.
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Now his successor Theresa May is looking at resurrecting the policy and bringing EU migrants in line with migrants from elsewhere in the world.
The Times reports that the government is considering the move along with a series of other decisions over the future of Britain’s immigration system after Brexit.
In February last year, government data showed the UK has paid over £1 billion in welfare payments to unemployed EU migrants. Figures showed that in 2013/14 alone, British taxpayers paid £886million for unemployed EU migrants living in the UK, and a further £814 million for EU migrants in work.
Now the government is deciding whether to finally honour David Cameron’s pledge of ending these benefits, although they have so far refused to commit.
The report comes as the government continues to give mixed signals over its Brexit strategy. David Davis, the Brexit minister, has hinted he would not like to see business affected by curbs on low-skilled immigration, indicating at various times that Britain could stay in leave the Single Market.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has also called for a “business friendly” Brexit, although has declined to go into details.
However, Theresa May is determined to appear tough on immigration. In her speech to the Conservative Party conference in October, the Prime Minister said: “We are not leaving the European Union to give up control over immigration again.
“We are leaving to be a fully sovereign and independent country – and that deal is going to have to work for Britain.” | Nick Hallett | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/02/government-revive-pledge-cut-migrant-benefits/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
39,167,683 | 2017-01-02 06:59:18 | The Guardian | Happy new year? 2017 rings in more commuter misery and higher bills | The outlook may be a little bleak, but with a rising national living wage, the lifetime Isa and more protection for savers it’s not all bad | Many people will be understandably relieved to say goodbye to 2016, a year when the currency and stock markets went into flux at Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. Unfortunately, in personal finance terms at least, 2017 also looks bleak as consumers are expected to start seeing the full effects of the Brexit vote and how the drop in value of sterling will translate to the supermarket shelf.
Elsewhere, householders can expect an increase in the cost of electricity, while motorists may see premiums on the up. Commuters, already worn down by strike-interrupted trains, can expect to see ticket prices go up yet again.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel – the national living wage is due to go up in April, while for homebuyers, house price rises are expected to slow, although this will be tempered by an increase in demand as a result of the lack of housing stock on the market.
So with the unlikely events of 2016 behind us, here are some of the key things to look out for in 2017:
High street price rises
There is expected to be a headache for consumers when they return to the tills as prices rise on the back of fluctuations in the post-EU referendum pound.
Spikes in prices on high street goods, ranging from milk and wine to headphones and TVs, are expected as retailers’ hedges against currency fluctuations – a form of insurance policy against movements in the pound – end. Apple Mac users saw raised prices on machines in October as the technology giant updated the cost in line with the low exchange rate between the dollar and sterling.
Raid on buy-to-let landlords
Former chancellor George Osborne announced in July 2015 a cut in tax relief on mortgage interest payments for buy-to-let landlords.
These changes, which will see mortgage interest deductions slashed from 100% to zero, will be phased in between this coming April and April 2020. Instead, when income tax on a landlord’s profits from their property, and any other income sources, are totted up they will be granted a “tax credit” worth 20% of the mortgage interest to offset against income tax, whatever rate they pay.
HMRC has estimated that just one in five landlords will be affected by the changes, but representative groups have said it will have a devastating impact on their finances.
House prices versus demand
Anyone hoping to buy a house in the coming year will be both heartened and dismayed by some of the latest predictions.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has said it expects house price growth to be half that of 2016. However, demand is expected to outstrip supply as a result of insufficient housebuilding.
It is expected that the number of sales will reduce from 1.25m in 2016 to between 1.15m and 1.2m. Property firm Savills predicts prices will remain flat across the UK, with falls in the north of England, Wales and Scotland. In the east of England it expects 2.5% growth. Nationwide said it expects the average UK price to increase by 2% over the year, below the rate of growth reported in 2016.
More commuter frustration
Another year, another train fare increase for weary commuters. The Campaign for Better Transport has estimated that fares have gone up by 23.5% between 1995 and 2016 – and 2017 isn’t expected to show any respite.
The rail industry has announced that they will go up by an average 2.3% from 2 January, a move which has been criticised by unions.
The increases are being driven by much higher increases on the reprivatised east coast route. While regulated fares, such as season tickets and off-peak returns, which are set by the government, are to increase by 1.9%, fares on Virgin Trains East Coast will go up by 4.9% overall.
Increased protections
The amount of cash savers will have protected in banks and building societies that go bust is likely to be raised to £85,000 from the end of January because of the slump in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote.
The limit was cut to £75,000 in July 2015 when sterling was stronger, to keep the UK banking system in step with the rest of the EU. But the increase is required to keep the UK in line with an EU-wide deposit protection limit of €100,000.
A cap on London Airbnb
From the spring, Airbnb will ban hosts in London from renting out entire homes for more than 90 days a year without official consent. The San Francisco-based company will automatically stop people letting their homes for more than this limit unless they have the necessary planning permission from a local authority.
London is the third biggest city in terms of places to stay on the sharing economy website, with a listing of more than 40,000.
It is already against the law to flout the 90-day rule, but local authorities complained of not having the resources or data to enforce it. With the move by Airbnb, there will be automated limits to ensure listings are not shared for more than 90 days.
Rise in ‘national living wage’
This will increase from £7.20 to £7.50 an hour from April. The government’s target is for it to reach £9 by 2020.
New Isa
A lifetime Isa to help young people save for their first home or retirement – or both – will be available from April.
The account allows for savings with no tax on the interest earned, and a government contribution equal to 25% of everything saved. The maximum amount which can be saved into the Isa each year is £4,000, and the government will give a £1,000 bonus on that amount. The account can be opened by people at any time between the ages of 18 and 40, and a bonus earned each year until they reach 50.
Increase in energy prices
Householders should brace themselves for bigger bills when they turn on the lights or put on the kettle. EDF Energy has said it will raise electricity prices by 8.4% from March, with the other “big six” energy providers expected to match the increases.
The French company also said that it will cut gas prices by 5.2%, but blamed rising costs for the increase in its electricity tariff. The changes mean that dual-fuel customers (those taking both electricity and gas) with EDF will see their bills rise by 1.2%, to an average of £1,082 a year.
The announcement followed a rise in wholesale energy prices, which are up by about a third since last spring.
Insurance also on the up
It is expected that car insurance will rise from June as insurers pass on higher costs, and the rise in the insurance premium tax takes effect. Drivers typically pay about £50 a year to the Treasury for this, but it will go up to more than £60 from June.
Average underlying insurance premiums rose sharply in 2016 on the back of problems with whiplash claims and the cost of replacing advanced technological features such as parking sensors on bumpers after accidents. The AA has said that it expects the average “shop around” premium to break £600 in 2017.
And finally …
The deadline for online self-assessment tax returns is well publicised as being at the end of January, but that never seems to stop the imaginative excuses for tardy paperwork.
HMRC has said that among the excuses rejected this year were someone’s details being engulfed in a yacht fire, while another’s were the victim of a child’s scribbling. If you are filing, do it on time or else risk a fine of at least £100. | Shane Hickey | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jan/02/new-year-2017-commuter-misery-higher-bills-national-living-wage-lifetime-isa | LEFT |
39,106,978 | 2017-01-02 07:00:18 | The Guardian | Glasgow Children's Wood saved from development | After a five year battle to save Glasgow’s green space, campaigners are hoping to pave the way for new Scottish legislation | North Kelvin Meadow – or Children’s Wood, as it has been renamed by campaigners – has been saved from housing developers after a hard-fought five year battle, some two decades on from when locals first sowed grass seed on the abandoned sports ground.
In contrast to the city’s nearby Botanic Gardens, the three acre Children’s Wood is a ramshackle affair, offering a very different kind of natural resource to local residents who have gradually transformed the meadow from a derelict site into a thriving civic space, close to the fashionable West End.
Having been declared “surplus” in the mid-1990s, there have since been a number of attempts to develop the area, most recently the plans first proposed by developers New City Vision in 2011 to build ninety upmarket flats on the site.
After a lengthy dispute, which saw cash-strapped Glasgow city council arguing that a negative outcome would deprive it of funds to deliver crucial facilities across the city, the decision was referred up to an independent ‘reporter’, and then to the Scottish government itself, whose decision last month emphasised the importance of open space and biodiversity in the heart of the city.
Now campaigners hope this outcome could set a precedent for other areas and help mould policy around land and community empowerment. Children’s Wood campaigners now plan to ask the council to lease or sell them the land, pursuing their community right to buy ‘abandoned or neglected land’ that was created in 2015 under one of Scotland’s most potentially progressive pieces of legislation in recent times.
How Scottish villagers bought their harbour – and saved their future | Hazel Sheffield Read more
“What we need is a fundamental shift in understanding that green space within cities is important,” says Emily Cutts, a researcher who has been involved with the campaign since its inception. “The fact that the government rejected these plans is great, and we hope it may result in a change in planning policy, so that other communities don’t have to go to a public inquiry, or have independent reporters involved.”
While Scotland has seen a groundswell of local activism around land use in recent years, it has mainly revolved around rural settings – like the £500,000 community buyout of an ancient Caledonian pine forest in the Highlands announced in December. Cutts hopes this success will motivate people in urban areas, adding simply: “Councils still don’t value green space over housing”.
Children’s Wood has attracted a cross-section of community support, but Cutts is aware of accusations that the campaign has been dominated by middle class residents able to corral the support of the likes of children’s author Julia Donaldson, comedian Frankie Boyle and Game of Thrones actress Kate Dickie.
In response that this charge, Cutts said: “It’s about meeting 21st century needs, and its not nimbyist. We’re always looking at the bigger picture, and specific problems in the area. For example, with food poverty, we’re growing vegetables for an outdoor food bank.”
The wood has also been used in projects that have targeted obesity in young people, loneliness in older residents, and most recently provided refugee newcomers to Glasgow a different means of learning about the city.
Children’s Wood has even offered itself as a research resource, linking up with Glasgow University’s psychology department on a project that compared children’s attention spans after spending time in a variety of locations: the conclusion was that concentration was best after spending time in a natural environment.
Outdoor education has been a huge part of the Children’s Wood ethos, based on the principle that urban children should not require money to have access to nature.
“Five years ago, we really wanted to build something for the whole community: now we have relationships with 20 schools, both in the West End and Maryhill, and two employees working on outdoor learning,” Cutts said.
Declaring himself “thrilled” at the decision, Scottish Greens co-convenor and MSP for Glasgow Patrick Harvie, a long-standing supporter of the North Kelvin meadow campaign, sounded a word of warning around community buy-outs more generally.
“Transferring a piece of land into community ownership is in many ways positive but it shouldn’t be necessary. We obviously need housing investment, but the point is to be building for a social purpose, not speculative investment. There are plenty of brownfield sites in Glasgow that developers don’t look at with eager eyes because they aren’t as profitable. When the community is making good use of land like this they should be left alone,” he said.
With a newly expanded cohort of Green MSPs in Holyrood since May’s elections – including veteran land reform campaigner Andy Wightman – there have been high hopes for them pushing the Scottish government towards some truly transformative reform of land and planning legislation.
Current Scottish land reform legislation, which has been criticised for its timidity, had its final passage in March, just before the Scottish parliament elections. During the vote, a ground-breaking Green amendment to tax vacant and derelict land was voted down, despite research indicating it would have raised £250m a year and forced developers to make better use of the land they had. | null | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/02/glasgow-childrens-wood-saved-from-development | LEFT |
39,179,069 | 2017-01-02 07:00:18 | The Guardian | Man who tried to smuggle child refugee into UK: 'I'd never do it again. Well ... ' | Rob Lawrie, arrested at the Calais border when officers found an Afghan girl in his van, explains how his life has changed | A former soldier who narrowly avoided jail for trying to smuggle a child refugee into Britain has said he would attempt to get a minor to safety again if he thought he could get away with it.
The image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi laying facedown and lifeless on a beach near the Turkish resort of Bodrum in September 2015 sparked a wave of outrage across the world. For Rob Lawrie, a self-employed carpet cleaner from Guiseley near Leeds, it changed everything.
Please help us help #childrefugees survive the winter - Guardian/Observer 2016 Appeal Read more
Weeks after seeing the images, Lawrie, 50, was arrested by French police at the Calais border. Officers discovered a four-year-old Afghan girl, Bahar Ahmadi, in a compartment above the driver’s seat of his van.
Lawrie had been volunteering in Calais refugee camp and in a moment he describes as “irrational, irrational, irrational”, he gave in to her father’s desperate pleas to bring his daughter to Britain where she would live with their relatives in Leeds.
Last January, a French court spared Lawrie jail for what he calls his “crime of compassion”. He became an overnight cause célèbre, winning thousands of supporters online and raising donations for child refugees. A Hollywood producer is writing a feature film titled Mr Rob, the name given to him in Calais, and he continues to take charity donations to displaced children across Europe.
It has, however, come at a price:. His marriage has broken down and he says he was at risk of losing his home in West Yorkshire but for an “extremely understanding” landlord. How does he look back on 2016? “I don’t know whether I want to reflect on it so I’ve just kept going really,” he says. “Kept going to Calais, kept going to Paris. I’ve just got back from Greece.
“It’s changed everything for me,” he says with a pause. “I still have my family. I still have my children. Talk about a life being changed in a year. This time a year ago I was a happy family man. And I was going to stop, but when it all broke down I just carried on and got deeper and deeper into it.”
Last month Lawrie took a van full of donations to Thessaloniki, where thousands of refugees are said to be living in dire conditions. He took a rusty woodburner donated by a stranger with him. “You would’ve thought it was made out of gold,” he said.
“I’ll tell you why I do this, because it doesn’t pay any money whatsoever. For the first half of my life I was like most people, working to live. Earn money, earn money, have a nicer car, have a bigger house, have two holidays instead of one, buy an Armani suit instead of a Next suit. But getting nothing out of it. You get so much out of this personally.”
A former soldier in the Royal Corps of Transport, Lawrie served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland before leaving to attend university. After that he set up a successful courier business in the north-east of England. In 2003, however, he contracted bacterial meningitis. When he was eventually released from hospital, he says his dramatic mood swings caused the breakup of his first marriage.
From erratic highs – buying holidays to California, or a new Range Rover – he would plummet to despairing lows. One day, he says, he bought a high-powered Honda Hornet motorbike and wrote it off the same day, landing himself back in hospital. He was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. “On the back of that I’d be wanting to drop myself from a tree,” he says.
Lawrie reached a nadir shortly after recovering from meningitis, he says, when he was made homeless and slept rough in the changing rooms of a disused swimming pool in Otley. “That was where I lived for three months,” he says. Now, he has a purpose.
“When you think about it, I’ve probably got 30 years left on this planet. I can do nothing about the past, but I can try to accept everything about the now and change things for the future by doing positive things now,” he says.
“You’ve heard all these cliches before, but I believe in them, you know. If I can change one or maybe five people’s lives for the better then that’ll do me. And if everyone thought like that ... ”
Not everyone has praised Lawrie as a hero. He says he has received abuse from “local keyboard warriors” and a message online that he “should be hung for trying to smuggle in a future suicide bomber”. The rise of the far right across Europe has led to the sort of vitriol that preceded the second world war, he says.
Equally, the ongoing refugee crisis has inspired ordinary people to do extraordinary things. A woman contacted Lawrie recently, he says, and sent him £2,000 to hire a van to take aid to Greece. Her husband had cancer and she could not leave the house, but she wanted to do something to help.
Lawrie is furious at the British government, which took about 750 refugee children from Calais before halting the process last month. “As far as child refugees are concerned it’s just atrocious,” he says. “It makes me ashamed to be English.”
Lawrie remains in touch with Bahar, or Bru as he calls her, and her father Reza, whom he says are safe and being looked after in France. A year on from his decision to smuggle the toddler out of Calais, would he do it again?
“I’d never do that again, no,” he said, nodding his head with a grin, before adding: “Well, you know, would I get a child to safety if I could get away with it? Yeah, I would.” | Josh Halliday | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/man-who-tried-to-smuggle-child-refugee-into-uk-id-never-do-it-again-well- | LEFT |
4,661,127 | 2017-01-02 07:00:54 | Fox News | German police nab Russian wanted for 13 years by South Korea | German police say they have arrested a Russian man who has been sought by South Korea for more than 13 years as a suspected accessory to murder. | German police say they have arrested a Russian man who has been sought by South Korea for more than 13 years as a suspected accessory to murder.
Federal police said Monday that the 53-year-old, whom they didn't identify, was arrested at Munich airport as he was in transit between Moscow and Prague. He is now in custody awaiting extradition.
Police say the man, who was arrested on Saturday, was sought by South Korean authorities as an accomplice to the killing of a man in 2003. He is accused of driving the getaway car, and could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/german-police-nab-russian-wanted-for-13-years-by-south-korea.html | RIGHT |
4,515,073 | 2017-01-02 07:00:54 | Fox News | Germany sees no future for Assad despite military gains | Germany says it doesn't believe Bashar Assad can continue as Syria's leader under a future peace agreement. | Germany says it doesn't believe Bashar Assad can continue as Syria's leader under a future peace agreement.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer says that Assad's forces capturing eastern Aleppo and other parts of northern Syria "strengthens the regime" and its hand in political negotiations.
But Schaefer told reporters in Berlin on Monday that Germany's assessment that "Assad can't play a permanent role in a peaceful future for Syria" hasn't changed now that his forces are blamed for 300,000 deaths in the six-year war.
Schaefer said opposition groups wouldn't accept any deal to form a transitional government unless Assad's powers were sharply curtailed.
Germany is involved in diplomatic efforts to forge a peace agreement in Syria and has contributed significant funds toward humanitarian relief for those affected by the conflict. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/germany-sees-no-future-for-assad-despite-military-gains.html | RIGHT |
4,388,543 | 2017-01-02 07:00:54 | Fox News | Syrian government blames power cuts on militants | Syria's state news agency says al-Qaida militants have knocked out electricity towers near the capital, causing power cuts in a southern province. | Syria's state news agency says al-Qaida militants have knocked out electricity towers near the capital, causing power cuts in a southern province.
SANA said Monday that fighters from the Fatah al-Sham Front bombed three towers southwest of Damascus, causing electricity cuts in the Quneitra region.
The report came as a cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey held for the fourth day amid sporadic violations. Fighting has raged in the water-rich Barada Valley northwest of Damascus over the past two weeks.
The Fatah al-Sham Front and the Islamic State group are not included in the truce. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/syrian-government-blames-power-cuts-on-militants.html | RIGHT |
4,330,636 | 2017-01-02 07:01:35 | Breitbart | BBC's Impartiality Questioned Following Evidence of EU Funding | The BBC has been accused of a “conflict of interest”, as it emerged that the corporation has taken more than £300,000 in funding from the EU | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
The BBC has been accused of a “conflict of interest”, as it emerged that the corporation has taken more than £300,000 in funding from the European Union since the vote for Brexit.
Critics say the payment is bound to lead to bias in the state media’s reporting, something which the corporation has previously been accused of. In March 2016 Breitbart London reported on an uncritical documentary about President Obama made by the BBC using EU taxpayer funds.
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The BBC is already guaranteed a handout of £3.7 billion from the public purse each year, yet it has emerged that the corporation is set to receive €352,750 for its part in the EU Commission’s Multidrone project.
The project is billed on the Commission website as a collaboration which “aims to develop an innovative, intelligent, multi-drone platform for media production”. German state media outlet Deutsche Welle is also set to receive over €400,000 for its part in the project, as are companies from Italy, Greece, France and Portugal, among others.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said: “It beggars belief that the BBC hasn’t declared this funding, instead saying people should ask the EU. It’s far from transparent.
“If they’re taking any funds from outside the UK they need to declare it, otherwise it’s a clear conflict of interest.
“The BBC is a publicly-funded body and should have the transparency it demands from other entities. If I were taking money from a foreign donor, that would be illegal. And yet the BBC can get away with it.”
In the past few years has taken millions in funding from the European Union for a range of projects, including over €2.4m in 2015 for a project in Syria designed to build community cohesion, which was co-run with Turkish and Lebanese media outlets.
In 2012, the Telegraph revealed that the “BBC received millions of pounds from the European Union and local authorities over the past four years”. Specifically, “BBC Worldwide borrowed over £141 million from the European Investment Bank” as well as receiving more than £3m in grant funding.
However, BBC sources have dismissed allegations that the payments are secret as “total nonsense” because the payments are detailed on the European Commission’s website.
“Details of funding are published by the EU for all to see,” a spokesman said, adding: “We have strict rules in place to ensure that any external funding we receive does not comprise our editorial impartiality or integrity – and BBC News does not receive any grant funding from the EU.
“This funding is for a research and development project co-ordinated by Bristol University looking at the use of drones for media production to cover outdoor events – and it will benefit the wider industry. It has no influence on editorial impartiality.” | Donna Rachel Edmunds | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/02/bbcs-impartiality-questioned-following-evidence-of-eu-funding/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,460,280 | 2017-01-02 07:02:45 | Fox News | Judge: More parking for proposed NJ mosque unconstitutional | A federal judge says an upscale New Jersey town violated anti-discrimination laws by insisting that a proposed mosque have more parking spaces than churches or synagogues. | A federal judge says an upscale New Jersey town violated anti-discrimination laws by insisting that a proposed mosque have more parking spaces than churches or synagogues.
The judge on Saturday ruled that Bernards Township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act by applying a different standard to Muslims.
He said the township's planning board had "unbridled and unconstitutional discretion" due to its vague parking requirements.
The Islamic Society's application to build the mosque was denied after more than three years and 39 public hearings. The group sued the township in March.
The mosque's attorney, Adeel Mangi, called the decision a "landmark ruling."
NJ.com reports township officials say they "vehemently" disagree with the decision and will decide how to proceed after the township's attorneys study it. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/02/judge-more-parking-for-proposed-nj-mosque-unconstitutional.html | RIGHT |
4,094,495 | 2017-01-02 07:09:40 | USA Today | Doctors, pharmacists indicted in $100M fraud case | Doctors, pharmacy owners and marketing pros accused of a kickback scheme. | Dr. Walter Neil Simmons of Gilbert faces one count of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. (Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
PHOENIX — A dozen doctors, pharmacy owners and marketing pros have been accused of a kickback scheme that prosecutors allege involved a sham medical study used to bilk up to $102 million from the publicly funded federal health program for military family members.
The doctors included Walter Neil Simmons, 47, of Gilbert, Ariz., emergency medicine doctor who has worked at two metro Phoenix hospital chains. He was indicted in October in U.S. District Court in Dallas on one count of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud. The federal charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
When reached by phone this week, Simmons said, "I can't make any comments."
Federal prosecutors said the scheme involved prescribing "compounded" drugs such as pain, scar and migraine creams to military families covered by Tricare, the federal health insurance program for active-duty and retired military and family members.
There have been at least two other federal probes alleging pharmacies paid kickbacks to doctors who ordered expensive compounded drugs for patients. One involved a California pharmacy that billed the state's worker's compensation program for pricey markups. In another, a Florida doctor was indicted on a charge of taking kickbacks for sending prescriptions, which billed Tricare and Medicare for creams that cost as much as $21,000 for a one-month supply, according to a federal indictment.
Government oversight bodies also have questioned the spiraling federal spending on these drugs. Medicare spending on compounded topical drugs has surged 3,400% since 2006, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General reported in June.
Allegations of sham study
The Texas case that resulted in the indictments of Simmons and 11 others centered on a Dallas-based company called CMGRX LLC, or Compound Marketing Group. Federal prosecutors allege that the marketing group arranged kickbacks to doctors who prescribed and Tricare-insured patients who purchased drugs from four compounding pharmacies.
The indictment alleged Simmons teamed with two other marketing group representatives to create a sham medical study named the "Patient Safety Initiative," or PSI study.
Tricare enrollees were paid study "grants" of $250 per month for each prescription they obtained from a partner pharmacy.
"The defendants and their co-conspirators falsely represented that the study was approved by Tricare and that it was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of compounded drugs," the indictment stated. "In reality, the PSI study was not approved by Tricare, was not overseen by a qualified physician, epidemiologist or other medical professional, had no control group, and was not designed to gather any useful scientific data relating to the safety or efficacy of any drug."
Writing prescriptions
The indictment alleged that Simmons also recruited an El Paso doctor, William F. Elder-Quintana, who wrote thousands of prescriptions that cost Tricare $96 million through June 2016. Elder-Quintana and other doctors were paid $60 for each pain or scar creme prescription or $30 for each vitamin prescription, the indictment said.
The indictment also alleged that marketing group employees would contact Tricare's pharmacy-benefits consultant, Express Scripts, to find out whether certain drugs were covered. These employees then would adjust the prescriptions to maximize payments from Tricare "without any regard for the medical necessity for the prescriptions."
The indictment accused marketing group employees of sending prefilled prescription forms to Elder-Quintana, who it alleged would sign the prescriptions after a cursory telephone interview with the patient. Other times, marketing group employees would use a stamp with Elder-Quintana's signature to order prescriptions, the indictment stated.
The other 11 defendants all listed addresses in Texas. Richard Robert Cesario and John Paul Cooper, co-owners and co-operators of CMGRX LLC, initially were charged in February.
Follow Ken Alltucker on Twitter: @kalltucker
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2hIjaL3 | Ken Alltucker;The Arizona Republic;P.M. Est January | www.usatoday.com | http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/01/phoenix-doctor-indicted-100-million-fraud-case/96072826/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories | CENTER |
116,910,540 | 2017-01-02 07:11:03 | CNN | Repealing Obamacare affects everyone | Obamacare touches more than just those buying individual insurance on the exchanges. | Obamacare touches just about everyone.
It's not just for the 20 million people who have health insurance through the individual Obamacare exchanges or Medicaid expansion.
Under Obamacare, senior citizens pay less for Medicare coverage and for their prescription drugs. Many Americans have received free contraceptives, mammograms, colonoscopies and cholesterol tests. And small business employees with older and sicker workers have not been slapped with super-high premiums.
"The ACA made changes in every part of the health care system," said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, of the Affordable Care Act. "Virtually everyone has been touched by the ACA."
President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have vowed to swiftly repeal Obamacare. They plan to start with the provisions that affect spending and revenues -- including the federal subsidies, Medicaid expansion, taxes and mandates that all individuals obtain coverage and large employees provide it. That will require only a majority of votes in the Senate. But Republicans have promised to eventually undo all of President Obama's signature health reform law, save for the provision allowing children under age 26 to stay on their parents' plan.
Here's how Obamacare and its full repeal would affect all Americans:
Medicare
Dismantling Obamacare would likely mean higher premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing for the 57 million senior citizens and disabled Americans enrolled in the program. It would also bring back the infamous "donut hole" in Medicare's prescription drug coverage.
The health reform law made many changes to Medicare. It slowed the growth of payment rates to hospitals and other providers, reduced payments to Medicare Advantage plans and improved benefits for enrollees. Repealing Obamacare would increase Medicare spending by $802 billion over 10 years, according to estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
As a result, Medicare beneficiaries would pay more because premiums and deductibles are tied to the growth of federal outlays. So seniors would face higher deductibles and co-payments for their Part A, which covers hospital stays, and higher premiums and deductibles for Part B, which pays for doctor visits and other services. The White House estimated that the typical Medicare beneficiary is paying about $700 less in premium and cost sharing this year because of slower growth in costs.
Under Obamacare, Medicare enrollees receive free preventative benefits, such as screenings for breast and colorectal cancer, heart disease and diabetes. This provision would disappear under a full repeal.
Readers: How has Obamacare affected you? How should President-elect Trump reform health care? Email [email protected] and we may cite you in an upcoming story.
Also, Obamacare called for closing the gap in Medicare's drug coverage in stages, completely eliminating it by 2020. Senior citizens have to pay more for drugs while they are in the donut hole. For 2016, the gap begins when enrollees and their insurers have spent $3,310 for medication and ends after they hit $4,850 in costs. Since Obamacare was passed in 2010, more than 11 million people have saved an average of more than $2,100 a person on prescription drugs, according to the White House.
The donut hole would return if Obamacare were repealed.
Higher-income enrollees, however, would see some financial benefit from repeal. Obamacare froze the threshold for the Medicare premium surcharge at $85,000 for individuals and $170,000 for couples, so more people have become subject to it. The law also added a premium surcharge on drug coverage for wealthier beneficiaries.
Related: Obamacare under President Trump: What happens next?
Employer-sponsored insurance
Say goodbye to the employer mandate if Obamacare is repealed. Companies with at least 50 employees would no longer be required to provide affordable insurance to their staffers who work more than 30 hours a week.
This likely wouldn't have a major impact on the 150 million workers who are insured through their jobs since most larger employers already offer coverage for full-time workers, Levitt said.
However, setting the bar at 30 hours a week prompted some employers to extend coverage to more of their staff, since many companies had considered that threshold to be part-time. If repealed, companies could opt to cover only those working at least 35 or 40 hours a week, leaving some people uninsured.
Also, companies would no longer have to keep children on their parents' plans until they turn 26. This has proved to be one of the more popular Obamacare provisions, with 2.3 million Americans ages 19 to 25 signing up between 2010 and the start of open enrollment in 2013, according to the White House's most recent figure. (Trump has said he may keep this policy.)
Workers, however, may have to start paying again for contraceptives and preventative screenings, such as colonoscopies and mammograms. Obamacare requires these to be provided free-of-charge.
Obamacare also prohibits employers from imposing annual or lifetime limits on benefits and caps out-of-pocket spending (to $6,850 for single workers in 2016). But most companies' policies already met these criteria.
Repealing Obamacare could have a bigger hit on employees who work at companies with fewer than 50 workers.
They enjoyed many of the benefits Obamacare brought to the individual market. Insurers could no longer ban workers with pre-existing conditions or ask them to pay more. It required plans to cover an array of benefits, including maternity, mental health and prescription drugs. And it limited insurers from charging older workers premiums more than three times those of younger workers. All this could be reversed under repeal.
Related: How Trump may cover Americans with pre-existing conditions
Individual market
Obamacare has had the largest impact on the individual market, which was largely unregulated prior to the health reform law.
It sought to make health insurance more accessible and affordable in a number of ways. It required insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions and banned them from charging the sick more. The law ended the practice of insurers imposing annual or lifetime caps on benefits, and it also placed limits on annual out-of-pocket spending. It mandated that individual insurance cover an array of benefits, including medication, maternity and mental health. It prevented insurers from charging women more and restricted premiums for older folks at no more than three times those of young adults.
Obamacare set up health insurance exchanges to allow Americans to shop for individual policies and created federal subsidies so low- and moderate-income enrollees could buy policies for less than 10% of their income. Another set of subsidies limit the deductibles and co-payments for lower-income policyholders. Some 10.4 million people were covered through the Obamacare exchanges, as of June.
Another 6.9 million Americans purchase individual policies outside of the Obamacare exchanges. They cannot apply for subsidies, but receive all of the other benefits.
(Trump has said he would continue to require insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions, but only if they were continuously insured. Those who did not have coverage could be subject to higher premiums or forced to apply for policies in state-based high-risk pools.)
Related: Obamacare 2017 enrollment hits record
Medicaid
Before Obamacare, most Medicaid enrollees were low-income children, pregnant women, parents, the disabled and the elderly.
The health reform law opened up the program to low-income adults with incomes of up to 138% of the poverty line -- $16,400 for a single person -- in states that opted to expand their Medicaid programs. So far, 31 states, plus the District of Columbia, have done so, adding nearly 17 million more people to the rolls since late 2013, just before the provision took effect. (This figure includes both those newly eligible under expansion and those who always met the criteria.)
Related: Major changes for Medicaid coming under Trump and the GOP
Under the program, the federal government paid 100% of the costs of the expansion population for the first three years and slowly lowered the reimbursement rate to 90%.
Repealing Obamacare would leave millions of the poorest Americans without insurance.
Uninsured
Under Obamacare, nearly all Americans have to obtain insurance or pay a penalty, which this year hit $695 per adult or 2.5% of household income, whichever is greater. This mandate would be lifted by repeal. | Tami Luhby | money.cnn.com | http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/02/news/economy/repealing-obamacare-health-insurance/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,296,513 | 2017-01-02 07:11:29 | Breitbart | In Istanbul Nightclub, Terrorist Picked Off the Wounded | Francois al-Asmar played dead as the gunman walked through the exclusive Istanbul nightclub shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Shot in the arm and slumped behind a table, Francois al-Asmar played dead as the gunman walked through the exclusive Istanbul nightclub shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground.
Like most of the 39 people killed at a New Year’s party in Reina, a hang-out for the Turkish jet set and moneyed foreigners, the Lebanese radio and TV graduate was a visitor to Istanbul, enjoying a city reputed in the Middle East for its diversity and tolerance.
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“He shot one shot, so we thought – I thought – it was some angry or drunk man … But a few seconds later, we heard a machine gun,” Asmar told Reuters from his hospital bed.
Read more here. | Breitbart Jerusalem | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/01/02/istanbul-nightclub-terrorist-picked-off-wounded/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,356,982 | 2017-01-02 07:12:19 | Breitbart | Media Suddenly Find 'Courage' to Stand up for First Amendment | Good news: the media are remembering that their job is to serve as a check on power. But they are hardly guardians of the First Amendment. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
“Thank you, Mr. President. During these first 100 days, what has surprised you the most about this office, enchanted you the most about serving this in office, humbled you the most and troubled you the most?”
That was the obsequious question asked by a New York Times reporter during one of President Barack Obama’s first press conferences, in April 2009.
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The media were unperturbed by the president’s rough treatment of the Fourth Estate thus far — how his campaign “hijacked” a press plane, with journalists aboard, flying them to Chicago without the candidate; how the campaign attempted to silence a journalist, Stanley Kurtz, when he revealed the truth of Obama’s relationship with former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers; and how Obama aides suggested that the “Fairness Doctrine” be revived in an effort to shut down vigorous opposition from talk radio.
No — Obama was their man, and that was all that needed to be said about press freedom and independence. The Washington Post gushed over a visit from the President-elect in January 2009:
Barack Obama visited the Washington Post to meet the editorial board and national staff, but his tour of the 5th floor newsroom nearly stopped the presses. Staff writers, photographers, editors and employees from other departments lined the hallway after word spread that the President-elect would be walking through the newroom. At about 3:15 p.m., Obama entered through a back hallway and began shaking hands, as professional newsmen and women reached over to shake his hand and take pictures. Obama was trailed by advisor David Axelrod, assistant Reggie Love, Post Chairman Donald Graham, Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Editor Marcus Brauchli.
Throughout the Obama administration, the press did little to stand up for the First Amendment — not when Obama froze the White House press pool out of his activities; not when the administration targeted the Associated Press and Fox News reporter James Rosen; not even when President Obama signed the Press Freedom Act but refused to take press questions. Many in the media even cheered Obama’s assaults on the First Amendment in Citizens United and Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate.
So it is difficult, now, to take the mainstream media seriously when they warn of dangers to press freedom and the First Amendment from President-elect Trump. As Politico notes, the Times and Wall Street Journal joined NBC News’ Meet the Press — whose host infamously declared the election over on October 8 — to express their “wariness over the incoming president-elect’s respect for the First Amendment.”
Trump has done nothing to challenge the First Amendment — as Hillary Clinton did, directly. He has called for tougher libel laws, such as those that exist in the United Kingdom (alongside a more vigorous opposition press). He has also feuded often with journalists, who made no secret of their hostility towards him, and frequently distorted reality in a desperate effort to destroy his campaign.
That is all.
The media will need to be vigilant and vigorous during a Trump administration — as they ought to have been during the Obama administration. And it is certainly good news that the Times, among many other outlets, is finally remembering, after more than eight long years, that part of the media’s job is to serve as a check on power.
But guardians of the First Amendment? Hardly.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | Joel B. Pollak | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/01/02/first-amendment-media-suddenly-finds-courage-confront-trump/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
39,010,518 | 2017-01-02 07:12:33 | The Guardian | Cory Bernardi and George Christensen to speak at $150-a-head dinner for anti-Islam group | Conservative Liberal parliamentarians to appear at dinner hosted by Q Society to raise funds to defend a defamation case brought by a halal certifier | Conservative Liberal party members George Christensen and Cory Bernardi will be drawcard speakers at a $150-a-head dinner next month to help raise funds for an anti-Islam organisation to defend a defamation case brought by a halal certifier.
The dinner will be held in Melbourne on 10 February, with the cost of the tickets including a “sparkling welcome, a variety of fine finger food and a generous serve of free speech”.
“This is an excellent opportunity to mingle with outspoken advocates for Liberty and Western values and show your support for this important cause,” the dinner advertisement says.
The response to the $150 ticket price has been mixed on Facebook.
Anti-halal campaigner sued over claims Islamic certification supports terrorism Read more
One user posted “Love to come. But I live in Qld... good luck”, while another said “150 per head, bugger that!” and another posted “Sorry I am busy - I have to stay home and cut my toe nails!”
Sydney will host a similar dinner on 9 February, without Christensen or Bernardi. Its speakers will include Sky News host Ross Cameron, controversial cartoonist Larry Pickering, Angry Anderson, and crime author Gabrielle Lord.
The dinners will be hosted by the Q Society, which calls itself “Australia’s leading Islam-critical movement”, and has called for a 10-year moratorium on immigration from Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries, and for Australia to withdraw from the “hijacked” UN refugee convention.
Last year Mohamed El-Mouelhy, the head of Halal Certification Australia, launched legal action against the organisation and three of its members over two videos posted on YouTube in 2013 and 2014.
The defendants include Kirralie Smith, a New South Wales Senate candidate for the Australian Liberty Alliance who narrated the videos, and Debbie Robinson, national president of the Q Society.
According to a statement of claim filed in the action, the videos posted by the defendants made several defamatory imputations about El-Mouelhy, including that he sought to mislead and deceive the general public, was pushing for sharia law in Australia, and was promoting “a global push for Islamisation calculated to destroy Australia values of freedom and tolerance”.
El-Mouelhy is seeking damages, aggravated damages, interest and injunctions against further publication of the imputations. Smith says YouTube has blocked both videos from Australian IP addresses.
“So unless you have a different IP address you are not able to judge for yourself the content of these publications,” she said.
Last month Christensen told Guardian Australia he had been asked to appear at the fundraising dinner in Melbourne “to assist my good friend Kirralie”.
“I will be speaking in support of free speech and against political correctness.”
George Christensen on poverty, priesthood and a flirtation with One Nation Read more
Bernardi, who has made accusations against El-Mouelhy under parliamentary privilege, told the Australian last month he was “more than happy to assist in raising money to fund the legal defence of a friend against Mohamed El-Mouelhy”.
Smith says all proceeds and donations will go towards the legal expenses incurred by Q Society of Australia Inc, Smith et al in the defamation action.
A trial has been set down for four to five weeks in the NSW supreme court in March. | Gareth Hutchens | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/02/cory-bernardi-and-george-christensen-to-speak-at-150-a-head-dinner-for-anti-islam-group | LEFT |
4,350,533 | 2017-01-02 07:14:36 | Breitbart | Cologne Police Attacked for 'Racial Profiling' During NYE | After reducing violent crimes on New Year's Eve from 1,000 to less than a dozen, Cologne police were criticised for using "racial" methods. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Hailed a success by its organisers for reducing the number of violent crimes committed on New Year’s Eve from over 1,000 last year to less than a dozen, Cologne police are now being criticised for using “racial” methods.
Left-wing activists, including members of the local Green party, have criticised the police for focusing their security efforts too clearly at the same groups which were identified as the main perpetrators of the 2016 attacks. The comments came after Cologne police controlled thousands of so-called ‘Nafris’ — North Africans — as they attempted to enter the city centre ring of steel.
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Germany’s Deutsche Welle reports the remarks of Green party chairman Simone Peter who noted that while the measures had worked, he doubted the legality of the police’s actions. He said: “It raises the question of proportionality and legality when around 1,000 people were checked and partially detained based on their appearance alone.”
Meanwhile left-wing politician Christopher Lauer, active at times with the Social Democrats and Pirate Protest Party, said of the terms used by Cologne police that it was “sweeping prejudice against an entire group of people based on their appearance”.
“I regard this term as highly dehumanizing.”
Despite the ill feeling over the approach, Cologne’s local Express newspaper reports the arrest of a 38-year-old Syrian on New Year’s Eve as police believed “urgent” action was necessary following intelligence he was planning a terror attack that evening. The migrant had previously been arrested for terror-financing offences.
Cologne police gave regular updates through the night and local newspapers carried updates from the force reporting the number of Nafris who had been stopped, searched, and turned away. Upon arriving, hundreds of potential migrant troublemakers and even individuals known to have been involved in the 2016 attacks were immediately turned around and escorted to trains out of the centre.
In all, 1,200 Nafris were controlled by Cologne police. In addition, the force recorded two sexual assaults, six thefts, and 29 individuals were arrested. One train coming into the city which police learnt had 300 North Africans on-board was stopped and turned back just before it reached the centre.
This contrasts with the 2016 celebrations when over 500 women were recorded as victims of sexual assault and 28 were raped. Including other crimes such as thefts and assaults, there were some 1,300 victims.
Cologne’s police chief was forced to retire early after the policing failure, which saw less than 100 officers on patrol for the whole city. Now defending the force from having policed the event too thoroughly instead, chief Jürgen Mathies said that while they had deliberately targeted Nafris for searches and identity checks, of the hundreds met in this way “there was a clear threat of criminal activity present”.
He said “We had groups of people who were comparably aggressive” to those that police encountered last year.
The police chief also emphasised the fact that police hadn’t only performed security checks on North Africans, but had investigated other groups as well. The city’s mayor called the measures “necessary”.
The force also defended the ‘Nafri’ term, which was admitted to be an internal policing term. An internal document describing Nafris revealed in the German press briefs police officers that they come from Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, are generally between 15 and 25-years-old, and are violent.
The document states: “The clientele behaves very aggressively against intervening police officers and city colleagues… Armaments (folding knives) are regularly carried.” | Oliver Jj Lane | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/02/cologne-police-attacked-racial-profiling-new-years-eve-security-operation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,310,031 | 2017-01-02 07:17:01 | Breitbart | Report: 3,853 New Federal Rules Issued in 2016, 211 New Laws Passed | Report: 3,853 New Federal Rules Issued in 2016, 211 New Laws Passed | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
For every one law that Congress passed in 2016, the federal bureaucracy issued 18 new rules and regulations, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
Federal agencies under the Obama administration issued 3,853 rules and regulations in 2016, which is more than was issued in 2015, according to the 97,110 page Federal Register.
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Congress passed 211 laws in 2016.
Clyde Wayne Crews of CEI, a free-market, public policy organization in Washington, D.C., predicts that the incoming Congress will likely roll back many of those rules and regulations issued during President Obama’s final year in office.
During Obama’s eight years in the White House, 2016 was the highest year in terms of the number of final rules issued.
Previously, the highest years for federal rules being issued since 2000 had been 2003, 2004 and 2005 under President George W. Bush. | Alex Swoyer | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/5847167/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
116,928,929 | 2017-01-02 07:17:26 | CNN | France gives workers 'right to disconnect' from office email | France introduced a new law on January 1 that encourages workers to ignore after-hours emails. | French workers have won the right to ignore business emails that arrive after hours.
A new labor law that took effect on Sunday gives employees the "right to disconnect" from email, smartphones and other electronic leashes once their working day has ended.
"These measures are designed to ensure respect for rest periods and ... balance between work and family and personal life," the Ministry of Labor said in a statement.
The rule requires companies with 50 or more employees to negotiate new out-of-office email guidelines with staff. Firms have a duty to regulate the use of emails to ensure employees get a break from the office.
If management and staff cannot agree on new rules, the firm must publish a charter to define and regulate when employees should be able to switch off.
French unions have long pushed for a "disconnect" rule, saying digital technologies have created an "explosion of undeclared labor" that is forcing employees to work outside the typical work week.
Some French companies have already put rules in place to bar employees from using their work devices after hours. Some firms even completely shut down their email systems overnight.
Related: Best jobs for work-life balance
The email rule is the latest in a series of measures designed to overhaul France's labor laws.
The government last year introduced new rules that make it easier for employers to fire workers and reduce overtime pay. The changes resulted in crippling strikes.
The country's 35-hour work week has been in place since 2000, but various reforms have softened these rules over time and some industries are granted special exceptions.
France's economy has been stagnating for years and many multinational firms take a dim view of French business regulations.
The International Monetary Fund expects France's economy will grow by 1.3% this year, on a par with 2016. | Alanna Petroff;Océane Cornevin | money.cnn.com | http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/02/technology/france-office-email-workers-law/index.html | UNDEFINED |
39,134,186 | 2017-01-02 07:20:18 | The Guardian | Life in Polar Bear Town with Gordon Buchanan review bleak enlightening | In Churchill, Manitoba, there are times when the polar bears outnumber the people. It’s an uneasy mix full of contradictions that Buchanan gamely tries to unpick | For those missing their weekly Planet Earth fix, cameraman Gordon Buchanan – last seen waiting in a hide in Mumbai for 27 nights in order to have a close encounter with a leopard – is back with his own magnanimous brand of wildlife TV. But if Planet Earth was the showy, gregarious big daddy of the genre, then Life in Polar Bear Town with Gordon Buchanan (BBC2, Saturday) is its emo younger brother, more muted and contemplative, as bleak as it is enlightening.
Buchanan has history with bears. He spent a year with a family of wild black bears in 2011 for The Bear Family and Me, which featured an unforgettable close encounter with a female bear unhappy that Buchanan had reached out to touch her cub. He had misjudged her acceptance of his presence; she swiped a mighty swipe to remind him. Two years later he presented The Polar Bear Family and Me, which tracked the lives of a female polar bear and her two cubs. This proved more controversial: authorities in Svalbard where it was filmed were critical of the producer’s approach and warned of a fine for “disturbing” the creatures.
This makes Life In Polar Bear Town feel like something of a mea culpa. It’s the story of Churchill in northern Manitoba, Canada, which sits on the migratory path of polar bears. Towards the end of the year, the polar bears living around the town number around 1,000 to the 700 human residents. Not only have the inhabitants learned to deal with the daily reality of sharing space with one of the world’s biggest and most effective hunters; they have turned Churchill into a tourist site in which visitors can see these animals up close. It’s an uneasy mix full of contradictions that Buchanan, who is amiable to the last, gamely attempts to unpick.
Our first sight of these polar bears is on a snowless expanse; the cold weather is late to arrive this year. In the background, a plane full of visitors is coming in to land. Wherever there’s a bear, there are carloads of onlookers pointing their cameras, each trying to capture their once-in-a-lifetime shot. It’s eerie and unsettling. The two worlds are not natural bedfellows.
Buchanan, a spectator himself, is sympathetic. He gets that this is something people have wanted to see for their whole lives, and that the experience may make people feel more connected to the earth. But he’s clearly uneasy with the extent to which this interferes with the bears’ existence. Churchill’s conservation team has to keep their most famous residents away from the people – there hasn’t been a human killed by a bear there since 1983, though an average of 1.5 bears are “euthanised” each year. There’s “polar bear prison”, where particularly bold creatures are locked up for six weeks with no food, so as to put them off. There are deterrents in the form of sirens and flares and rubber bullets. The worst offenders are sedated and flown off in a net underneath a helicopter, to be dropped off in a safe zone 80km away. When we see it happen here, there are crowds watching, filming.
The residents of Churchill have a deeper understanding of the bears, as Buchanan appears to have of the townsfolk. There’s Dennis, a lifelong resident and bear expert who suggests that perhaps a guarded fence around the town might be a better solution than locking bears away. Erin was almost scalped by a bear who grabbed her late one night, but, she points out, the bears were there first, after all. Even the cafe-owner concedes that it’s the humans causing all the issues. “We’re the problem. We’re the ones who built a town in their migratory way,” he says.
Sadly, it is starting to look like a lose-lose situation. Investment in tourism is hard to come by in Churchill, they suggest, because the polar bears may not be a spectacle that can be monetised for long. They come to wait for the Arctic to freeze, so they can hunt for seals, but each year, as the climate grows milder, the sea takes longer to become ice, and thaws more quickly. If the ice goes, the bears won’t be far behind it. The truth is stark: the cars and planes bringing people to see these magnificent creatures are contributing to their extinction.
This is not, then, the uplifting and cutesy entertainment you might have expected from a festive programme about polar bears. Still, at least in 2017, we can look forward to a US president who thinks global warming was invented by the Chinese, and a British prime minister who has already shut down the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Happy new year! | Rebecca Nicholson | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/02/life-in-polar-bear-town-gordon-buchanan-review | LEFT |
79,081,979 | 2017-01-02 07:22:00 | Politico | GOP tweaks plan to crack down on House video takers | The move is a response to Democrats' gun control "sit-in" last summer, which lawmakers livestreamed with their cell phones. | "The speaker told the conference he supported the amendment, which will allow the enforcement mechanism to remain to ensure the House can do its work, while also adding a due process mechanism that would allow members to appeal the decision after being fined,” said Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong. | Getty GOP tweaks plan to crack down on House video takers
House Republicans during a conference meeting Monday evening amended their planned crackdown on taking videos or pictures of the House floor. The changes were an attempt to alleviate concerns that their proposed punishment would be unconstitutional.
With the blessing of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his top lieutenants, Republicans altered their plan so that lawmakers who are fined $2,500 can appeal to the House Ethics Committee. The move is a response to Democrats' gun control "sit-in" last summer, which lawmakers livestreamed with their cell phones.
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“The speaker told the conference he supported the amendment, which will allow the enforcement mechanism to remain to ensure the House can do its work, while also adding a due process mechanism that would allow members to appeal the decision after being fined,” said Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong.
GOP leadership in late December unveiled a plan to deduct from members’ paychecks fines for livestreaming or taking photos from the House floor, which is against House rules.
Republicans had shut down the House when the demonstration began, thus also cutting off the public C-SPAN cameras. But Democrats videoed the House takeover with their cell phones, defying House rules prohibiting such filming.
Republicans plotted for months to either punish them or put teeth behind the rules to deter such actions from happening again.
But legal experts worried their proposal — which would have allowed the sergeant-at-arms to fine lawmakers for such incidents — could be unconstitutional. For one, the House typically has to vote as a whole to sanction lawmakers, or go through the ethics panel. Secondly, some worried about due process rights, specifically that members lacked a mechanism to appeal a fine.
The latter concern appear to have caught Ryan’s attention. He threw his weight behind the amendment by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to change the proposed rule, citing due process.
A description of the Meadows amendment, shared with POLITICO, said it “ensures that proactive decorum changes meant to prevent future disruptions on the House floor don’t impose unconstitutional mandates and instead requires a mandatory referral to the House Ethics Committee for such violations.” | Rachael Bade;Elana Schor | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/house-rules-republicans-video-233110 | UNDEFINED |
4,482,034 | 2017-01-02 07:30:24 | Fox News | Archbishop Capucci, deported in '70s from Israel, dies | Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who was an archbishop in Jerusalem when Israel convicted him in 1976 of using his diplomatic status to smuggle arms to Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank, has died. | Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who was an archbishop in Jerusalem when Israel convicted him in 1976 of using his diplomatic status to smuggle arms to Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank, has died. He was 94.
The Vatican on Monday confirmed reports the Capucci had died in Rome, but provided no details, including when.
A native of Aleppo, Syria, the Greek-Melkite priest had a history of activism linked to the Palestinian and other Middle East conflicts.
After he served two years in an Israeli prison for the conviction, he was released due to Vatican intervention and deported.
He was 86 in 2009 when he was aboard an aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip that Israel intercepted.
In 2000, Capucci led an anti-sanctions delegation to Iraq. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/archbishop-capucci-deported-in-70s-from-israel-dies.html | RIGHT |
4,344,671 | 2017-01-02 07:40:03 | Breitbart | Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Istanbul Nightclub Attack | The Islamic State has formally taken responsibility for the slaughter at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Eve. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
The Islamic State has formally taken responsibility for the slaughter at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, issuing an unusually direct official statement that hailed the still-at-large gunman as a “heroic soldier of the caliphate.”
“In continuation of the blessed operations that Islamic State is conducting against the protector of the cross, Turkey, a heroic soldier of the caliphate struck one of the most famous nightclubs where the Christians celebrate their apostate holiday. He used hand grenades and a machine gun and transformed their celebration to mourning,” read the statement from the terror state, as translated by Al-Jazeera and the New York Times.
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“The apostate Turkish government should know that the blood of Muslims shed with airplanes and artillery fire will, with God’s permission, ignite a fire in their own land,” ISIS added, in an apparent reference to Turkey’s military operations in Syria.
Although several terrorist attacks in Turkey have been blamed on the Islamic State, the New York Times notes it is rare for ISIS to formally claim responsibility for attacks in Turkey, possibly because it did not want to provoke the Turkish government into taking more severe actions against it.
Turkey is now fighting both Kurdish militias and ISIS in Syria, announcing airstrikes on Monday that killed at least 22 ISIS fighters on Syrian soil.
Leaders of the Kurdish separatists in Turkey, the PKK, condemned the nightclub attack, and insisted they had nothing to do with it.
The attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul killed 39 and wounded 70 at last count. The Times reports 27 of slain victims were foreigners: “Seven victims came from Saudi Arabia; Iraq and Lebanon each had three citizens among the dead; India, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia each had two; and Canada, Israel, Kuwait, Russia and Syria each had one.”
Heavy.com notes that ISIS began circulating a message on social media in December warning Muslims that “to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the kuffar is to embrace their idolatry and paganism and to shun the rulings of our Lord.” Kuffar is a derogatory term for those who do not believe in Islam.
“There is nothing to celebrate. The Gregorian calendar is rooted in kufr and blatantly ignores the lunar calendar and that introduced to follow the Hijrah of our honorable Prophet,” the Islamic State’s theologians insisted. | John Hayward | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/01/02/isis-claims-responsibility-istanbul-nightclub-attack/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,335,398 | 2017-01-02 07:43:42 | Breitbart | Texas Cop Survives New Year's Day Ambush | A Texas police officer is lucky to be alive after being shot in the back in what was described as a New Year’s Day ambush style attack. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
A central Texas police officer is lucky to be alive after he was shot in the back in what was described as a New Year’s Day ambush-style attack. The officer’s life was saved by his ballistic vest.
Calvert Police Officer Stephen Magnes, one of seven in the small town of Calvert, was giving a woman a courtesy ride home early in the morning of January 1, according to a police statement obtained by The Eagle newspaper in Bryan-College Station. When he arrived at the destination and got out of his car to let the woman out, he was immediately shot in the back.
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The suspect, identified later as 27-year-old Petrick Leshane Jones, fired multiple shots at Officer Magnes–striking the officer one time. Police reports did not indicate if Officer Magnes returned fire. Jones was taken into custody and is reportedly cooperating with police investigators, the local newspaper stated.
Investigators said the ballistic vest likely saved the officer from serious injury or death. The officer was taken to a hospital in nearby Bryan, Texas. He was released after an examination.
Magnes thanked well-wishers on his Facebook page for their words of support and prayers. His father, Robert Magnes, wrote on Facebook that his son was doing well and was resting at home. He said his son was sore and bruised from the attack.
His post stated, “This was not the call we wanted for the New Year. Thankfully God was watching over my son and (he) is alright. He was wearing his vest and the bullet did not penetrate it.”
In a reply to a well-wisher, the senior Magnes wrote, “He said it was like Mike Tyson let loose on him.”
The attack is being investigated by the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Rangers. No motive for the shooting has been released at this time, but Jones is said to be cooperating with detectives. A local television station, KBTX CBS3, called the attack an “ambush.”
Calvert, Texas, is a town of roughly 1,100 people and is located about 30 miles northwest of Bryan on Highway 6.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX. | Bob Price | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/01/02/texas-cop-survives-new-years-day-ambush/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,338,047 | 2017-01-02 07:44:17 | Breitbart | Backfire: Obama Sanctions Allow Trump to Pursue Closer Relations with Russia | Backfire: Obama Sanctions Allow Trump to Pursue Closer Relations with Russia | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Various analysts and news outlets favorable to President Barack Obama have acknowledged that the president’s decision to essentially deport 35 U.S.-based Kremlin diplomats suspected of serving as intelligence operatives and impose sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services are meant to “box in” President-elect Donald Trump.
In response to Obama’s measures, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the U.S. president the cold shoulder, saying from now on any future attempt to engage with the United States would take place under the incoming administration.
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Moreover, President Obama expected Putin to follow the long history of retaliation and reciprocal expulsions that has governed the relationship between the United States and Russia for decades, but the Kremlin leader instead chose to deviate from the typical diplomatic protocol of tit-for-tat.
Putin’s reaction went against high-ranking Kremlin officials urging the Russian president to retaliate, a move that completely undermined Obama’s effort to make it difficult for the incoming commander-in-chief to improve relations with Russia.
In the statement responding to the sanctions, Putin said the Kremlin “will not resort to the level of irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy,” using what the New York Times (NYT) described as “a common Russian idiom for quarrelsome and unseemly acts.”
Obama’s move appears to have backfired, granting the incoming administration leeway to pursue the Moscow-approved restoration of Russia-U.S. relations that Trump has been advocating.
NYT notes:
Should Mr. Putin have chosen to retaliate harshly against the United States [as Obama expected], he would most likely have deepened the rift between the two countries and left President-elect Donald J. Trump with a nettlesome diplomatic standoff from the moment he arrived in the Oval Office. But by choosing to essentially disregard Mr. Obama’s punitive measures, Mr. Putin can try to disarm his American critics, including members of Congress who consider him an aggressive foe of the United States. That could give Mr. Trump more room to pursue the closer cooperation with Russia that he has advocated
“This is a perfect step because it makes Obama’s administration look very weak and it opens a new page in relations with Trump,” Vladimir Frolov, an international affairs analyst and a columnist, told the Times. “Moscow wanted Trump to have room to maneuver; this decision is a clear gesture of good will toward him.”
Various analysts have used the “box in” expression in reference to Obama’s Russia move, including Eric Lorber, a senior adviser at the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD); and Kellyanne Conway, who managed Trump’s campaign and has been selected to serve as a counselor to the Republican president in the White House, and mainstream media outlets like NYT.
Obama’s actions came in response to Russia allegedly trying to influence the 2016 elections through the supposed hacking of both the Democratic National Committee’s servers and the email account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. The Podesta emails were ultimately published online by the organization Wikileaks shortly before the election. Those who accuse Russia of the hacking claim the move was intended to obtain information that came from the minds of the Democrats themselves. Some have blamed the hacking scandal for the demise of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, implying that the DNC and Podesta’s own words impacted the decision of Americans who voted against Mrs. Clinton.
The Obama administration has yet to provide public evidence linking Russia to Wikileaks.
Various media outlets have erroneously conflated the cyberattack against the DNC and Podesta with a hacking of the U.S. electoral system. There is also no evidence the latter occurred.
Putin has denied the Obama administration’s accusations of Russian cyberattacks intended to influence U.S. presidential elections.
According to the State Department, the ejection of the Russian diplomats – dubbed by the Times “the strongest American response yet to a state-sponsored cyberattack” – is also a response to the increasing “pattern of harassment” of American diplomats in Russia.
Despite being friendly to the Obama administration, Vox Media suggested the president’s actions against Russia are toothless, noting they are unlikely to “frighten Putin into changing his behavior.” Vox conceded Obama’s move is intended “to make it significantly harder for Trump to start his tenure in the White House with an immediate effort to improve ties with Vladimir Putin.”
The Trump team has denounced the DNC hacking, insisting that it remains unclear whether it was a state-sponsored cyberattack by Russia at the behest of Putin. Trump’s incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told Eric Bolling last week, “We agree that foreign governments should not be hacking into American institutions, period!” | Edwin Mora | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/01/02/obama-sanctions-may-backfire-allowing-trump-forge-closer-relations-putin/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
79,066,778 | 2017-01-02 07:56:00 | Politico | House Republicans gut their own oversight | The Office of Congressional Ethics would lose its independence. | House Republicans on Monday adopted a proposal by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to put the Office of Congressional Ethics under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee. | AP Photo Congress House Republicans gut their own oversight
In one of their first moves of the new Congress, House Republicans have voted to gut their own independent ethics watchdog — a huge blow to cheerleaders of congressional oversight and one that dismantles major reforms adopted after the Jack Abramoff scandal.
Despite a warning from Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Republicans on Monday adopted a proposal by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to put the Office of Congressional Ethics under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee.
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The office currently has free rein, enabling investigators to pursue allegations and then recommend further action to the House Ethics Committee as they see fit.
Now, the office would be under the thumb of lawmakers themselves. The proposal also appears to limit the scope of the office’s work by barring them from consider anonymous tips against lawmakers. And it would stop the office from disclosing the findings of some of their investigations, as they currently do after the recommendations go to House Ethics.
President-elect Donald Trump ran on a platform of draining the swamp of an often all-too-cozy Washington D.C. Monday night’s moves go in the opposite direction, severely loosening oversight of lawmakers' potential conflicts of interest, use of campaign money and other ethical matters.
Democrats had created the OCE after the Abramoff scandal, in which the well-connect lobbyist was found to have tried to bribe lawmakers. Their idea was that an outside agency of sorts that could take up a more robust oversight of members. Republicans, however, claim the group has been too aggressive in making referrals.
Under the Goodlatte proposal, the OCE would be renamed the “Office of Congressional Complaint Review," according to a summery of the House rules amendment obtained by POLITICO. It "places the office under the oversight of the Committee on Ethics.”
The provision would "provide protection against disclosures to the public or other government entities," essentially sealing accusations against lawmakers. Currently those investigations are made public several months after the OCE refers the matter to the Ethics panel.
The pitch would also appears be retroactive, saying it “limits the jurisdiction of the office to the last three Congresses to conform to the statute of limitations for the Committee on Ethics.”
The proposed changed will be included in a package of new House Rules governing the 115th Congress, which will be voted on Tuesday afternoon. | Rachael Bade;Elana Schor | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/house-republicans-gut-their-own-oversight-233111 | UNDEFINED |
38,930,523 | 2017-01-02 08:00:19 | The Guardian | Optimism v pessimism in 2017: the comedian and the psychologist debate | Liam Williams quit standup fearing his pessimissm about the state of the planet was making audiences worryingly apathetic. But is a sunny outlook really any healthier? We sat him down for a session with psychologist Philippa Perry | One day last year, Liam Williams locked himself out and tried to climb in through his bedroom window. “I’d done it before very skilfully when drunk,” he says, “but this time I was hungover, so I guess I had that reduced inhibition, but not that derring-do – you know, the reckless optimism of a drunkard.” It didn’t end well. “It was only the first storey but I didn’t have any shoes on and it was quite a high window. I fell and broke my heels. It really hurt.”
The comedian is telling this story to psychologist Philippa Perry and me as we meet in a London cafe to consider the merits of optimism and pessimism. Is pessimism necessarily bad for you? What health benefits come with being optimistic? Does being optimistic help you in relationships? Does being pessimistic make you pragmatic about a prospective lover’s shortcomings? If you’re as bleakly pessimistic as Eeyore, can you change? If you’re as misguidedly optimistic as Mr Micawber, can you get a firmer grip on reality? More troublingly, what looks like pessimism to one can seem like optimism to another. Consider Williams’s attempted break-in. Perry suggests that his climb was optimistic. Liam worries it was doomed by pessimism. “It comes under the heading of risk-taking,” says Perry. “Optimists are more likely to take risks – they think they can drive into that gap in traffic or climb through windows.” She pauses before adding: “That’s not necessarily a good thing.”
“I was a bit desperate,” says Williams, “so I made a ridiculous decision. As I was climbing, I lacked that crucial optimism that I was going to get in. I was physically impaired and I probably had a narrative in my head that this wasn’t going to go well, which I wouldn’t have had when I was drunk.”
“That,” says Perry, “is the self-fulfilling prophecy thing.” What does that mean? “If I go to a party expecting to have a good time, look people in the eye, I may well do. If I walk in hang-dog thinking nobody wants to speak to me, I probably won’t.” Viewed thus, Williams expected to fall. Perhaps he even wanted to.
Soon after the fall, a friend asked Williams how he’d been feeling at the time. “I said maybe a bit depressed. And she said: ‘Maybe you took a reckless decision because you were depressed.’” Williams compares this to the EU referendum: “Maybe it was like Brexit – ‘My life is so shit at the moment that I can take this grave, reckless decision and at least something will be different.’” The year 2016 was, he thinks, marked by such pessimism. “Those who voted for Brexit and Trump were so pessimistic about how things are going, they felt any change must be better.”
“Which,” adds Perry insightfully, “is quite optimistic.” Good point: to their opponents, such as Williams, Brexiteers and Trumptonians may have looked like pessimists who, in a fit of infantile petulance, were destroying their respective polities. But, seen another way, they were cock-eyed optimists who believed change was possible.
Liam Williams five-star review – a shatteringly funny set: Edinburgh festival 2014 Read more
Williams tells us he has turned away from standup, in part because he feared he was making his audiences as politically apathetic and pessimistic as he was. In 2014, he did a show in Edinburgh called Capitalism, which (despite the Guardian’s five-star review) made him queasy. His routine revolved around mocking his lack of political fibre: the twentysomething Cambridge English graduate didn’t have what it took to go on protests or join Occupy. Nor did he have the intellectual drive to develop a sophisticated critique of capitalism by reading Thomas Piketty or Slavoj Žižek, still less act on it.
“I kept thinking: ‘There’s a lot wrong with the world, and crises are getting worse, but I can’t change any of it,” he says. Lots of people feel that way, I suggest, especially twentysomethings, and their impotence then slides into pessimism. “That’s right. But I detected in myself an apathy, a willingness to focus on trivialities,” he replies. “I wouldn’t do a show like that again, because those who saw it might walk away having let themselves off the hook.” Maybe our most evisceratingly pessimistic comedians – think Frankie Boyle or Stewart Lee – let us off the hook in the same way. Perhaps (and this is just my own pessimistic thought) comedy is a successful business model in austerity Britain because it provides alibis for inaction – and, as a result, makes things worse.
So Williams has turned his back on standup. Instead, he has co-written and performs in what he calls a panto for grown-ups, called Ricky Whittington and His Cat. “He turns up in London full of optimism,” says Liam, “and finds it hostile and plagued with rats.” Still is, I point out. “Then he leaves in despair before hearing voices calling him back. He projects his inner voice on to the bells. They call him back.”
Perry says this is not unusual: “He can’t own his optimism, but projects it on to the bells.” True, but on the plus side, he overcomes his pessimism, returning to London, becoming mayor and building state-of-the-art cycle lanes or whatever it was he did.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Pessimists see the worst in people – that’s why they’re more interesting’ … Philippa Perry. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
So, if Williams is anything to go by, pessimism is bad for you. But it’s more complicated than that, says Perry. She hands me a list of pros and cons for both outlooks. Pros of optimism include: better mental and physical health, quicker recovery rates after illnesses and operations, lower stress, longer life, higher trust in others and thus better relationships. Pessimism’s pros include: better at budgeting, better insured, on time. Interesting: both she and Williams arrived on time, suggesting that they’re both pessimists. “Pessimists are always punctual,” says Perry. “Optimists think the bus is going to be on time, that they can get somewhere quicker than they can.” I’m hating optimists already.
But surely, even if you’re an optimist, it’s better to be with a pessimist? At least they’ll be on time. And they’re better company. “Pessimists are much more cynical,” says Perry. “They see the worst in people – that’s why they’re more interesting. Though you wouldn’t want to be on a desert island with one.”
Nonetheless, recent research suggests that pessimism is actually bad for you. A 2011 study, published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association, measured respondents on a 16-point optimism scale and found that, for every point increase, there was a corresponding 9% decrease in acute strokes over the two-year follow-up period. But why? “Our work suggests that people who expect the best things in life actively take steps to promote health,” says Eric Kim, who has researched the subject for the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
But this was called into question in early 2016 by Helsinki researchers who studied middle-aged Finns and found that, while pessimism was linked to an increased risk of death from coronary heart disease, there was no indication that optimism led to a decreased risk.
Both studies have one thing in common: they suppose optimism and pessimism to be measurable. Levels of pessimism were measured in Helsinki by asking people to respond to such gloomy statements as: “If something can go wrong for me, it will.” Optimism, meanwhile, had such choice lines as: “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best.”
None of this, you’d hope, means it’s easy to pigeonhole respondents. “Maybe labelling someone either way is as reductive as saying they’re an extrovert or introvert,” says Williams. Good point – yet scarcely a month goes by without another study telling us that optimists are healthier.
Here’s another problem. What if pessimism is something you’re doomed to by genes and environment? A 2006 study suggested that outlooks are forged in childhood. Those with high socioeconomic status, unsurprisingly, were more optimistic. More interesting was the idea that pessimism tended to stick even in the face of socioeconomic fluidity. So if you had a poor, miserable childhood, you might well be pessimistic even as you bask on your parvenu yacht off Corfu.
“That’s not to say you’re hard-wired to either,” says Perry. “You can change.” So we can cultivate optimism? How? Kim suggests keeping a log for a fortnight of any kind things you do for others, to achieve your “best possible self”, as well as attending mindfulness courses, getting into therapy, writing down three things each day you are grateful for. Then, at the end, you see how you feel.
There is, says Perry, a neurophysiological basis to the possibility of becoming optimistic: the brain’s left inferior frontal gyrus fires up with good news; the right inferior with bad news. But if your life is marked by bad news, that left inferior is apt not to register good news. “Most people are optimists, and the more optimistic you are, the less likely the right inferior is to respond to negative information,” she says.
Here’s an interesting problem with optimism. You can have too much of it. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot, author of The Optimism Bias, argues that 80% of us suffer from the illusion that supplies her book’s title. “The idea,” says Perry, “is that the optimist knows smoking kills but thinks: ‘It just won’t kill me.’” Or, as Sharot puts it: “We underestimate our likelihood of suffering from cancer, or being in a car accident. We overestimate our longevity, our career prospects. In short, we’re more optimistic than realistic, but we are oblivious to the fact.”
Troubled times make it hard to be an optimist. But I don't plan to stop | Mary Elizabeth Williams Read more
Sounds like we should cultivate pessimism then. I’ve brought along Arthur Schopenhauer’s On the Suffering of the World, in which the German pessimist describes the nature of human life thus: “We begin in the madness of carnal desire and transport of voluptuousness, we end in the dissolution of all our parts and the musty stench of corpses … Does it not look as if existence were an error the consequences of which grow more and more manifest?” Though I place the book prominently on the cafe table, neither comedian nor psychologist is tempted to pick it up.
“Since that fall, my life has been better,” says Williams. “I’ve pulled myself together and it made me reflect.” “So did you get another key cut?” asks Philippa. “I gave one to the neighbours,” he replies. “You’re marvellous!” she says chirpily. “That’s learning to trust people.”
Williams fills his teacup – his half-empty teacup – and looks doubtful. “But there’s a degree of pessimism in that, right?” he says. “Because I know I’m going to forget the keys again.” | Stuart Jeffries | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/jan/02/optimism-v-pessimism-2017-comedian-liam-williams-psychologist-philippa-perry-debate | LEFT |
4,288,608 | 2017-01-02 08:04:03 | Breitbart | Five Songs that Rankled Authoritarians in 2016 | 2016 yielded a crop of loud, defiant tunes from an assortment of envelope-pushers, political dissidents, and would-be pop icons. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
With freedom of expression increasingly under threat by authoritarian governments worldwide, 2016 yielded a crop of loud, defiant tunes from an assortment of envelope-pushers, political dissidents, and would-be pop icons.
While not all the artists on this list intended up upset the global autocrats, they all made statements against oppressive power structures.
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“For the Freedom” – Chunhyok Kang
North Korean refugee rapper Chunhyok Kang crossed the border into China with family when he was young and never turned back. Currently living in exile in South Korea, Kang – who also creates drawings, paintings, and other visual art – has adopted hip-hop as his preferred medium to tell the story of North Korea’s holocaust to his southern neighbors.
In interviews, he has described his imprisonment in China as “torture” and thanked family friends for bribing Chinese police into allowing them into South Korea. While in China, he first heard “K-Pop,” an American-influenced rap-pop hybrid genre so despised by the Communists in Pyongyang that the South Korean government played it loudly on the border during Kim Jong-un’s birthday this year.
Speaking to Radio Free Asia, Kang says hip-hop’s origins are in a “plea for human rights,” making it an ideal genre to tell the stories of oppressed and starving North Koreans. His latest song, “For the Freedom,” is a protest of “spoiled young politician” Kim Jong-un as much as it is a personal retelling of the struggle his family endured to escape him.
“Abajo Quien Tu Sabes” – Porno Para Ricardo
The Cuban anti-communist punk anthem, whose name translates to “Down with You-Know-Who,” came out eight months before You-Know-Who’s death last month, and the same number of months before Porno Para Ricardo frontman Gorki Águila was detained arbitrarily for being in the presence of an international human rights attorney (he was also arrested, along with bandmate Lia Villares, the month “Down with You-Know-Who” came out).
The music video features classic speeches against Elvis Prestley and the Beatles by Cuban dictator You-Know-Who, a compliment to the crassly disrespectful lyrics against the Cuban Communist regime.
“They can toss you in the tank because the law is useless,” the song warns, an experience everyone in the band has had for, among other things, silent protest “concerts” and standing in solidarity with the Ladies in White. The Ladies get a shout-out in the song – “they beat women who carry flowers/we seek to overthrow the regime of pain” – but generally remains lighthearted, suggesting that, “with mockery, we can defeat the Castros.”
“Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan” – Germany’s Extra3
The satire show Extra3 found itself in the crosshairs of an increasingly sensitive Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with their tune, whose title translates to “Erdo-how, Erdo-where, Erdogan.” The song mocks Erdogan for having a “swollen neck” as much as it does for shutting down newspapers who dare publish news that is unfavorable to the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), as well as accusing Erdogan of “loath[ing] the Kurds” and being “brothers in faith” with the Islamic State.
Erdogan’s government summoned the German Ambassador demanded an explanation for this independent satirical production, but ultimately failed to get the program’s producers in trouble, as insulting the Turkish president is only a crime in Turkey.
“Oh My God” – Namewee ft. 911
Malaysian rapper Namewee did not set out to write a protest song when he came up with “Oh My God,” a song whose lyrics tell the story of an unlucky man who is turning to a higher power, any higher power, to turn his life around. The music video for the song featured multiple religious settings – including a church, a Buddhist temple, and a mosque – and the word “allah” appeared in the song’s lyrics, however, prompting Malaysia’s Islamic police with arresting him and charging him with “defiling a place of worship with intention to insult religion.”
The rap group 911, which also appears on the song, is of Chinese descent and not present in Malaysia at the time of Namewee’s arrest. Malaysia thus demanded Interpol help arrest the rappers, a request that Interpol did not heed.
Namewee was ultimately released on bail, this time intentionally writing a protest song about his experience.
“Laila Main Laila” – Shahrukh Khan ft. Sunny Leone
Another song whose creators did not intend to cause a stir with, nor did they – it was the risque music video, part of a larger Bollywood feature titled Raees set for a 2017 release. The video is out, however, and it features former pornographic actress and current Bollywood star Sunny Leone in romantic scenes with Shahrukh Khan, one of Bollywood’s most famous actors. While the segment would barely merit a PG rating in America, Pakistan’s Sharia-based society has reportedly frowned upon the entire film, with reports in July suggesting that Pakistan’s Censor Board would ban the movie. DNAIndia suggested it may be banned in relation to “the recent murder of Pakistani social media celeb Qandeel Baloch by her brother.”
The Censor Board never got a chance to review Raees on individual merit. In October, the government of Pakistan banned all Indian entertainment in response to growing tensions with its neighbor on the Kashmir border. In response, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) banned Pakistani actors from working in India, directly affecting the production of Raees, no longer able to feature actress Mahira Khan.
“Laila Main Laila” was released earlier this week, suggesting the film’s release is back on schedule. | Frances Martel | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/01/02/protest-music-rankled-authoritarians-2016/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,638,735 | 2017-01-02 08:05:17 | Fox News | Puerto Rico's new gov seeks statehood referendum amid crisis | Puerto Rico's new governor has been sworn in as the U.S. territory prepares for what many believe will be new austerity measures and a renewed push for statehood to haul the island out of a deep economic crisis. | Puerto Rico's new governor has been sworn in as the U.S. territory prepares for what many believe will be new austerity measures and a renewed push for statehood to haul the island out of a deep economic crisis.
Ricardo Rossello was sworn in Monday and proposed several measures aimed at alleviating the crisis. Among them is a proposal to hold a referendum that would ask voters whether they prefer statehood or independence.
Rossello also aims to boost public-private partnerships and use that revenue to save a retirement system that faces a $40 billion deficit. Rossello has pledged to work closely with a federal control board that U.S. Congress created to oversee Puerto Rico's finances. He said he supports negotiations with creditors to help restructure a nearly $70 billion public debt. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/puerto-rico-new-gov-seeks-statehood-referendum-amid-crisis.html | RIGHT |
4,284,806 | 2017-01-02 08:08:25 | Breitbart | Make All Universities 'Sanctuary Campuses’ | The Chicago Sun-Times is now asking that every college and university in the state be transformed into ‘sanctuary campuses’. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board is now asking that every college and university in the state be transformed into ‘sanctuary campuses’ for shielding illegal immigrants from federal law.
In a piece, “Make colleges a sanctuary from deportation threat,” asks that every college and university in Illinois risk losing federal funding for the cause:
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Universities have an obligation to stand up for their students — all of them. Almost all of these young people on college campuses who fear deportation were brought to this country as babies or small children. They are Americans in every way except for that official citizenship paper. They are the so-called Dreamers. This is their home, the only one they have ever known. To our thinking, all Illinois universities and colleges, public and private, should declare themselves places of sanctuary, just as cities such as Chicago and New York and counties such as Cook have done. They would send a signal to Trump, who campaigned on an indiscriminate promise to get tough on undocumented immigrants, that Americans are better than that — at least when it comes to Dreamers.
The Times cited “hard-liners on immigration” who have been President-Elect Donald Trump’s leading advisors on the issue – Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and former Breitbart Executive Chairman Steve Bannon – that could become a detriment to individuals living in the country illegally.
The Times’ editors also go on to make a far-fetched accusation against the forthcoming Trump administration, claiming that international students are also under threat:
And it’s not just undocumented immigrants who are afraid. International students from the Middle East worry Trump’s administration will make it more difficult for them to continue studying in the U.S. They, too, want to know universities’ administrations will advocate for them. Schools should spell out policies and protections, stating them clearly to students, campus police, faculty and staff. It’s not asking too much.
Trump’s longtime solution for the illegal immigration issue has been to deport criminal illegal aliens first, then focus on enforcing E-Verify so that remaining migrants must return through the country’s naturalization process.
The Times thinks otherwise, requesting that illegal immigrants be allowed to not only stay in the country, but they should be given ‘sanctuary’ on every university campus in the state:
Whether or not administrators label a university a “sanctuary” campus is not the central issue here. The word is largely symbolic. The American Council on Education points out that it has no clear meaning. Policy is what counts. “Sanctuary” has become an incendiary term that riles some conservatives. Sanctuary cities and counties across America have incurred the wrath of Republicans in Congress. Part of Trump’s 100-day action plan is to eliminate all federal funding to sanctuary cities. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has vowed that Chicago will continue to be a sanctuary city despite Trump’s promise. Other cities also are refusing to back down.
Universities and colleges implementing sanctuary campus policies do so at the risk of being stripped of federal funds once Trump’s administration takes control of the matter.
Most recently, students at Southern Illinois University (SIU) have demanded that all illegal immigrants residing in the region be given “sanctuary” status on the campus, as Breitbart Texas reported.
Students with the Graduate and Professional Student Council and the Undergraduate Student Government are demanding that university officials “begin immediately” crafting a campus policy that would offer comprehensive sanctuary to the Illinois illegal immigrant population from federal immigration laws.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. | John Binder | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/01/02/chicago-paper-make-universities-sanctuary-campuses/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
79,064,652 | 2017-01-02 08:10:00 | Politico | BREAKING IN PLAYBOOK: SONNY PERDUE is Trump’s leading pick for Ag secy -- TRUMP returns to NYC, holding meetings at TRUMP TOWER -- VOX will interview Barack Obama Jan. 6 -- B’DAY: Mike Zapler | null | BREAKING IN PLAYBOOK: SONNY PERDUE is Trump’s leading pick for Ag secy -- TRUMP returns to NYC, holding meetings at TRUMP TOWER -- VOX will interview Barack Obama Jan. 6 -- B’DAY: Mike Zapler
Driving the Day
Good Monday morning. Happy New Year’s Day, observed. Eighteen days until Inauguration Day.
BREAKING IN PLAYBOOK -- FORMER GEORGIA GOV. SONNY PERDUE is the leading candidate to be tapped as Donald Trump’s secretary of agriculture. Perdue has won statewide office twice, theoretically making his confirmation easier. Agriculture and veterans affairs are the two cabinet posts that Trump has not yet filled. Of course, as we’ve now learned, Trump sometimes changes his mind. Nothing is official until it’s announced.
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TRUMP and VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT MIKE PENCE are in New York today, and will hold meetings at Trump Tower.
BULLETINS: 3:37 a.m. -- “BEIRUT (AP) - The Islamic State group claims responsibility for the Istanbul night club shooting.” … 7:20 a.m. -- “ISTANBUL (AP) - Reports: Turkish police detain 8 people in connection with Istanbul nightclub attack; gunman not among those in custody.”
-- FT: Isis has claimed responsibility for an assault on a New Year’s Eve party in Istanbul that left 39 people dead, casting the attack as retaliation for Turkey’s military campaign in Syria. In a statement issued on Monday, the group said ‘a heroic soldier of the caliphate’ had struck against Reina nightclub, describing the exclusive venue as a place where ‘the Christians celebrate their apostate holiday.’ The militant group described Turkey as a ‘protector of the cross’ and warned that the attack was an act of punishment for Ankara’s operations in Syria, where the country’s armed forces have stepped up efforts to force the group from the northern city of al-Bab. ‘Let the heretical Turkish government know this,’ the statement said. ‘By spilling Muslim blood with warplanes and artillery, fires will — with God’s permission — ignite on your own lands.’” http://on.ft.com/2iA3sTx
BREAKING -- DETAILS FOR OBAMA’S “FAREWELL” ADDRESS -- Christi Parsons in the Chicago Tribune: “Ten days before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office, President Barack Obama will say goodbye from the same city that launched his political career. The presidential farewell will take place on the evening of Jan. 10 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. In an email expected to be sent out Monday morning, Obama said he was taking his cue from George Washington, who ‘set the precedent for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power’ and penned a farewell address in 1796. ‘I’m just beginning to write my remarks,’ he wrote. ‘But I’m thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you’ve changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here.’” http://trib.in/2iAg9NO
****** A message from the U.S. Chamber: Congress’ constituents are about to be HIT with another Obamacare tax increase. Unless the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) is repealed, it will increase premiums again—just as Americans begin renewing their health insurance coverage for 2018. Repeal the Health Insurance Tax now. ******
CONGRESS RETURNS tomorrow. It has a first-day-of-school feeling. HISTORY WATCH: At 1 p.m. Friday, the House will convene a joint session to count presidential electoral ballots.
-- REMINDER: Obama heads to the Hill on Wednesday to huddle with Democrats about efforts to keep Obamacare intact.
THE CAPITOL HILL LOOKAHEADS -- WaPo: “Claiming mandate, GOP Congress lays plans to propel sweeping conservative agenda,” by Dave Weigel http://wapo.st/2hGvx6V … NYT: “With New Congress Poised to Convene, Obama’s Policies Are in Peril,” by Jennifer Steinhauer http://nyti.ms/2iWeU8d … POLITICO: “New GOP Congress confronts a crushing to-do list,” by Rachael Bade and Elana Schor http://politi.co/2i1JOfw … WSJ: “Republicans Take Control Facing Internal Tensions,” by Kristina Peterson http://on.wsj.com/2i1R8b5
-- IN SHORT, if you’ve watched Capitol Hill for the last few years, you should know what to expect: cutting regulations, tearing up Obamacare and mostly rolling back Obama’s agenda. Instead of getting met with a veto pen, many of those bills will be signed into law. WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Does the Senate cool the House down, by ignoring some of its more aggressive legislation? How much bloodletting will there be over replacing Obamacare? How much does Trump’s infrastructure package shrink, and how long will it take to come to fruition? Will all of Trump’s Cabinet nominees survive? Where do conservatives in the House pick their battles, and can they keep their outsized relevance?
SPORTS BLINK -- “For Redskins, another season ends and the disappointment lingers,” by WaPo’s Dan Steinberg: “Washington sports fans are already covered with scars, and so it sometimes feels as if they should be numb to further abuse. If a heart has been broken seven or eight different times, what does another stab wound matter? And then, with the season on the line, the home team’s quarterback will double-clutch, hesitate and fling a poor pass into the most dangerous part of the field. The ball will be intercepted, the home team will lose, the season will end in a soft poof of disappointment, the playoffs again will be a playground for 12 other cities, and tens of thousands of fans will turn silently and go home. What did the Redskins’ 19-10 loss to the New York Giants feel like Sunday afternoon? ‘The end of the world,’ Cara Todd said as she walked through pockets of celebrating Giants fans at FedEx Field.” http://wapo.st/2i1QhqI
REMINDER -- Katie Couric is filling in for Savannah Guthrie on the “Today” Show this morning. She was Matt Lauer’s co-anchor from 1991 to 2006. Matt opened the show joking that it was 1997.
Playbook Reads
PHOTO DU JOUR: President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama greet people on the tarmac before they board Air Force One on Jan. 1 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, en route to Washington after their annual family vacation. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo
YIKES -- “‘Stray’ bullet hits Texas legislator in the head at New Year’s celebration,” by CNN’s Azadeh Ansari and Polo Sandoval: “A Texas lawmaker is lucky to be alive after an apparently stray bullet hit his head during a New Year’s celebration early Sunday, authorities said. State Rep. Armando ‘Mando’ Martinez, D-Weslaco, said his wife had just given him a kiss shortly after ringing in the new year with family and friends, and the next thing he knew, ‘it felt like a sledgehammer hit me over the head.’ A bullet fragment had just punctured the top of the south Texas legislator’s head. Martinez said he had just stepped outside a home in a rural neighborhood north of Weslaco when he was hit. Martinez, 40, was transferred to the neurosurgical unit at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, where surgeons removed the bullet fragment. The fragment had penetrated his skull and lodged itself into the dura mater, the top layer of the brain, doctors told Martinez.” http://cnn.it/2iAm5Xb
WILBUR ROSS PROFILE – “Wilbur Ross’s Chinese Love Affair: Donald Trump’s commerce secretary pick is talking tough on Beijing now, but he has a long history of admiration for China and its culture,” by Ben Schreckinger with Daniel Lippman: “[S]ince making his first fortune by going to war against Chinese steel in the early years of the 21st century, Ross has become a devoted Sinophile. In addition to assembling a formidable collection of Chinese art -- some 200 pieces in total, according to one profile -- he has partnered in shipping and energy ventures with Chinese state-owned firms, contributed to relief efforts after the country’s devastating 2008 earthquake and even compared the Chinese Communist Party’s five-year plans to the United States’ industrial policy. As Ross recalibrates his stance and prepares to even the score with Beijing for, in Trump’s words, ‘raping this country,’ his years-long love affair with the Middle Kingdom calls into question whether his heart will really be in it. ‘I think the China-bashing is wildly overdone in this country,’ said Ross in one CNBC interview, a statement that would have come across as a veiled swipe at Trump if he hadn’t made it in 2012.” With cameos from John Thornton, Strobe Talbott, Howard Gutman, and Chris Ruddy http://politi.co/2hJDQCr
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- “Vox to Host Live Streamed Interview with President Obama on January 6”: “Vox’s co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Ezra Klein and Senior Correspondent Sarah Kliff will sit down with the president to discuss the Affordable Care Act’s substantive successes and failures, and the political and policy obstacles.”
#LONGREAD -- THE OBAMA ERA -- NYT A1, “The Afghan War and the Evolution of Obama: A strategy that went from a ‘good war’ to the shorthand ‘Afghan good enough’ reflects the president’s coming to terms with what was possible in Afghanistan,” by Mark Landler: “President Obama’s advisers wrestled with an intractable problem in the spring and summer of 2015: How could they stabilize Afghanistan while preserving Mr. Obama’s longtime goal of pulling out the last American troops before he left office? As it happened, the president solved the problem for them. In early August of that year, when Mr. Obama convened a meeting of the National Security Council, he looked around the table and acknowledged a stark new reality. ‘The fever in this room has finally broken,’ the president told the group, according to a person in the meeting. ‘We’re no longer in nation-building mode.’ What Mr. Obama meant was that no one in the Situation Room that day, himself included, thought that the United States -- after 14 years of war, billions of dollars spent and more than 2,000 American lives lost -- would ever transform Afghanistan into a semblance of a democracy able to defend itself.” http://nyti.ms/2hJvw7c
WHITE HOUSE SOUTH -- NYT A9, “Mar-a-Lago, the Future Winter White House and Home of the Calmer Trump,” by Maggie Haberman: “At night, the couches are moved out and tables are added to accommodate the evening cocktail crowd, among whom Mr. Trump moves from one table to the next, the most powerful greeter in the world. ... Mr. Trump; his wife, Melania; and their 10-year-old son, Barron, inhabit a residential area of the club. His adult children and their families usually stay in nearby cabanas on the property. Mr. Trump frequently dines on the patio, a central point of action, where at night a singer plays with a small band, sometimes belting out requests from Mr. Trump and other guests. (‘My Way,’ a song popularized by Frank Sinatra, was one recent choice.)” With a Doug Brinkley cameo http://nyti.ms/2itiuHW … “My Way” http://bit.ly/2hGTcUO
-- AP’S JONATHAN LEMIRE: “For Trump, the 1980s still hold relevance”: “Bobby Knight. Don King. Sylvester Stallone. Many of President-elect Donald Trump’s cultural touchstones, which he’d frequently name-drop at campaign rallies and on Twitter, were at their peak in the 1980s -- the decade Trump’s celebrity status rose in New York, Trump Tower was built, ‘The Art of the Deal’ was published and he first flirted with running for public office. The ‘Go Go 1980s’ of New York were spurred by Wall Street’s rise. It was a brash decade in which excess was the norm and ostentatious displays of wealth and power were celebrated in pop culture and among Manhattan’s elite. And while much of what defined the 1980s has since gone out of style, Trump has seemingly internalized its ethos, which is reflected in the decor of the Trump Tower lobby and the celebrities he stood alongside during the campaign.” http://apne.ws/2ipoAuY
****** A message from the U.S. Chamber: Congress’ constituents are about to be HIT with another Obamacare tax increase. Unless Congress votes to repeal the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) soon, the tax will be back – raising health insurance premiums for small businesses, consumers, Medicare beneficiaries and states. Additional Obamacare taxes – like the Medical Device Tax and the Cadillac Tax – will be the next to further increase health care costs.
Many Members of Congress campaigned on lowering health insurance premiums; now they can do something about it. Repeal the Health Insurance Tax now. ******
DEEP DIVE – “Intellectuals for Trump: A rogue group of conservative thinkers try to build a governing ideology around a President-elect who disdains ideology,” by Kelefa Sanneh in The New Yorker: “[T]his past February, an academically inclined online publication appeared, full of erudite arguments in favor of Trump. It was called the Journal of American Greatness, in tribute to Trump’s pledge to ‘Make America Great Again,’ although its sensibility was more tweed jacket than red baseball cap. … The Journal eventually published a hundred and twenty-nine articles ... The Journal of American Greatness was replaced, this past summer, by a more conventional spinoff, American Greatness ... [which wants to] become ‘the leading voice of the next generation of American conservatism.’ And the Washington Post recently reported that newspaper editorial pages are scrambling to find pro-Trump columnists; no doubt both demand and supply will increase in the next few years.” http://bit.ly/2ipAd5i … http://amgreatness.com/
REINCE PRIEBUS PROFILE -- “Priebus faces daunting task bringing order to White House that will feed off chaos,” by WaPo’s Karen Tumulty: “Reince Priebus says that one of his most important tasks as Donald Trump’s chief of staff will be to establish ‘some level of order within the White House.’ That, of course, has been the central mission of everyone who has held this post in the past, but it is certain to be a particularly daunting challenge with a president who regards chaos as a management tool. … Adding to the potential for tension is the fact that Trump’s White House is being set up with rival centers of gravity.
“The structure puts Priebus on the same level as Stephen K. Bannon, whom Trump named to be his senior counselor and chief strategist. Bannon is the former chairman of Breitbart News, a media voice of the alt-right, which is a fiery fringe movement that embraces elements of white nationalism. Though the post-election announcement of Trump’s White House team described Bannon and Priebus as ‘equal partners to transform the federal government,’ it listed Bannon first. Trump’s son-in-law and consigliere Jared Kushner is also expected to be close by in some kind of capacity that will give him a say in major decisions. None of the three has ever worked in a White House.” http://wapo.st/2iuxsgN
TOP ED -- J.D. VANCE in the New York Times, “Barack Obama and Me”: “I often wonder how many kids look at our current president the way I once looked at President Clinton. Barack Obama was elected during my second year of college, and save for his skin color, he had much in common with Bill Clinton: Despite an unstable life with a single mother, aided by two loving grandparents, he had made in his adulthood a family life that seemed to embody my sense of the American ideal. … The president’s example offered something no other public figure could: hope. I wanted so desperately to have what he had — a happy marriage and beautiful, thriving children. But I thought that those things belonged to people unlike me, to those who came from money and intact nuclear families. For the rest of us, past was destiny. Yet here was the president of the United States, a man whose history looked something like mine but whose future contained something I wanted. His life stood in stark contrast to my greatest fear. …
“On Jan. 20, the political side of my brain will breathe a sigh of relief at Mr. Obama’s departure. I will hope for better policy from the new administration, a health reform package closer to my ideological preferences, and a new approach to foreign policy. But the child who so desperately wanted an American dream, with a happy family at its core will feel something different. For at a pivotal time in my life, Barack Obama gave me hope that a boy who grew up like me could still achieve the most important of my dreams. For that, I’ll miss him, and the example he set.” http://nyti.ms/2iGQ7WE
FAKE NEWS UPDATE -- “This Is What It’s Like to Read Fake News For Two Weeks: I lived Michael Flynn Jr.’s media diet so you wouldn’t have to,” by Simon Van Zuylen-Wood: http://politi.co/2iZ81qS
MEDIAWATCH -- CBSN is soft-launching a new politics show on Tuesday called “Red and Blue” and will be hosted by Elaine Quijano. It will be a half hour Monday through Thursday at 9 p.m.
Playbookers
SPOTTED -- Rep. Paul Cook (R-Calif.) on a Dallas to DCA flight Sunday night … Jay Carney and his family (wife and kids) on a flight flying coach coming back from a ski trip yesterday from Chicago O’Hare to DCA ... Josh and Ali Rogin on a Sunday Jazz Brunch cruise in New Orleans ... Erick Sanchez yesterday at Port of Call yesterday in New Orleans … Juan Rodriguez in the Admirals Club at LAX, heading to D.C. for Kamala Harris’s swearing in as the next senator from California.
ENGAGED -- Will Mitchell, Minnesota native and LD for Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.) to fellow Minnesotan Sacha Haworth, a former Nolan staffer and most recently the Great Lakes regional press secretary at the DCCC. The couple met working in Nolan’s office and got engaged on New Year’s Eve during an afternoon walk around the Tidal Basin. (Though, somehow, they’re still not Facebook friends...)! Pics (courtesy friend Read Holman of White House OSTP): http://bit.ly/2itXNMa
--Alison Howard, director of alliance relations at Alliance Defending Freedom, got engaged on New Year’s Eve to FBI’s David Centofante, who proposed the day before her birthday. “They met through her cousin, who was dating David’s best friend and they kept trying to introduce David and Alison because they though they would be the perfect match!” Pic http://bit.ly/2i0Ejhe
WEEKEND WEDDINGS – “Abby Jackson and Dominick Martín: Doing Splits, Literally and Figuratively,” by NYT’s Vincent M. Mallozzi: “Ms. Jackson ... is a reporter in New York for Business Insider. ... Mr. Martín, 33, works in Jersey City as a foreign-exchange-derivatives broker at ICAP, the London securities brokerage. He played professional basketball in Spain for five seasons. ... Ms. Jackson and Mr. Martín met in 2004 in the varsity training room at Yale.” With a pic http://nyti.ms/2i0AGYs
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Erin Brady Hughes, director at DCI Group and a Bush 43 alum, celebrating with dinner at the Red Hen with her husband Bill and two small kids – read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2hJIyQv
BIRTHDAYS: Mike Zapler, boss of Politico’s Congress team ... Judy Miller ... Mike Sozan, former COS to Sen. Mark Udall, an honorary Coloradan and now SVP for gov't affairs at CAP (h/t James Owens) ... Greg Mueller, president of CRC Public Relations ... Annie Lewis, who leads Facebook’s political ad sales team (h/t David Fahrenthold) ... Will Jawando, an Obama WH and Senate alum, avid b-ball player and former congressional candidate ... Ava Jawando is 3 ... Cyrus Farivar, senior business editor at Ars Technica ... Indiana Senate intern Lindsey Ross (h/t Colby Bermel) ... Michael Webb is 51 ... Christi Layman ... Chris Hartline-Shearer ... Stephanie Woodrow … Rachel Perrone … former Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Tex.) is 63 ... Jessica “J.C.” Cameron, a huge UCLA fan ... Cheyenne Foster, director of women’s engagement at the RNC and former Tom Price staffer (h/t Brent Robertson) ... Lizzie Langer, an MBA candidate at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and a BlackRock alum ...
… Rachel Hicks, director of comms at American Beverage Association ... James Tisch, CEO of Loews Corporation since 1999, is 64 ... ex-Rep. Robert Wexler, president of the D.C.-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, is 56 (h/ts Jewish Insider) ... Jane Krause, “knowledge associate” at Russell Reynolds Associates ... Elliott Smith, daughter of Kevin and Kara ... Kelly Schulz, managing partner at Cyber Wolf Technologies ... Stephanie Woodrow, clinical associate at the Maryland Anxiety Center and a Main Justice and Advisory Board alum … Craig Varoga ... Linda Gaumer (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Alexa Barchuk, associate at the Eurasia Group ... TV host Jack Hanna is 7-0 ... Cuba Gooding Jr. is 49 ... Christy Turlington is 48 ... Kate Bosworth is 34 (h/ts AP)
****** A message from the U.S. Chamber: Congress’ constituents are about to be HIT with another Obamacare tax increase. Unless Congress votes to repeal the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) soon, the tax will be back – raising health insurance premiums for small businesses, consumers, Medicare beneficiaries and states. Additional Obamacare taxes – like the Medical Device Tax and the Cadillac Tax – will be the next to further increase health care costs.
Many Members of Congress campaigned on lowering health insurance premiums; now they can do something about it. Repeal the Health Insurance Tax now. ******
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4,502,405 | 2017-01-02 08:16:00 | Fox News | At least 60 inmates killed in Brazil prison riot | Brazilian authorities say that dozens of inmates have died during a prison riot in the northern state of Amazonas. | At least 60 inmates died during a prison riot in the northern state of Amazonas, including several who were beheaded or dismembered, Brazilian state authorities said Monday.
State public security secretary Sergio Fontes said that in addition to the deaths, some inmates escaped, but he did not say how many. Several prison guards were held hostage.
"This is the biggest prison massacre in our state's history," Fontes said during a press conference. The riot began Sunday afternoon and lasted until Monday morning.
Two of the biggest crime gangs of Brazil began fighting last year over control of several prisons and authorities in Amazonas believe that's the reason behind the first riot of 2017.
Fontes said the inmates made few demands to end the riot, which hints at a killing spree organized by members of a local gang against those of another that is based in Sao Paulo.
The secretary said officers found a hole in a prison wall through which authorities believe weapons entered the building.
Fontes confirmed that many of the dead had been beheaded and Judge Luis Carlos Valois, who negotiated the end of the riot with inmates, said he saw many bodies that were quartered.
"I never saw anything like that in my life. All those bodies, the blood," Valois wrote on Facebook.
Valois said that during the negotiations, inmates only asked "that we did not transfer them, made sure they were not attacked and kept their visitation."
The riot ended after the inmates freed the last of the 12 prison staffers they had held hostage, Valois said.
In another prison in Amazonas, 87 inmates escaped in the first hours of Monday, Fonte said.
One of the inmates posted a picture on Facebook as he left the prison. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/at-least-60-inmates-killed-in-brazil-prison-riot.html | RIGHT |
4,442,661 | 2017-01-02 08:16:29 | Fox News | Iran publishes list of bidders for oil and gas projects | Iran's Oil Ministry has published list of 29 international companies qualified to bid for oil and gas projects following the lifting of sanctions under a landmark nuclear accord. | Iran's Oil Ministry has published list of 29 international companies qualified to bid for oil and gas projects following the lifting of sanctions under a landmark nuclear accord.
The list published on the ministry's website Monday includes several multinational firms, among them Total, Shell, Eni, Gazprom and Schlumberger.
In October, Iran invited foreign companies to bid for 50 exploration and production projects for the first time since the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Iran has upgraded its model for oil contracts, allowing for the full recovery of costs over almost two decades. In October, Iran signed the first such contract with a local oil company. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/02/iran-publishes-list-bidders-for-oil-and-gas-projects.html | RIGHT |
4,336,828 | 2017-01-02 08:25:19 | Breitbart | Greenwald: WaPo Story of Russia Hacking U.S. Electric Grid Completely False | There was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid.” The truth was undramatic and banal. | Writing at The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the latest fake news story from the mainstream media about Russian hackers attacking the United States:
The Washington Post on Friday reported a genuinely alarming event: Russian hackers have penetrated the U.S. power system through an electrical grid in Vermont.
…
What’s the problem here? It did not happen.
There was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid.” The truth was undramatic and banal. Burlington Electric, after receiving a Homeland Security notice sent to all U.S. utility companies about the malware code found in the DNC system, searched all its computers and found the code in a single laptop that was not connected to the electric grid. | Breitbart Tech | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/01/02/greenwald-wapo-story-russia-hacking-u-s-electric-grid-completely-false/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
2,413,792 | 2017-01-02 08:28:07 | Reuters | MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf mixed in early trade, Omani falls after budget | Gulf stock markets were mixed inearly trade on Monday as most reopened after the New Year, withsome investors yet to return from holidays. | DUBAI, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets were mixed in early trade on Monday as most reopened after the New Year, with some investors yet to return from holidays.
Oman fell after authorities announced a tight budget for 2017.
Dubai's index edged up 0.4 percent as much activity focused on speculative stocks including Islamic Arab Insurance , which jumped 14.2 percent and was the most heavily traded issue.
Abu Dhabi fell 0.5 percent, partly due to a 5.7 percent slide in Abu Dhabi National Energy.
Qatar edged down 0.1 percent as Islamic bank Masraf Al Rayan dropped 0.5 percent after saying it would suspend the activities and licence of its brokerage business, Al Rayan Financial Brokerage Co. It said the brokerage's paid-up capital represented just 0.06 percent of the bank's total assets.
Saudi Arabia's index gained 0.3 percent with petrochemicals lagging slightly. Travel agency Al Tayyar, which climbed 7.4 percent on Sunday in unusually heavy trade, added a further 3.8 percent.
Oman's index dropped 0.5 percent after the government released a 2017 budget plan on Sunday that projected a smaller deficit but included fresh austerity steps and tight curbs on spending because of low oil prices.
Oman Telecommunications dropped 1.4 percent after tumbling 4.3 percent on Sunday in response to a hike in the royalty that it must pay the government. Ooredoo Oman fell 0.7 percent after plunging 7.9 percent on Sunday. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia; editing by John Stonestreet) | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-stocks-idUSL5N1ES0GQ | CENTER |
4,312,970 | 2017-01-02 08:32:04 | Breitbart | How Establishment Republicans Anchored States to Common Core | Establishment Republicans have boasted the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) prohibits states from being coerced into adopting Common Core. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Establishment Republican politicians have boasted the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) prohibits the U.S. secretary of education from coercing states into adopting the Common Core standards.
However, many who have studied the law say not only is that claim unfounded, but also that ESSA actually imposes Common Core on the entire country.
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In December of 2015, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, touted that he and Democrat Sen. Patty Murray (WA) had facilitated the “bipartisan” passage of the ESSA measure that would replace the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind (NCLB). President Barack Obama signed the bill into law almost immediately, referring to it as a “Christmas miracle.”
“We have reversed the trend toward a national school board, repealed the federal Common Core mandate, and enacted what the Wall Street Journal called ‘the largest devolution of federal control to states in a quarter century,” Alexander said.
A statement on Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-NC) website following the signing of ESSA into law also said the measure had succeeded at “repealing the common core mandate.”
“This is a big deal,” Burr said about the new law. “It will bring an additional $24 million per year in funding to poorest children in North Carolina and put a stop to the Common Core mandate.”
Republicans based their pronouncements on the portion of ESSA that states, “The federal government is prohibited from … Mandating, directing, controlling, coercing, or exercising any direction or supervision over academic standards that states develop or adopt, including Common Core State Standards.”
Parent activists and education scholars who have studied the law, however, assert ESSA neither repeals the Common Core mandate, nor prohibits the education secretary from coercing states into adopting the standards. In fact, those who have been battling against the Common Core in the states say ESSA actually does the opposite: it keeps states anchored to the controversial education reform.
“Within the other 1,060 pages of ESSA lurk the provisions that will keep states in Common Core, or something that looks very much like Common Core,” American Principles Project (APP) education fellow Jane Robbins and Indiana parent activist Erin Tuttle wrote at The Pulse 2016. “The Secretary won’t have to mandate anything, because the other parts of the bill contain the requirements for … ‘high standards,’” a phrase that has come to refer to Common Core.
For example, while NCLB never dictated any state alignment for academic standards, ESSA requires every state to submit its plan for standards for approval to the U.S. Department of Education.
Robbins and Tuttle assert:
That plan must be “coordinated” with 11 federal statutes, including the Soviet-style Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act passed a year ago; the Education Sciences Reform Act, which is all about collecting student data for research; the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, which adds to the Head Start requirements on preschool standards; and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Authorization Act, which governs the NAEP test that will almost certainly be aligned to Common Core to hide the fact that Common Core-trained students perform poorly on NAEP. Requiring state plans and therefore state standards to coordinate with all these federal statutes means, as a practical matter, states will keep Common Core.
“ESSA, which replaces NCLB, does mandate alignment,” write Robbins and Tuttle, quoting the ESSA law and translating the Common Core rhetoric:
“Each State shall demonstrate that the challenging academic standards are aligned with entrance requirements for credit-bearing coursework in the system of public higher education in the State and relevant State career and technical education standards.” This is simply another way of saying states must have “college- and career-ready” standards. And as made clear by the U.S. Department of Education’s own materials, “college- and career-ready” means Common Core.
“High standards” and “accountability” are also among the primary “buzzwords” associated with Common Core. Upon her nomination to the position of U.S. education secretary, Betsy DeVos immediately posted to a new website about Common Core: “Certainly. I am not a supporter—period. I do support high standards, strong accountability, and local control.”
Establishment Republicans have learned not to use Common Core’s “toxic” name. As a result, many state legislatures have simply “rebranded” or renamed the Common Core standards with local flavor names. The standards themselves, however, remain relatively unchanged, save for a few tweaks.
APP’s education director Emmett McGroarty wrote at The Pulse 2016 following the approval of ESSA, “Anti-Common Core activists tried for months to warn Congress that the new federal education bill … was a disaster that would cement, not overturn, the odious progressive-education philosophies of the Obama Administration.”
“Now comes confirmation that the activists were dead on — and that Republican leadership, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, Rep. John Kline, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, carried out a cynical scheme to betray their constituents and give the Administration everything it wanted,” McGroarty continued, citing a Politico Pro interview with former Education Secretary Arne Duncan:
Duncan expressed joyful incredulity at how wonderful ESSA turned out to be from the Administration’s point of view (meaning, how bad it is for children, families, and the Constitution). “I’m stunned,” he said, “at how much better it ended up than either [House or Senate] bill going into conference. I had a Democratic congressman say to me that it’s a miracle — he’s literally never seen anything like it.”
“[I]f you look at the substance of what is there … embedded in the law are the values that we’ve promoted and proposed forever,” Duncan continued. “The core of our agenda from Day One, that’s all in there – early childhood, high standards [i.e., Common Core], not turning a blind eye when things are bad. For the first time in our nation’s history, that’s the letter of the law.”
Duncan’s former Assistant Secretary Peter Cunningham likewise observed that Sen. Alexander’s assertion that ESSA prohibits the education secretary from mandating the Common Core standards in the states is “shamefully misleading.”
“[T]he new law that the senator from Tennessee is so proud of, the Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], now mandates the very thing he rails against,” Cunningham wrote. “Under the new law, every state must adopt ‘college- and career-ready’ standards. Thus, the new law all but guarantees that Common Core State Standards—or a reasonable imitation under a different name—will likely remain in place in most states.”
Neal McCluskey, education director at Cato Institute, observed the vague language of ESSA was a serious concern for those who want to return education policy to the states, as provided in the Constitution.
“While the spirit and rhetoric surrounding the ESSA is about breaking down federal strictures … the statute includes language vague enough that it could allow federal control by education secretary veto,” he wrote.
As with Obamacare, McGroarty says taking the time to understand exactly what’s in ESSA should “end the pathetic charade that Congress just restored states’ autonomy in education.”
“And as for Alexander, Kline, and Ryan — they have simply betrayed their constituents, especially the last few who actually believed any integrity remained in the Republican establishment,” he concludes. | Dr. Susan Berry | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/establishment-republicans-anchored-states-common-core/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
39,092,959 | 2017-01-02 08:32:27 | The Guardian | Isis group claims responsibility for Istanbul nightclub attack | Turkish media say authorities believe gunman who killed 39 on New Year’s Eve is from central Asian nation | Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a gun attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people during New Year’s Eve celebrations, it reportedly said in a statement.
Turkish authorities believe that the gunman, who is still on the run after the attack, comes from the central Asian nations of Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, the pro-government Karar and the mainstream Hürriyet newspapers reported, citing unnamed security sources.
Turkish media reported on Monday that Islamic State was behind the attack on the popular Istanbul nightclub.
The group reportedly said in a statement: “In continuation of the blessed operations that Islamic State is conducting against the protector of the cross, Turkey, a heroic soldier of the caliphate struck one of the most famous nightclubs where the Christians celebrate their apostate holiday.”
Police had established similarities with the suicide bomb and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport in June and were investigating whether the same Isis cell could have carried out both attacks, Karar and Hürriyet reported.
The gunman, still at large, killed a police officer and another man outside the Reina club in the early hours of 2017 before entering and firing with an automatic rifle at an estimated 600 people inside.
Nearly two-thirds of the dead in the upmarket club, which is frequented by local celebrities, were foreigners, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency said. Many of them were from the Middle East.
The mass shooting followed more than 30 violent acts over the past year in Turkey, which is a member of the Nato alliance and a partner in the US-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. The country endured multiple bombings in 2016, including three in Istanbul alone that authorities blamed on Isis, a failed coup attempt in July and renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the south-east.
Isis claims to have cells in the country. Analysts think it was behind suicide bombings last January and March that targeted tourists on Istanbul’s famous İstiklal Street as well as the attack at Ataturk airport in June, which killed 45 people.
In December, Isis released a video purportedly showing the killing of two Turkish soldiers and urged its supporters to “conquer” Istanbul. Turkey’s jets regularly bomb the group in the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab. Turkish authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the video.
The prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, said the attacker left a gun at the club and escaped by “taking advantage of the chaos” that ensued. Some customers reportedly jumped into the waters of the Bosphorus to escape the attack. | Associated Press In Istanbul | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/isis-group-claims-responsibility-for-istanbul-nightclub-attack | LEFT |
4,778,717 | 2017-01-02 08:39:14 | CNN | 'Stray' bullet hits Texas legislator in the head | A Texas lawmaker is lucky to be alive after an apparently stray bullet hit his head during a New Year's celebration early Sunday, authorities said. | Story highlights Armando Martinez: "It felt like a sledgehammer hit me over the head"
The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting
(CNN) A Texas lawmaker is lucky to be alive after an apparently stray bullet hit his head during a New Year's celebration early Sunday, authorities said.
State Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, said his wife had just given him a kiss shortly after ringing in the new year with family and friends, and the next thing he knew, "it felt like a sledgehammer hit me over the head."
A bullet fragment had just punctured the top of the south Texas legislator's head.
Martinez said he had just stepped outside a home in a rural neighborhood north of Weslaco when he was hit.
Martinez, 40, was transferred to the neurosurgical unit at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, where surgeons removed the bullet fragment. The fragment had penetrated his skull and lodged itself into the dura mater, the top layer of the brain, doctors told Martinez.
Read More | Azadeh Ansari;Polo Sandoval | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/us/texas-representative-bullet-hits-head/index.html | UNDEFINED |
4,361,041 | 2017-01-02 08:47:21 | Breitbart | San Antonio Suffers 61% Increase in Homicides | San Antonio experienced a level of homicides not seen in the Alamo City for 20 years. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
San Antonio experienced a level of homicides not seen in the Alamo City for 20 years. Police officials said they have investigated 151 homicides in the past year, up from 94 in 2015.
During the 1990s, San Antonio experienced two spikes in reported homicides, the Associated Press reported. In 1995, the Alamo City experienced 142 homicides, but earlier that decade, the city set a record with 220.
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The city’s police chief, William McManus, told a local newspaper that about 25 percent of the deaths occurred in spontaneous acts. These are “really difficult” to explain said Chief McManus, the AP reported. The chief said that about 40 percent of these deaths were connected to drugs, family members, or other acquaintances.
No report was give as to the number of homicides that were solved in 2016. The chief said that information will be released in a report later this month.
One of those homicides was carried out against one of San Antonio’s own police officers. Detective Benjamin Marconi, 50, was working overtime hours in a patrol vehicle and stopped a woman for a traffic violation, Breitbart Texas reported. While he was sitting in his patrol car, near the downtown police station, Otis Tyrone McKane allegedly walked up to his car and shot him two times–killing him instantly.
McKane was arrested after a 30-hour manhunt, during which time he stopped to get married. While being escorted by police from court to a jail cell, McKane told reported he shot the officer because “I was upset.” He said he had been having problems related to a child custody issue.
Marconi was one of 140 law enforcement officers to die in the line of duty during 2016. A total of 64 officers were killed by gunfire, many of those in “ambush-style” attacks like the one that claimed Marconi’s life.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX. | Bob Price | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/01/02/san-antonio-suffers-61-increase-homicides/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
1,629,094 | 2017-01-02 08:49:08 | Reuters | Factbox: India cenbank rolls back curbs on cash deposits | India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the country on Nov. 8 by abolishing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, which accounted for 86 percent of the cash in circulation. The move was aimed at cracking down on the shadow economy, but has brought India's cash economy to a virtual standstill. | People walk past the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) head office in Mumbai, India, November 9, 2016.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the country on Nov. 8 by abolishing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, which accounted for 86 percent of the cash in circulation. The move was aimed at cracking down on the shadow economy, but has brought India's cash economy to a virtual standstill.
The government and the Reserve Bank of India have since taken a slew of measures to ease the pain from its measures. They are detailed below in chronological order.
DEC. 31
- Resident Indians, NRIs out of India Nov 9-Dec 30 given more time to exchange old notes
DEC. 30
- RBI raises daily limit of withdrawals from ATMs to 4,500 rupees from 2,500
- Monthly limits on mobile wallets, cards transactions to stay at 20,000 INR till further notice
- Eases rules for sourcing cash for non-bank ATMs
DEC. 29
- RBI allows banks to provide additional working capital loans to small enterprises
DEC. 26
- RBI allows 60 day grace period for some farmers to repay crop loans due Nov. 1 to Dec. 31
DEC. 21
- RBI rolls back measure on 5,000 rupees deposit limit, says deposits won't face scrutiny
DEC. 19
- RBI to allow deposits of up to 5,000 rupees in old notes til Dec. 30 after scrutiny from banks
DEC. 16
- RBI caps merchant discount rates for some card payments from Jan. 1, 2017 to March 31, 2017
- RBI waives fees for some Immediate Payment Services from Jan. 1, 2017 to March 31, 2017
- Tourists can change FX up to 5,000 rupees per week till Dec 31, from pvs deadline of Dec 15
DEC. 13
- RBI advices banks to preserve CCTV recordings at branches between Nov 8 to Dec 30
DEC. 8
- Govt announces incentives on retail purchases of some products on cashless transactions
DEC. 7
- RBI withdraws temporary order for banks to place deposits under cash reserve ratio
DEC. 2
- Govt raises limit for market stabilization bonds to 6 tln rupees to absorb extra liquidity
DEC. 1
- Govt says old 500 notes can no longer be used at petrol stations, airline ticket counters
NOV. 30
- RBI allows banks to use all cash to meet hiked cash reserve requirement ratio
- RBI tightens monthly withdrawal rules from "Jan Dhan" accounts for poor
NOV. 28
- Govt announces tax amnesty scheme for unreported cash; will charge 50 pct in taxes, surcharges
- People would also have to park quarter of total sum in non-interest bearing deposit for 4 yrs
- RBI to allow withdrawals above 24,000 INR weekly limit of deposits made in legal tender.
- Those withdrawals would be in new 2,000, 500 rupee bills
NOV. 26
- RBI says orders banks to place 100 pct of deposits between Sept-Nov under cash reserve ratio
NOV. 25
- RBI expands basket of securities that can be accepted for collateral under money market ops
- RBI says old currency notes can be exchanged at RBI branches
- RBI says tourists can exchange foreign currency worth up to INR 5,000 per week till Dec 15
NOV. 24
- Govt stops over the counter exchange of old banknotes; can only be deposited
- Govt to ensure adequate cash supply for pensioners, armed forces personnel
- Allows certain payments in old 500 rupees notes including at tolls, hospitals for limited time
NOV. 23
- India govt says will offer 210 bln rupees in farm credit to farmers
NOV. 22
- RBI sets balance kept in prepaid wallets, cards (PPIs) at 20,000 rupees from 10,000 til Dec 30
- Merchants can transfer up to 50,000 rupees from PPIs to banks til Dec 30
- Monthly limits on transactions via PPIs raised to 20,000 rupees for 10,000 til Dec 30
- RBI asks state-run Nabard to disburse up to 230 bln rupees for crop loans
NOV. 21
- RBI allows cash withdrawal of up to 250,000 rupees for wedding-related expenses
- RBI allows farmers to withdraw up to 25,000 rupees a week from their loan, deposit accounts
- RBI gives small borrowers 60 more days before loans of up to 10 mln INR are marked substandard
- Govt allows farmers to purchase seeds from state-run outlets with old 500 rupee notes
NOV. 18
- RBI sets limit of cash withdrawal at card swiping machines at 2,000 rupees per day
NOV. 17
- Govt allows farmers to withdraw up to 25,000 rupees a week against the crop loans
- Govt extends time limit for farmer to pay crop insurance premiums by 14 days
- Cuts limit for over-the-counter exchange of old bills at banks to 2,000 rupees from 4,500
NOV. 15
- Govt says banks must use indelible ink to ensure people change cash only once
NOV. 14
- India extends deadline for payments in old notes including for petrol for limited time
- Govt says to install new micro cash machines across country
- Govt asks banks to waive off transaction charges on debit, credit cards
- Govt says to raise the cash withdrawal limit from current accounts to 50,000 rupees per week
NOV. 13
- RBI raises cap on weekly cash withdrawals from banks to 24,000 rupees from 20,000
- Removes per-day withdrawal limit cap of 10,000 rupees
- Raises limit for over-the-counter exchange of old bills at banks to 4,500 rupees from 4,000
- Waives ATM fees for all transactions by savings bank customers til Dec. 30
- Govt increases withdrawal limits at recalibrated ATMs to 2,500 rupees/day from 2,000 rupees
NOV. 11
- Extends deadline for payments in old notes including for petrol for limited time
NOV. 8
- India abolishes 500, 1,000 rupee notes in fight against 'black money'
- 500, 1000 rupee notes must be tendered into banks, RBI by Dec. 30
- Caps exchange of old bills over-the-counter at banks at 4,000 rupees
- Caps cash withdrawals from bank accounts at 10,000 rupees per day till Nov 24
- Caps cash withdrawals from bank accounts at 20,000 rupees per week till Nov 24
- Caps cash withdrawals from ATMs at 2,000 rupees per day per card till Nov. 18
- Caps cash withdrawals from ATMs at 4,000 rupees per day per card from Nov. 19
- Allows certain payments in old notes including for petrol for limited time | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-demonetisation-factbox-idUSKBN14M0B5 | CENTER |
4,354,764 | 2017-01-02 08:49:29 | Breitbart | VIDEO: 1000+ Migrants Attempt to Break Into Spanish Territory | Footage has emerged of the “extremely violent and organised” attempt by 1,100 African migrants to break into the Spanish enclave Ceuta. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Footage has emerged of the “extremely violent and organised” attempt by over one thousand would-be African migrants to break into Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta on Sunday.
Five Spanish policemen and around 50 members of the Moroccan forces were injured during the massive border raid, including one who lost an eye.
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The army of migrants used weapons including metal bars as they attempt to breach gates and double fences to enter the small piece of Spanish territory.
Video from the scene shows large numbers of migrants perched on fences where they were halted by Spanish and Moroccan forces before being removed with cranes.
WATCH: “Extremely violent and organised” refugees try to storm Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco leaving 10 guards seriously wounded. pic.twitter.com/i2S7OT8Xfx — LEAVE.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) January 2, 2017
Both Spanish and Moroccan authorities have responded with aggressive rhetoric, promising to punish and deport those responsible.
The migrants tried “to force open some of the doors in the external fence, using iron bars, wire cutters and large stones, with which they assaulted Moroccan forces and [Spanish] Guardia Civil [police] agents,” the central government’s representative office in Ceuta said in a statement.
“From now on, those making such attempts will be presented before the competent judicial authorities, who will decree their expulsion from the kingdom [of Morocco] or heavier penalties, according the gravity of the act,” Morocco’s interior ministry added in a further statement.
#Espagne : 1100 migrants ont tenté de surmonter les barrières de l’enclave espagnole de Ceuta.
1 Garde de la frontière a perdu 1 oeil… pic.twitter.com/FRtBr89Y5u — LEDOUAISIEN (@LEDOUAISIEN) January 2, 2017
Figures released last week by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) showed that whilst Spain is still a relatively unpopular destination for migrants compared to Greece and Italy, numbers are growing.
More than 173,000 migrants had entered Europe via Greece by December 29th, and nearly 7,000 had made the short crossing from Morocco to Spain.
Spain is keen for its small enclaves in Africa not to become easy entry points into Europe. Once inside the fenced off areas, migrants can claim asylum and are often transported to mainland Europe.
To stop this, Spain has built substantial fences and actively works to keep the exact location of the official border secret so migrants can be removed even if they cross the barriers.
This has led human rights groups to criticise the policy of turning people back to Morocco immediately after such incidents, depriving them of the chance to claim asylum.
In October of this year, there were two successful attempts to cross the fences in Ceuta, with around 70 sub-Saharan African migrants makingit across the barriers on the 14th, before chanting “victory, victory”, and a further 220 forcing their way in at the end of the month. | Liam Deacon | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/02/video-1000-migrants-repelled-spanish-enclave-authorities-promise-deportations/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
1,245,014 | 2017-01-02 08:53:06 | Reuters | Italy's December manufacturing PMI rises to six-month high | Italian manufacturing activity grew in December at its fastest rate since June, a survey showed on Monday, signaling an acceleration in economic growth at the end of the year. | An Alfa Romeo car is assembled on the production line at the FCA plant in Cassino, southern Italy, November 24, 2016.
ROME, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Italian manufacturing activity grew in December at its fastest rate since June, a survey showed on Monday, signaling an acceleration in economic growth at the end of the year.
The Markit/ADACI Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 53.2 in December from 52.2 in November, above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction.
The PMI also showed that manufacturing orders and output both increased to their highest levels since June. The sub-index for new orders rose to 54.7 from 53.2 in November, driven by orders from abroad.
The positive PMI is welcome news for Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who took over leadership of the euro zone's most chronically sluggish economy in December.
The government forecasts 0.8 percent growth last year, less than half of what is forecast for the German economy. But growth rebounded in the third quarter, rising 0.3 percent from the previous three months, compared with a 0.1 percent increase in
the second quarter.
Detailed PMI data are only available under license from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a license.
To subscribe to the full data, click on the link below: www.markit.com/Contact-Us | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-economy-pmi-idUSKBN14M0BD | CENTER |
4,358,726 | 2017-01-02 08:53:38 | Breitbart | Bartender Sets Woman On Fire During New Year's Eve Trick | A bartender in Santa Ana was trying to do a trick to usher in the New Year when he inadvertently set a female customer on fire. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
A bartender in Santa Ana was trying to do a trick to usher in the New Year when he inadvertently set a female customer on fire.
The incident occurred about 30 minutes into the New Year at Lola Gaspar, which is located on the 200 block of West 2nd Street.
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According to ABC 7, authorities said a bartender poured alcohol onto the bar … and lit it on fire.” Police said that “the trick quickly backfired, catching a woman’s face and hair on fire.”
The woman was transported to an area hospital, but no word about the extent of her injuries was released.
An investigation by Santa Ana police and the Orange County Fire Authority is under way.
New Santa Ana reports there were no other injuries.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at [email protected]. | Awr Hawkins | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/01/02/bartender-inadvertently-sets-woman-fire-new-years-eve-trick/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
55,438,935 | 2017-01-02 08:54:00 | The Wall Street Journal | Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Istanbul Nightclub Attack | Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly New Year’s attack in Istanbul that killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens more, claiming the operation had targeted Turkey in retaliation for its military operations against the group in Syria. | BEIRUT—Islamic State on Monday claimed responsibility for a deadly New Year’s attack in Istanbul that killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens more, claiming the operation had targeted Turkey in retaliation for its military operations against the group in Syria.
The statement was distributed by Nashir News, a channel that publishes Islamic State propaganda, and which had called for followers of the extremist group to target... | Maria Abi-Habib;Maria.Habib Wsj.Com | www.wsj.com | http://www.wsj.com/articles/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-istanbul-nightclub-attack-in-which-39-people-were-killed-1483347257 | UNDEFINED |
4,283,913 | 2017-01-02 08:54:03 | Breitbart | Islamic State Planning Chemical Attack on UK | Islamic State terrorists are plotting “mass casualty” chemical attacks in the UK, a government minister has warned. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Islamic State terrorists are plotting “mass casualty” chemical attacks in the UK, the government minister responsible for Britain’s national security has warned.
Ben Wallace, the minister of state for security, said that while no specific chemical plot has been identified, the terror group had the ambition and means to carry out such attacks.
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Speaking to The Sunday Times, he said: “The ambition of IS [Islamic State] or Daesh is definitely mass-casualty attacks. They want to harm as many people as possible and terrorise as many people as possible.
“They have no moral objection to using chemical weapons against populations, and if they could, they would in this country. The casualty figures that could be involved would be everybody’s worst fear.
“We have certainly seen reports of them using it in Syria and Iraq [and] we have certainly seen aspirations for it in Europe.”
As proof of Islamic State’s chemical attack ambitions, Wallace pointed to the arrest in February of an Islamic State cell in Morocco: “Moroccan authorities dismantled a cell involving chemical weapons.
“They recovered toxic chemical and biological substances and a large stock of fertiliser. The substances found could have been used to produce homemade explosives and could have been transformed into a deadly toxin.”
Security sources have told The Sunday Times that Islamic State has used sulphur mustard gas in Syria. Within the group are many former members of Saddam Hussein’s army, including from his weapons programme.
With such expertise, British intelligence believes Islamic State is able to produce sulphur mustard gas itself, has access to Iraqi and Libyan storage sites of chemical weapons, and has already experimented with biological weapons.
Mr. Wallace also warned that as Islamic State was driven out of its strongholds in the Middle East, returning jihadists would pose a growing threat to Britain.
“The big concern is if Mosul collapses and all the other bases of Isis collapse. We know there are a significant number of [Britons] fighting for IS in Syria. They will probably want to come home,” he said.
“There will also be those people who wanted to go out there but no longer can get there. Their frustration may boil over.”
About 800 Britons went to fight in Syria and just under half have returned. Around 100 have been killed. In 2015, a further 150 were prevented from travelling to the war zone. Wallace said the figure for 2016 would be “very similar.” | Liam Deacon | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/02/islamic-state-planning-chemical-attack-uk-gov-defence-chief-says/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
1,971,228 | 2017-01-02 08:55:08 | Reuters | French December factory activity strongest since 2011: PMI | French manufacturers ended 2016 on a strong note with activity at a 5-1/2 year high in December while hiring and new orders jumped, a monthly survey showed on Monday. | An employee works on the automobile assembly line of Bluecar electric city cars at Renault car maker factory in Dieppe, western France, September 1, 2015.
PARIS, (Reuters) - French manufacturers ended 2016 on a strong note with activity at a 5-1/2 year high in December while hiring and new orders jumped, a monthly survey showed on Monday.
Data compiler IHS Markit said its final purchasing managers' index rose to 53.5 in December from 51.7 in November, unchanged from a preliminary reading.
The increase brought the index to its highest level since May 2011 and marked the third month in a row above the 50-point line dividing expansions in activity from contractions.
"Favorable demand conditions had encouraged firms to raise output, which resulted in the sharpest round of job creation in 5-1/2 years," IHS Markit economist Alexander Gill said.
"These are positive signs for France as the country contends with high levels of unemployment," he added.
Companies increased staffing levels as the flow of new orders grew at the strongest pace since May 2011, suggesting the spurt of activity in December may be more than a month-long blip.
Detailed PMI data are only available under license from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a license.
To subscribe to the full data, click on the link below: www.markit.com/Contact-Us | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-economy-pmi-idUSKBN14M0BJ | CENTER |
1,412,806 | 2017-01-02 08:59:30 | Reuters | FOREX-Dollar recovers from two-week lows in holiday-thinned market | * Dollar index up quarter of a percent* Trade thinned by New Year holiday* Focus on non-farm payrolls later in week* Istanbul attack | * Dollar index up quarter of a percent
* Trade thinned by New Year holiday
* Focus on non-farm payrolls later in week
* Istanbul attack has limited market impact
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2016 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The dollar recovered from a two-week low against a basket of six major currencies on Monday, though trade was thin due to many markets being closed for the New Year holiday.
The greenback soared to 14-year highs in December, boosted by market expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hike rates as many as three times this year, and that President-elect Donald Trump will stoke growth and inflation with a programme of fiscal expansion.
The dollar finished the year with an almost 4 percent annual rise, the fourth consecutive year of gains.
But the index that measures the currency against six major rivals lost more than 1 percent during the last three days of last week, its weakness exacerbated on Friday during a flash surge for the euro in low volumes of trading in Asia.
The single currency jumped two full cents to as high as $1.07, before quickly retreating, prompting analysts to draw parallels with a "flash crash" in October that briefly knocked almost 10 percent off the value of Britain's pound.
The euro edged down on Monday to $1.0513, while the dollar index climbed quarter of a percent to 102.43, close to the 14-year peak of 103.65 it touched on Dec. 30.
"In the last days of 2016 we saw the dollar retreat somewhat, and there might be some sense of a correction from Europe this morning. I don't see any fundamental drivers for the moves," said Commerzbank currency strategist Esther Reichelt in Frankfurt.
Data released on Friday showed speculators once again taking a bullish stance on the dollar, increasing their bets in the week up to last Tuesday after cutting their long positions for the first time since October in the previous week.
The main data focus for the week will be Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls report.
"This week's NFP figure is likely to confirm (the) assumption...that if the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) hopes to get at least two hikes in during the year, one of them should be out of the way by the middle of the year," wrote FXPrimus's head of investment research, Marshall Gittler.
A gun attack in Istanbul that killed 39 people was seen having little impact on the currency market, with the Japanese yen - traditionally used as a safe haven - falling against the dollar and the Turkish lira slipping only 0.3 percent .
"The market is unfortunately getting increasingly used to such events - it barely reacts to them anymore," said Commerzbank's Reichelt. "When we had that attack in Berlin recently, there was barely any move - the euro moved a few pips.
Sterling edged up 0.2 percent to $1.2347, close to a 10-day high of $1.2388 hit on Friday.
For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets (editing by John Stonestreet) | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/global-forex-idUSL5N1ES0FP | CENTER |
38,947,291 | 2017-01-02 09:00:20 | The Guardian | It’s easy to mock old hippies, but what 2017 needs is peace and love | I was there in the 1960s for the flower children and their protest songs. Our age of hate and violence has a few things to learn from them | I’ve been getting pangs of nostalgia for past times. Not that I’m naive. I was there. It was all very well to sing along to All You Need Is Love, but it was never simple. The air reeked of sanctimony and hypocrisy and, as ever, the biggest, hardest egos surged to the top. We had Vietnam and the cold war and Charles Manson.
I have seen Britain shrouded in darkness before. Better times will come | Harry Leslie Smith Read more
It’s easy to look back with indulgence on those glory days of We Shall Overcome and Give Peace a Chance, of smiling flower children sticking daffodils into the barrels of soldiers’ guns, Rastas advocating the smoking of herb and the practice of sitting together and reasoning. It feels hard to imagine, after 2016, that love and peace was once all the rage.
We do hate so much better now. The death threat has entered everyday discourse. Nice people on social media who I happen to know would not hurt a fly and are firmly against capital punishment: even they are at it. None of them means it. Some do though, like the far-right extremist who said “Britain first” as he murdered the MP Jo Cox in June last year.
When Cox was awarded a posthumous peace prize, some people complained. Should only saints win peace prizes? Of course she deserves the prize. She was a good woman who died doing her job, trying to help people. But we don’t do shades any more.
Intolerance is the new vogue. I made a neighbour cry not long ago because I mildly criticised a politician she likes. “That’s it!” said a friend, “that’s the last time I take his parcels in for him,” suspecting her neighbour had voted for the other lot the morning after 2015’s general election.
We’re losing the knowledge of how to disagree peacefully. Never has keeping your mouth shut been more attractive, because never before in my lifetime has free speech been so endangered. Every pathetic maundering idiot is slammed into the grand, new, respectable stocks and pelted. People are destroyed because of what they tweet or blurt stupidly. Cox died because someone hated what she stood for.
Hate permeates the zeitgeist like a smell we’ve got used to. It’s called by other names but it’s the same old thing, thriving on a massive dehumanisation of the other that spreads like mould. The scum enemy is vile and loathsome, and all the other words you might use of a cockroach, just as the Nazis did of the Jews.
Hate permeates the zeitgeist like a smell we’ve got used to
This year, against the prevailing grain, we should reclaim such terms as peace, goodwill and unity from soppy bathos, read them anew and mine their original strength. This doesn’t mean being an apologist for tyrants or appeasing genocidal bullies, who must always be confronted. There will be blood. This is the world and we’re human.
But who was stronger than Martin Luther King? We need a new peace movement that aims to minimise violence wherever possible. It’s hard when you feel like smashing someone’s stupid face in. I feel like that all the time. But if we give in to the hate, we’re sunk .
In my youth we would sit for hours on end, a whole bundle of us together in a smoky room, talking about anything and everything under the sun. We didn’t all see things the same way. We were just as messed up as any other generation. Peace, love and understanding was never more than a catchphrase. A whole load of hippy drivel was no doubt spouted in those times, but there was less hate in the air.
Come together. If only. Instead, we’re all running away from one another very fast. Where are the holy fools, the peacemakers? All out of time, sleeping in a cave under the hills. | Carol Birch | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/02/mock-hippies-2017-peace-love | LEFT |
2,680,715 | 2017-01-02 09:10:49 | Reuters | BRIEF-Korea Value Asset Management sells 6 pct stake in Danawa | Danawa Co Ltd : | Jan 2 (Reuters) - Danawa Co Ltd :
* Says Korea Value Asset Management Co.,Ltd has sold 6 percent stake(399,241 shares) in the company, decreasing its stake down to 1.9 percent(125,106 shares) from 7.9 percent(524,347 shares)
Source text in Korean: goo.gl/RRxmig
Further company coverage: (Beijing Headline News) | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N1ES14V | CENTER |
4,311,646 | 2017-01-02 09:23:19 | Breitbart | KKK Members Claim Reality Show Producers Paid for Faked Scenes | Some subjects of the now-canceled series 'Escaping the KKK' said they were paid daily and ordered to do and say certain things by producers. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Ku Klux Klan members who were to be the subjects of a reality television series about their lives have alleged that producers of the show paid them to fake scenes, recite specific dialogue and even paid for materials for cross burnings.
A&E canceled its series Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Exposing Hate in America last week after the network announced it had discovered that cash payments were made to some of the subjects of the series “in order to facilitate access.”
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The highly controversial documentary was to explore the relationships of Klan members and their families, including those trying to leave the white supremacist group, and was advertised to viewers as a no-holds-barred account of life inside the organization.
But according to an investigation by Variety, some KKK members featured in the documentary allege they were instructed by producers to do and say certain things, including using the racial slur “n*gger” in interviews and to re-shoot certain scenes until the production was satisfied.
“We were betrayed by the producers and A&E,” one of the series’ subjects, KKK Grand Dragon Richard Nichols, told Variety. “It was all made up — pretty much everything we said and did was fake and because that is what the film people told us to do and say.”
Nichols told the outlet he was approached to appear in the series by producers who said they wanted to show what life was really like in the Klan. But Nichols claims he was paid $600 per day to participate in the series and that scenes involving himself and a young man he attempted to “recruit” into the KKK were all made up, as were scenes involving a cross burning in his hometown of Pulaski, Tennessee.
“It was the producers who told me they wanted a cross-lighting,” he told Variety. “In fact they made two cross-lightings cause they wanted to reshoot some scenes. They bought everything—the wood, the burlap to wrap around the wood, the diesel and kerosene for my cross lighting. They even brought all the food for everyone.”
Two leaders of other KKK groups featured in the series claim they were paid $500 per day to participate and said they had played along with pre-planned storylines at the request of producers.
A spokesperson for A&E said the network planned to conduct a “full independent investigation” into the production, while production company This Is Just A Test offered its own statement.
“We take these allegations very seriously and in partnership with A&E we will be looking into them fully,” the statement said. “We have been told that participants in the series have received threats and coerced into speaking out against the authenticity of the show.”
Escaping the KKK was scheduled to premiere on A&E on January 10. A rep for the network did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | Daniel Nussbaum | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/01/02/kkk-members-claim-reality-show-producers-paid-fake-scenes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
116,926,484 | 2017-01-02 09:30:00 | CNN | Finland basic income: 2,000 citizens getting guaranteed income of $587/month | The Finnish government is giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income, regardless of their wealth or employment status. | Finland has started a radical experiment: It's giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income, with funds that keep flowing whether participants work or not.
The program, which kicks off this month, is one of the first efforts to test a "universal basic income." Participants will receive €560 ($587) a month -- money that is guaranteed regardless of income, wealth or employment status.
The idea is that a universal income offers workers greater security, especially as technological advances reduce the need for human labor. It will also allow unemployed people to pick up odd jobs without losing their benefits.
The initial program will run for a period of two years. Participants were randomly selected, but had to be receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy. The money they are paid through the program will not be taxed.
If the program is successful, it could be expanded to include all adult Finns.
The Finnish government thinks the initiative could save money in the long run. The country's welfare system is complex and expensive to run, and simplifying it could reduce costly bureaucracy.
The change could also encourage more jobless people to look for work, because they won't have to worry about losing unemployment benefits. Some unemployed workers currently avoid part time jobs because even a small income boost could result in their unemployment benefits being canceled.
"Incidental earnings do not reduce the basic income, so working and ... self-employment are worthwhile no matter what," said Marjukka Turunen, the head of the legal unit at Kela, Finland's social insurance agency.
Related: Switzerland rejects plan to pay every citizen at least $2,500 a month
The idea is not unique to Finland.
Advocates point to the Italian city of Livorno, which started a guaranteed basic income for the city's 100 poorest families in June. The scheme was extended to further 100 families starting Sunday. They are receiving €500 ($525) per month.
Pilot programs are also being discussed in Canada, Iceland, Uganda and Brazil.
Switzerland last year considered giving every adult citizen a guaranteed income of $2,500 a month, but the plan was rejected in a referendum. More than 75% of voters were against the measure.
Related: How does your salary stack up?
The best example of a guaranteed income program might actually be in the U.S. Alaska has been giving out annual cash payments to all residents since the 1980s, a dividend from the state's oil revenue.
BIEN, a group that campaigns for universal income, describes it as the first "genuine universal basic income system." | Ivana Kottasova | money.cnn.com | http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/02/news/economy/finland-universal-basic-income/index.html?sr=recirc010316finlandcitizens1030vodtop§ion=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28CNNMoney%3A+Top+Stories%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,875,297 | 2017-01-02 09:37:33 | CNN | Parent obesity may affect child development, study says | Being overweight may impact not only your health but your future child's development as well, a new study suggests. | (CNN) Being overweight may impact not only your health but your future child's development as well, a new study suggests.
Children of obese parents may be at risk for developmental delays, says the study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics
In the United States, an estimated one in five women is obese when they get pregnant, registering a body mass index above 30. The healthy average is between 18.5 and 24.9.
But few studies have looked at the father's weight, even though 20% to 30% of US adults -- both male and female -- are obese.
A team from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development set out to learn more.
"Our study is one of the few that also includes information about fathers, and our results suggest that dad's weight also has significant influence on child development," said lead researcher Dr. Edwina Yeung, an investigator at the institute.
Effects differ based on the heavier parent
The researchers looked at 4,821 children from 4 months old to the age of 3, between 2008 and 2010, and found specific effects on children, depending on which parent is obese.
Compared with normal or underweight mothers, children of obese mothers were more likely to have difficulty using small muscles, such as those in their fingers or hands.
Paternal obesity was associated with increased risk of failing at personal-social activities, such as feeding themselves, playing and undressing themselves. Those born to extremely obese couples also were more likely to fail problem-solving tests.
Pinpointing progress
The researchers used data from the ongoing Upstate KIDS study , which follows over 6,000 children born in New York state.
It aims to track the growth, motor and social development of children and its correlation with infertility treatments, obesity, rising maternal age and pregnancy complications.
Parents are asked to regularly complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire for their children.
"The questionnaire is a screening tool. It's an indicator of whether a child is on track for behaviors appropriate to his or her age," Yeung explained.
The tool was designed to pinpoint development progress and catch delays in children up to the age of 6.
Yeung's team looked at reports recorded by parents at 4, 8, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months. According to Yeung, although parents are self-reporting information, the potential for bias is small, as questions are straightforward (PDF).
"The fine motor skills part, for example, asks such questions as whether the child can turn the pages of a book or whether he or she can stack blocks," she explained.
Mothers also completed a questionnaire about health status and lifestyle at enrollment to determine both parents' height and weight before pregnancy.
According to the study authors, factors associated with obesity -- such as lower income and education, smoking and alcohol use -- were taken into to consideration when analyzing the results.
Weight at delivery was taken from electronic birth certificates.
Cause remains unclear
It is not unclear exactly why parental obesity might increase developmental delays in children.
"Our study wasn't designed to prove cause and effect. At this point, we only have correlations between parents' BMI and children's scores on a screening questionnaire," Yeung stressed.
"Obesity is correlated with a rise in inflammation and in hormones that regulate body fat and metabolism. One theory is that these hormones might influence the development of the baby's brain," Yeung said.
Other theories are that high blood sugar or a shortage of certain nutrients might influence brain development.
The study offers less information on the potential effects of paternal obesity on child development, but the authors cite previous research hypothesizing that obesity could affect the expression of genes in sperm.
Scott Johnson , a professor in developmental psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, was fascinated by team's results.
"The authors pose some interesting possible mechanisms by which maternal and paternal obesity could be responsible for the outcomes they reported," Johnson said.
He thinks the theories that maternal obesity poses a risk to a fetus' development are sound but says much more research is required.
"It wasn't clear to me how that general property induces specific deficits in fine motor skills," Johnson said.
The effects of obesity in male sperm are also not sufficiently explained, but the developmental psychology expert says it is not impossible.
"It's not a crazy idea. It has been speculated for some time that there may be distinct paternal genetic contributions to autism risk, for example," he said.
What's next?
"Overall, the study has some important findings and an intriguing set of possible explanations," Johnson concluded.
However, at this point, nothing can be confirmed.
"It's really important to stress that these results need to be confirmed by other studies," Yeung agreed.
Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.
But that is not easy, as recruiting families and collecting and analyzing the data could take years. If the team's results are confirmed, physicians who work with young children might take parents' weight into account when screening for development.
In the end, it's one more reason to keep an eye on your waistline.
"We know that obesity greatly increases the risk for such conditions as heart disease, diabetes and stroke. For anyone, male or female, pregnant or not, it makes sense to attain a healthy weight," Yeung said. | Karla Pequenino | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/health/parental-obesity-child-development/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,328,505 | 2017-01-02 09:41:49 | Breitbart | 'Less Than 3 Weeks to Stop' Trump | Rosie O'Donnell called President-elect Trump "mentally unstable" and warned that the country has just three weeks to "stop" him. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Rosie O’Donnell kicked off the New Year much the same way she ended the old one — by attacking Donald Trump on social media.
The actress shared a message on Sunday to her 900,000-plus Twitter followers informing them that they have “less than 3 weeks to stop” the President-elect.
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“Donald Trump is mentally unstable,” O’Donnell wrote on Twitter, linking to a CNN report about a Trump biographer who says the President-elect had him escorted from a Trump-owned Florida golf course on Friday.
DONALD TRUMP IS MENTALLY UNSTABLE – https://t.co/6AvhoPq1du LESS THAN 3 WEEKS TO STOP HIM AMERICA — ROSIE (@Rosie) January 1, 2017
Calling the incoming commander-in-chief mentally unstable is merely par for the course for the 54-year-old comedienne.
Last May, O’Donnell confidently declared that Trump “will never be president,” and has previously called him “the worst representation of what the United States is or could be.”
O’Donnell and Trump have feuded publicly for years, but the conflict reached a new level earlier this year, when the comedian vowed to leave the country if Trump were elected president.
“We’ll get rid of Rosie. Oh, I love it,” Trump said in April about the possibility of O’Donnell leaving the country if he won the White House. “Now I have to get elected because I’m going to do a great service to our country. Now it’s much more important. In fact, I’ll immediately get off this call and start campaigning right now.”
.@realDonaldTrump: If me winning means Rosie O'Donnell moves to Canada, I'd be doing a great service to our country!https://t.co/foxt712Ko1 — FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) April 26, 2016
Last month, O’Donnell apologized to future First Lady Melania Trump for sharing a video on her social media account that suggested that 10-year-old Barron Trump could be autistic.
“I apologize to @MELANIATRUMP – i was insensitive in my RT – i am sorry for the pain i caused – it was not my intent – i am truly sorry -,” O’Donnell tweeted.
It was unclear exactly what O’Donnell meant by suggesting there are three weeks left to “stop” Trump. There is a “Women’s March on Washington” scheduled for January 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration, though O’Donnell has not said if she will be attending the event.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson | Jerome Hudson | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/01/02/rosie-threatens-less-3-weeks-stop-trump/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
55,473,494 | 2017-01-02 09:51:00 | The Wall Street Journal | Fresh Arrests in South Korean Political Scandal | The daughter of a controversial confidante of South Korea President Park Geun-hye was arrested, as was the head of the national pension fund, as prosecutors investigating the country’s biggest political scandal in decades appear to be focusing on Samsung. | SEOUL—The daughter of a close confidante of South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been detained in Denmark, prosecutors in the Asian country said on Monday, bringing into custody the last remaining figure at large in an unfolding scandal that has led to the impeachment of Ms. Park.
Officials in Seoul said that Danish authorities had arrested Chung Yoo-ra, the 20-year-old daughter of Choi Soon-sil, Ms. Park’s close friend and the suspected beneficiary of an alleged influence-peddling scheme that has ensnared the... | Jonathan Cheng;Eun-Young Jeong;Google;Jonathan.Cheng Wsj.Com;Eun-Young.Jeong Wsj.Com | www.wsj.com | http://www.wsj.com/articles/fresh-arrests-in-south-korean-political-scandal-1483350679 | UNDEFINED |
113,710,085 | 2017-01-02 09:58:36 | Slate | ISIS Claims Responsibility for Istanbul Nightclub Attack; Gunman Still at Large | A day after the New Year’s attack on Reina nightclub in Istanbul, ISIS issued a statement claiming responsibility for the latest terrorist attack to ri ... | Burak Kara/Getty Images
A day after the New Year’s attack on Reina nightclub in Istanbul, ISIS issued a statement claiming responsibility for the latest terrorist attack to rip through Turkey. The group called the gunman that opened fire, killing at least 39 clubgoers and injuring dozens more, in the early hours of Jan. 1 “a hero soldier of the caliphate.” The gunman, however, is still at large and it is unclear what role the terrorist organization played in the attack. Turkey’s state-run news agency, Anadolu, reported that Turkish authorities have arrested eight people in connection to the attack for questioning.
“[ISIS’s] claim of responsibility came after years of complex relations between the Turkish state and the jihadist group operating across its southern border. Several terrorist attacks in Turkey over the past year have been attributed to the Islamic State, but the militant group rarely claims responsibility for major attacks in the country,” according to the New York Times. “In an apparent reference to Turkey’s role in the conflict in Syria, the [ISIS] statement [Monday] warned that ‘the government of Turkey should know that the blood of Muslims, which it is targeting with its planes and its guns, will cause a fire in its home by God’s will.’”
Advertisement | null | www.slate.com | http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/02/isis_claims_responsibility_for_istanbul_nightclub_attack_gunman_still_at.html | LEFT |
39,116,054 | 2017-01-02 10:00:22 | The Guardian | Payday loans are capped. Now let’s tackle other high-cost credit | The Financial Conduct Authority has protected consumers from payday loans. It’s time for all lenders who exploit the vulnerable to be brought into line | It’s not so long ago that newspapers were awash with horror stories of how payday loans were pushing people into dangerous cycles of debt and fuelling a raft of social problems. By helping thousands of people with payday loan problems, Citizens Advice saw at first hand the devastation caused by extortionate interest rates and the harassment waged on borrowers.
Regulator targets high-cost credit deals on consumer goods, loans and overdrafts Read more
Concerned by the behaviour of payday lenders – whose presence became ominously familiar in many a high street – we, along with other organisations, campaigned for robust political pressure to be directed at the scourge of payday lending. The result was tougher regulation, including a cap on the total cost of credit that came into effect two years ago, meaning people can’t pay back more than twice what they borrowed.
The cap had an almost instant reaction – the number of people who contacted Citizens Advice with unmanageable payday loan debts halved within a year. The regulations also carried more stringent demands on lenders and the market is now working better for all – people can still get access to credit and fewer are having problems.
Not all problems have been solved. The majority of lenders still do not ask for proof of income and expenditure. But the initial success of the Financial Conduct Authority’s intervention should not be understated. It is a handy reminder of the good work regulators can do when they are bold.
Yet while a lot of issues have been tackled in the payday market and consumers are better protected as a result, other forms of high-cost credit, which can be just as damaging, remain untouched. Doorstep lenders, who lend money to people in their homes, are not included in the cap but charge eye-watering interest rates of up to 1,500% to the 2.5 million customers who currently use them.
High-cost credit, however it is provided, can all too often lead to unmanageable debt
The rent-to-own market, which provides household goods on credit, is also not covered by the cap. Consumers face high interest rates and are also charged large fees for add-on costs such as insurance and aftercare, which can mean people end up paying two to three times as much for products as they would on the high street. One person we helped will repay £2,000 for a washing machine that originally cost £300. Customers are also hit with further penalties if they miss a repayment, and harsh debt-collection practices.
Other debt firms also continue to impose higher interest rates than their payday counterparts. Logbook loans, where loans are secured against personal belongings like a car, come with interest rates of more than 400%. A man who came to Citizens Advice for help borrowed £800 only to find he faced a £5,000 final repayment bill.
A better known issue is one faced by millions every year: people using unarranged overdrafts face similar problems to those who take out high-cost credit. A person with a £50 unarranged overdraft for a month can pay back far more than twice that in total.
High-cost credit, however it is provided, can all too often lead to unmanageable debt. People can quickly fall into a debt trap, borrowing more to make repayments or falling behind on priority bills such as council tax or energy. Around a third of rent-to-own customers, for instance, have fallen behind on payments. Half have taken out other debts to make repayments, and 25% have stopped paying other bills as a result of missing repayments.
Users of high-cost credit are also far more likely to be in insecure situations – and are more than twice as likely to have dependent children or have a disability than the general population. There is a moral case to protect those consumers who have little choice but to borrow from high-cost lenders.
Two years on from the cap, the FCA is looking at how effective the measure was, and alongside this it is examining other high-cost credit markets to see if action needs to be taken there. This is a clear opportunity for the FCA to protect more consumers by applying the cap on the total cost of credit to all forms of high-cost lending. That way people will know from the outset what they are in for and how much they will have to pay back.
The common argument against extending the price cap is that the market will collapse under tough regulation. The payday lending industry shows us that isn’t the case. Despite tough regulations and the introduction of the cap, responsible firms are still able to operate and make a profit without pushing people into unmanageable debt.
It is easy to forget that the current approach to consumer credit regulation is relatively new. Lenders have only been required by regulations to conduct affordability checks on borrowers since 2011. The FCA needs to build on the success of payday regulation and give consistent protection to people, no matter where they borrow money from. | Gillian Guy | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/02/payday-loans-capped-high-cost-credit | LEFT |
79,069,943 | 2017-01-02 10:06:00 | Politico | Trump expected to pick Lighthizer for trade post | The longtime trade lawyer was an early supporter of the president-elect. | Robert Lighthizer has been a supporter of Donald Trump's tough approach to trade with China since at least 2011, when he penned an op-ed for the Washington Times. | AP Photo Trump expected to pick Lighthizer for trade post
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Robert Lighthizer, a veteran trade attorney and supporter of Trump's defensive view of trade, as his pick for the next U.S. trade representative, according to two transition officials.
The longtime trade lawyer, who served as deputy U.S. trade representative under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, was an early supporter of Trump and had been advising the incoming administration on its transition efforts at the trade-negotiating agency.
Story Continued Below
Before his stint in the Reagan administration, he served as chief of staff on the Senate Finance Committee, where he developed an understanding of congressional dynamics. He moved into private practice in the late 1980s and now works as a partner at the Skadden law firm, where he represents U.S. Steel Corp. and other domestic giants in their efforts to keep foreign steel imports at bay.
Lighthizer has been a supporter of Trump's tough approach to trade with China since at least 2011, when he penned an op-ed for the Washington Times.
Lighthizer met with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 19. | Rachael Bade;Elana Schor;Politico Staff | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-expected-to-pick-lighthizer-for-trade-post-233112 | UNDEFINED |
4,371,619 | 2017-01-02 10:15:50 | Fox News | Trailblazing Hasidic woman judge: 'It's the American dream' | In some ways, real estate lawyer Rachel Freier has a background that might be expected in a new civil court judge. | In some ways, real estate lawyer Rachel Freier has a background that might be expected in a new civil court judge.
But Freier starts work in New York City on Tuesday as something quite unexpected.
She's believed to be the first woman from Judaism's ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community to be elected as a judge in the United States.
The 51-year-old Freier is a proud product of a world with strict customs concerning gender roles and modesty. As a pathbreaker who embraces tradition, she has sometimes had to explain herself to both outsiders and fellow believers.
The new Brooklyn Civil Court judge says her commitment to the public and her commitment to her religion and her community can go hand-in-hand. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/02/trailblazing-hasidic-woman-judge-it-american-dream.html | RIGHT |
4,303,051 | 2017-01-02 10:17:31 | Breitbart | Top Hillary Clinton Adviser Said Despite Mistakes, Campaign Faced 'A Perfect Storm' of Problems | Top Hillary Clinton Adviser Said Despite Mistakes, Campaign Faced 'A Perfect Storm' of Problems | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Top Hillary Clinton adviser Karen Finney said on CNN Sunday that Clinton’s campaign faced “a perfect storm” of problems that cost her the election, the Daily Mail reported.
“Look, there are any number of things that you could point to to say that it was a mistake that we made that probably has some merit to it, because it was such a perfect storm of a lot of different things,” Finney told Jake Tapper, sitting on a panel of Democrats on CNN’s State of the Union.
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Finney said there was no “magic bullet” that could have changed the direction of the doomed campaign.
Even though she said the campaign was doomed, she also said that it was a close race.
“Particularly when you look at the fact that in those Rust Belt states … that gap is about 70,000 votes that we’re talking about,” she continued.
“A majority of those people agreed with [Clinton] on the economy, thought she’d be better on the economy,’ Finney said. ‘And she’s won 2.8 million more in the popular vote.”
Finney suggested to Tapper that outreach could be better, like former DNC chairman Howard Dean’s “50-state strategy” that helped Obama get elected.
“I think we need to learn some of the lessons coming out of this election, no question, in terms of how we talk to working families, whether they are black, white, brown and where those families are located, how we talk to them about the issues they care about,” Finney said.
“But I don’t think that this is an example of, you know, there are one or two things that was just flip a switch and everything will be perfect,” she said.
In November, Finney blamed the election loss on everything but Clinton, saying she lost because of sexism, James Comey, and the media, among other reasons, the Washington Free Beacon reported. | Katherine Rodriguez | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2017/01/02/top-hillary-clinton-adviser-said-despite-mistakes-campaign-faced-perfect-storm-problems/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,281,862 | 2017-01-02 10:21:05 | Breitbart | Kicking Money Out of Politics: Trump Boots Koch Brother from Golf Course | Kicking Money Out of Politics: Trump Boots Koch Brother from Golf Course | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
President-elect Donald Trump told a critical biographer and guest of billionaire David Koch to leave his West Palm Beach golf course on New Year’s Eve, forcing Koch to leave with him.
Trump’s gesture was another slight against the pro-amnesty, pro-“free trade” billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who opposed Trump during the Republican primary season and refused to help him during the general election. It also signals Trump will not necessarily play nice with the GOP political establishment and Beltway right.
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The Kochs swooped in during the Tea Party revolt in 2010, training amateur political activists and trying to channel populist energy against the Obama administration into supporting the progressive-business alliance that wanted more cheap labor and lesser sentences for drug traffickers, under the umbrella term of “smaller government.”
But the “grassroots army was not controllable,” as one former Koch staffer lamented, and the Kochs appeared curiously unwilling to make any concessions to Americans who wanted populist, nationalist policies, and relief from the relentlessly eroding forces of mass immigration and globalization. A majority of voters— some of whom saw more demographic change take place in their communities than many countries saw in a millennia—want immigration slashed in half or reduced to zero. Trump captured that energy and it propelled him to the White House, much to the Kochs’ and their network’s chagrin.
The Kochs wanted candidates amenable to their will, and Trump didn’t fit the bill. They considered him a distraction before he rocketed to first in the polls, and even toyed with the idea of spending tens of millions of dollars to attack him.
Trump mocked the Kochs while on the campaign trail, calling their preferred candidates “puppets” enacting their donors’ agenda:
I really like the Koch Brothers (members of my P.B. Club), but I don't want their money or anything else from them. Cannot influence Trump! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2015
I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers. Puppets? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2015
While I hear the Koch brothers are in big financial trouble (oil), word is they have chosen little Marco Rubio, the lightweight from Florida — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016
Little Marco Rubio, the lightweight no show Senator from Florida, is set to be the "puppet" of the special interest Koch brothers. WATCH! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016
I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
Koch’s guest: Harry Hurt III, who authored the 1993 book, Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, which stated Ivana Trump accused her ex-husband of “raping” her in a sworn deposition during their divorce.
In a Facebook post published on the same day, Hurt recounted the incident in third person:
Donald Trump personally booted the author of an unflattering biography off Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Friday. Harry Hurt III, who penned the 1993 biography, Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, had come to play with billionaire industrialist David. H. Koch, a Trump club member, and two other golfers. Hurt, who has a scratch handicap and plays in colorful knickers, walked over to Trump on the practice range prior to his group’s assigned tee time, only to suffer a tongue lashing from the president-elect. “I said, ‘Congratulations, sir,’ and shook his hand,” Hurt recalls. “Trump said, ‘You were rough on me, Harry. Really rough. That shit you wrote.’” Hurt says he looked Trump in the eye, and said, “It’s all true,” to which Trump rejoined, “Not in the way you wrote it.” Among the juicy tidbits in Hurt’s tome was Ivana Trump’s allegation in a sworn deposition that Trump had “raped” her during their divorce battle. Trump told Hurt it was “inappropriate” for him to play at the club, and had his security detail escort Hurt, Koch, and their playing partners to the parking lot. “David [Koch] was appalled,” says Hurt. “He branded Trump ‘petty’ and vulgar.’ We played Emerald Dunes instead, which is a much, much better golf course than Trump International.”
Accusing Trump of “raping” his ex wife, Ivana Trump, was a false media accusation arising early in the Republican primaries—and a weapon the Democratic Party planned to use in the general election after Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and the Daily Beast “rushed it on air” and into print, using Hurt’s book, before bothering to check with Ivana about its truth.
It backfired spectacularly when Ivana slammed the allegations and endorsed her ex-husband for president. ““I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald. The story is totally without merit,” she said in a July 2015 statement. “Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of. I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign. Incidentally, I think he would make an incredible president.”
Breathless media coverage of the New Years’ Eve encounter between Trump, Koch, and his guest framed it as Trump having little tolerance for criticism: Nearly every headline focused on the biographer and his critical book, not Koch.
Read Politico’s report, including more from Hurt and a transition official’s account, here. | Katie Mchugh | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/kickng-money-out-of-politics-trump-boots-koch-brother-from-golf-course/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
4,574,849 | 2017-01-02 10:26:55 | Fox News | Obama to give farewell address next week in hometown Chicago | President Obama will deliver a farewell speech next week in his hometown of Chicago that he says will follow a tradition set in 1796 when first U.S President George Washington spoke to the American people for the last time in office. | President Obama will deliver a farewell speech next week in his hometown of Chicago that he says will follow a tradition set in 1796 when first U.S President George Washington spoke to the American people for the last time in office.
"I'm thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you've changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here," Obama said in an email Monday to supporters.
The "speech will take place at McCormick Place, a giant convention center in Chicago.
Obama returned to Washington on Monday from Hawaii. And with his last presidential vacation now behind him, the two-term president, entering the closing stretch of his presidency, is on an eleventh-hour push to tie up loose ends and put finishing touches on his legacy before handing the reins to President-elect Donald Trump.
With just two-and-a-half weeks left, Obama’s final days will largely be consumed by a bid to protect his endangered health care law, a major farewell speech and the ongoing handover of power to Trump.
Obama's chief speechwriter, Cody Keenan, traveled with Obama to Hawaii and spent much of the trip working on the speech. The Chicago trip will likely be Obama's last outside Washington as president and will be include a "family reunion" for Obama's former campaign staffers.
Obama is also planning last-minute commutations and pardons, White House officials said, in line with his second-term effort to cut sentences for inmates given unduly harsh sentences for drug crimes. Though prominent offenders like Edward Snowden and Rod Blagojevich are also asking for leniency, Obama's final acts of clemency are expected to remain focused on drug offenders whose plight Obama tried but failed to address through criminal justice reform.
After taking office eight years ago, Obama and his aides were effusive in their praise for how Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, helped his team take over the massive federal bureaucracy. Obama has vowed to pass on the favor to Trump. But the transition hasn't been without incident.
The two teams have clashed over the Trump team's requests for information Obama aides fear could be used to eliminate government employees who worked on Obama priorities like climate change and minority rights overseas. Trump's team, meanwhile, has been frustrated by Obama's attempts to box Trump in with parting moves to block ocean drilling, declare new monuments and further empty out the Guantanamo Bay prison.
While on his annual vacation in Oahu, Obama asserted himself forcefully on two foreign policy issues that put him in direct conflict with Trump. Obama directed the U.S. to defy tradition by allowing a U.N. Security Council resolution criticizing Israel on settlements to pass, then slapped Russia with sweeping penalties over U.S. allegations of hacking.
The final days are Obama's last chance to define his presidency before his loses the bully pulpit and cedes his legacy to historians. For Obama, helping Americans understand how his two terms have reshaped American life is even more critical amid concerns that Trump may undo much of what he accomplished, including the health law.
As Trump and Republicans vow to gut the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are working to devise a strategy to protect the law by exploiting GOP divisions about how to replace it. To that end, Obama will travel Wednesday to the Capitol to meet with House and Senate Democrats, likely his last meeting with his party's lawmakers as president.
His administration is also working feverishly to finish up regulations in the pipeline that Obama hopes can be completed in the final days, perhaps increasing the likelihood his policies carry over. But the closer it gets to Trump's inauguration, the harder those tasks become.
Though Obama remains president until Jan. 20, the White House can't process the departure of all its staffers on a single day. So this week Obama aides will start "offloading," turning in their Blackberries and shutting down their computers for the last time, leaving a smaller staff on hand for the final days.
Obama must also prepare to become a private citizen for the first time in two decades. An office of the former president must be stood up, and Obama's family will be making arrangements to move into a rental home in Northwest Washington where they plan to stay until youngest daughter Sasha finishes high school.
The Obamas have long lamented how the presidency denied them freedom and privacy, with first lady Michelle Obama likening the White House to "a really nice prison." But on their last Hawaii vacation, the first family took time out to visit Breakout Waikiki, where visitors are "trapped" in a room together and must try, as a team, to escape.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | null | www.foxnews.com | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-to-give-farewell-address-next-week-in-hometown-chicago | RIGHT |
55,460,815 | 2017-01-02 10:30:00 | The Wall Street Journal | Oil Companies That Sold Shares During Collapse Are Now Riding High | Oil companies that sold shares to raise cash during a vicious collapse in the price of crude finished on top in 2016, rewarded when prices finally turned higher. | Oil-and-gas companies that sold shares to raise cash during a vicious collapse in the price of crude finished on top in 2016, rewarded when U.S. oil prices finally turned and closed the year 45% higher.
More than 70 North American energy companies sold about $57 billion worth of shares in so-called follow-on stock offerings during the past two years. Many of these shares spent stretches trading below their offering prices, hurting investors who wagered on companies that failed to find footing as well as those who sold out... | Ryan Dezember;Ryan.Dezember Wsj.Com | www.wsj.com | http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-companies-that-sold-shares-during-collapse-are-now-riding-high-1483353003 | UNDEFINED |
55,493,503 | 2017-01-02 10:30:00 | The Wall Street Journal | Its Economy in Crisis, Angola Readies for a New Leader | The ruling party has tapped the current defense minister to succeed José Eduardo dos Santos. Whether the change will bring fresh remedies to the country’s economic woes is open to question. | TALATONA, Angola—This upmarket new suburb on the edge of Angola’s capital stands as a ghostly monument to the challenges facing one of Africa’s biggest oil producers as it braces for its first political transition in almost four decades.
Dozens of gated communities sit mostly empty, gathering dust. They were built during the first half of this decade for a middle class that never materialized and a foreign elite that largely packed... | Gabriele Steinhauser;Google;Gabriele.Steinhauser Wsj.Com | www.wsj.com | http://www.wsj.com/articles/its-economy-in-crisis-angola-readies-for-a-new-leader-1483353000 | UNDEFINED |
55,481,371 | 2017-01-02 10:30:00 | The Wall Street Journal | New Congress Reflects Both Diversity of America and Difference Between Parties | The new Congress reflects the diversity of America, but also the sharply different makeups of the two political parties. | The House of Representatives that takes the oath of office on Tuesday will include its first Indian-American woman. The Senate will have a record number of women, including its first Latina.
The new Congress reflects the diversity of America, but also the sharply different makeups of the two political parties. White men will account for 87% of House Republicans, the same as last session, but only 41% of House Democrats, a 2% drop... | Natalie Andrews;Natalie.Andrews Wsj.Com | www.wsj.com | http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-congress-reflects-both-diversity-of-america-and-difference-between-parties-1483353001 | UNDEFINED |
4,385,677 | 2017-01-02 10:30:27 | Fox News | No damage reported after 2 earthquakes hit north Oklahoma | Two earthquakes have struck in the area of northern Oklahoma that was rattled last year by the largest earthquake in state history. | Two earthquakes have struck in the area of northern Oklahoma that was rattled last year by the largest earthquake in state history.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the back-to-back earthquakes hit Monday morning near Pawnee, about 75 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. The USGS says the quakes had magnitudes of 3.2 and 3.3 and there are no reports of injuries or damage.
In September, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Pawnee and caused widespread property damage. Scientists have linked Oklahoma's recent spate of earthquakes to oil and gas production, and state regulators have issued new regulations on the practice of injecting wastewater into underground disposal wells. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/02/no-damage-reported-after-2-earthquakes-hit-north-oklahoma.html | RIGHT |
18,142,695 | 2017-01-02 10:32:46 | BBC | South Korea scandal: Daughter of Choi Soon-sil arrested | The daughter of the woman at the centre of South Korea's presidential scandal is arrested in Denmark, say police. | Image copyright Reuters Image caption Chung Yoo-ra won a gold medal as part of a dressage team that competed in the 2014 Asian Games
The daughter of the woman at the centre of a presidential scandal in South Korea has been arrested in Denmark, say South Korean police.
Chung Yoo-ra, 20, is accused of staying in Denmark illegally, they said. They have requested her extradition.
Her mother is accused of using her friendship with President Park Geun-hye for personal gain. Both women apologised but denied the accusations.
After weeks of protest, parliament voted on 9 December to impeach Ms Park.
One of the ways in which Ms Chung's mother, Choi Soon-sil, is alleged to have mis-used her friendship with the president is by getting Ms Chung into a top Korean university.
South Korea's presidential scandal
South Korea's recurring corruption scandals
A friendship too far in Seoul?
South Korean authorities had asked for Interpol's help in tracing Ms Chung - a former member of the national equestrian team - after she failed to return to answer questions about her role in the scandal.
Image copyright AFP/getty Image caption Ms Choi has apologised for her role in the scandal but denies criminal wrongdoing
Her mother Ms Choi is in detention having returned from abroad to face questioning.
She has been charged with various offences, including abuse of authority, coercion, attempted coercion and attempted fraud.
South Korea's constitutional court has six months to uphold or overturn the impeachment vote against Ms Park.
Until then she remains formally president but stripped of her powers, which have been handed to the prime minister, a presidential appointee. | null | www.bbc.com | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38487037 | UNDEFINED |
4,319,919 | 2017-01-02 10:33:55 | Breitbart | Obama Confirms Farewell Address to be Delivered in Chicago | Obama Confirms Farewell Address to be Delivered in Chicago | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
President Barack Obama has now confirmed the rumors that he will deliver a farewell address to the nation in Chicago on January 10.
Obama will say farewell to his political career in the same town in which it began with a speech at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center, according to The Chicago Tribune.
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“I’m just beginning to write my remarks,” Obama informed the paper via email. “But I’m thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you’ve changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here.”
Tickets will be free and will be handed out starting January 7 at the convention center box office.
The McCormick Place convention center may be a fitting place for a man who ran up some of the highest deficits in U.S. history. The convention center was controversial in its day for going at least $30 million over budget before completion and for legislation passed to float an even larger $60 million bailout of the project in 1985.
Today, the glut of tax dollars going for giant construction projects on the near south side has changed little, as costs are already soaring for the proposed McCormick Place sports and entertainment arena, with the price tag rising 17 percent to a new estimate of $164 million before the first shovelful of dirt is dug.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at [email protected]. | Warner Todd Huston | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/obama-confirms-farewell-address-delivered-chicago/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
39,127,245 | 2017-01-02 10:37:24 | The Guardian | Baghdad car bomb attack leaves at least 16 dead | Forty people also wounded in blast in Sadr City district of Iraqi capital, which comes after weekend of deadly attacks | At least 16 people have been killed by a car bomb in the Sadr City district of Baghdad.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s blast, which also wounded more than 40 people, but Islamic State regularly targets civilian areas in the Iraqi capital, even after losing most of the northern and western territory it seized in 2014.
Attacks by Isis on military positions also on Monday in the north of Baghdad killed 16 pro-government fighters.
Three bombs killed 29 people across the capital on Saturday, and an attack near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday left seven policemen dead.
US-backed Iraqi forces are fighting to push Isis from the northern city of Mosul, the group’s last major stronghold in the country, but are facing fierce resistance.
As clashes continued in and around Mosul on Monday, Isis also targeted military positions away from the main battlefield.
Militants attacked an army barracks near Baiji, 112 miles north of Baghdad, killing four soldiers and wounding 12 people, including Sunni tribal fighters, army and police sources said.
They seized weapons and launched mortars at nearby Shirqat, forcing security forces to impose a curfew and close schools and offices in the town, according to local officials and security sources. | null | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/baghdad-sadr-city-car-bomb-attack-leaves-many-dead-iraq | LEFT |
1,532,081 | 2017-01-02 10:38:48 | Reuters | Euro zone stocks start 2017 with new one-year high. For more see the European equities LiveMarkets blog | Live coverage of European markets now available oncpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets | LONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Live coverage of European markets now available on cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
Summary:
** Euro zone shares touch highest in over a year
** DAX highest since August, Italy and France at multi-month peaks
** Italy outperforms, helped by banks as Banco BPM opens for trading
** Trading volumes seen thin as several markets closed
** UK, Ireland, Swiss markets out for New Year holiday (Reporting by Alistair Smout) | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL5N1ES0T6 | CENTER |
4,387,865 | 2017-01-02 10:47:47 | Fox News | 2 corrections officers on leave after inmate's prison escape | Two corrections officers have been placed on paid leave as authorities investigate an inmate's escape from a Rhode Island detention center. | Two corrections officers have been placed on paid leave as authorities investigate an inmate's escape from a Rhode Island detention center.
Former Army reservist James Morales was reported missing Saturday night and remains at large.
Wyatt Correctional Center warden Daniel Martin tells WBZ-TV (http://cbsloc.al/2ivyGIG ) that two officers were placed on leave. He says Morales escaped around 7 p.m. but wasn't discovered missing until three hours later.
The prison in Central Falls remains locked down as officials review procedures.
The 35-year-old Morales is charged with stealing 16 guns from a U.S. Army Reserve Center and faces child rape charges.
Police say they believe Morales fled to Attleboro, Massachusetts, and stole a car that was found Sunday. They believe he is bleeding from razor wire that he climbed through to escape. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/02/2-corrections-officers-on-leave-after-inmate-prison-escape.html | RIGHT |
4,702,242 | 2017-01-02 10:51:24 | CNN | How your gut's circadian rhythm affects your whole body | The activity of gut microbiota offers one pathway to explain possible adverse health effects from aspects of modern life, such as eating late at night or too much electric light after sunset. | We've known that bacteria live in our intestines as far back as the 1680s, when Leeuwenhoek first looked through his microscope.
Yogurt companies use that information in the sales pitch for their product, claiming it can help keep your gut bacteria happy
The bacteria growing on our skin have also been effectively exploited to sell the underarm deodorants without which we can become, ahem, malodorous
Until fairly recently our various microbes were thought of as freeloaders without any meaningful benefit to our functioning as healthy human beings.
However, that view has changed in a big way over the last couple of decades.
Interest in, and knowledge about, the microbiota has recently exploded. These highly diverse communities of microbes live in and on us in staggering numbers; researchers now estimate that a typical human body is made up of about 30 trillion human cells and 39 trillion bacteria.
We now recognize they're essential to our health, participating in many important physiological functions such as digestion and metabolism of foods, and immune responses and inflammation; disruption of the gut microbiota might then contribute to a variety of conditions including childhood asthma, obesity, colitis and colon cancer
New research is beginning to show that the composition and activity of the microbiota exhibits a daily, or circadian, rhythmicity , just like we do. This offers one pathway to explain a Pandora's box of possible adverse health effects from aspects of modern life, such as eating late at night or too much electric light after sunset.
The microbial daily routine
The microbiota is primarily bacterial but also includes viruses and eukaryotes like yeast ; the latter are much bigger and more complicated than bacteria, and have a structure similar to our own cells. The total DNA complement of the microbiota is termed the microbiome , and it's what we study to learn about the inner workings of the microbiota.
In this field's early days, researchers took fecal samples from people to investigate the composition of the gut microbiome . Later they noticed that defining the microbiome from a sample taken in the morning was quite different from one taken in the evening: The gut microbiota was not static over the span of the day.
Perhaps this was to be expected. Almost all life on Earth has an endogenous circadian rhythmicity that is genetically determined, but that also responds to changes in light and dark . For human beings, reliable changes occur between day and night in hunger, body temperature, sleep propensity, hormone production, activity level, metabolic rate and more.
These findings on daily rhythmicity in microbiota have really piqued my interest because disruption of our circadian rhythmicity by electric light at night has been my research passion for several decades.
As scientists investigate the links between our internal daily patterns, electric light and health, new information about the rhythmicity of our microbiome might hold clues about how this all works together.
The crucial question is whether the microbes simply respond to their host human's circadian rhythm or whether they can actually alter our rhythm somehow. And does this really matter anyway?
Microbiota calling the shots
Amino acids, lipids and vitamins that the microbes release circulate in the host mouse's blood. As the levels of these molecules in the blood changed throughout the day, they altered the expression of genes in the mouse's liver that code for many metabolic enzymes.
This is the first clear demonstration of the gut microbiota changing the circadian activity of an essential organ -- in this case, the liver, which is the engine of our physiology and crucial to our health.
The authors showed this link by administering an antibiotic to mice that kills much of the gut microbiota. Afterward they found significant changes in liver physiology. They could produce the same effect just by changing the feeding times of the mice; mice forced to eat only during the day showed different patterns of microbiota metabolites circulating in the blood than those allowed to eat at night, their natural active period.
In addition, the authors showed the liver changes how it responds to an overdose of acetaminophen over the span of the day in response to signals from the microbiota in the gut. They used acetaminophen as an example of a drug that could damage the liver depending on how it's broken down. Interestingly, an overdose was less toxic at the beginning of the day, dawn, and most toxic at the end of the day, dusk.
They concluded that the microbiota regulates how effectively the liver can detoxify over the course of the day. The authors argue that this finding can be extrapolated to apply to metabolism of drugs in general, including chemotherapeutic agents we use to treat disease. If so, then the time of day that a medication is administered could have a big impact on its effectiveness, and on the severity of its adverse side effects.
This work has exciting implications. Understanding how time of day matters might allow for better treatment of disease, and for prevention of maladies like obesity, metabolic syndrome and perhaps other serious conditions.
Technology drives the science
The findings described by the Weizmann group were made possible by advances in the technology of DNA research. As so often happens, scientific insights follow on technological development.
sequencing machines, This is particularly true in the science of DNA. In order to count trillions of microbes as well as distinguish among hundreds of different species, there are four broad requirements: conceptual development analytic approaches and supercomputers to conduct the near hopelessly complex statistical analyses.
Each of these has advanced to an extent that now studies like the one from the Weizmann Institute are achievable.
The key conceptual breakthrough in analyzing the microbiome came with the recognition that the complex array of so many different organisms living together in a community may not be reducible
In other words, it doesn't appear possible to separate out only one bacterial species from the group, and understand how it functions in isolation. The community works as a whole.
For example, some of its members are bacteria that cannot absorb iron, which is necessary for growth. They require iron-binding molecules made by other members of the community to survive. So you can't grow this guy in a Petri dish by itself.
Gut and rhythm
The findings of the new study from Israel, which extends previous exciting work in this area, are relevant to humans for many reasons.
Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.
For example, people who must take antibiotics for extended periods, or shift workers who eat at the "wrong" time of day, may be at risk via these microbiome pathways.
In both instances, there will be changes in their metabolism that could lead, perhaps, to higher risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome, both of which have been shown to be in excess in night workers
A root cause of these human health issues we see on the macro scale may be our gut microbiota and whether or not it is happy. | Richard G.;Bugs;Stevens;The Conversation | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/health/gut-microbiome-circadian-rhythm/index.html | UNDEFINED |
4,649,571 | 2017-01-02 10:57:00 | Fox News | Suspected carjackers killed after crashing into synagogue during police chase | Two men suspected of a carjacking in Connecticut were killed early Monday when the stolen car crashed into a synagogue following a police chase. | Two men suspected of a carjacking in Connecticut were killed early Monday when the stolen car crashed into a synagogue following a police chase.
New Haven Police told Fox61 they responded to the carjacking report shortly after midnight. The victim told officers the men had approached him and one of them claimed to have a gun. The victim gave the men his wallet and cell phone before the thieves took off in the victim's 2005 Toyota Highlander. The victim was not injured.
A little more than an hour later an officer spotted the stolen car, called for backup, and began pursuing the suspects. Once reinforcements arrived, police tried to stop the car, only for the driver to take off again.
Minutes later, police came upon the Highlander, which had crashed into the Congregation Beth El Keser Synagogue.
The driver was identified as 23-year-old Tommy Brown, of New Haven, and his passenger was 20-year-old Andrew Bolden-Velez, of West Haven.
New Haven police say the investigation has been turned over to the Connecticut State Police and the state's attorney's office.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from Fox61.com. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/02/suspected-carjackers-killed-after-crashing-into-synagogue-during-police-chase.html | RIGHT |
3,151,702 | 2017-01-02 10:57:05 | Reuters | Myanmar vows action on police abuse after video of beating emerges | Myanmar has promised to take action against policemen who beat Muslims after footage of villagers being treated violently appeared online amid tension over a government crackdown aimed at rooting out suspected insurgents. | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar has promised to take action against policemen who beat Muslims after footage of villagers being treated violently appeared online amid tension over a government crackdown aimed at rooting out suspected insurgents.
Troops have poured into Rakhine State on Myanmar's northwestern border with Bangladesh since gunmen attacked border posts on Oct. 9, killing nine officers.
The Myanmar army sweep has sent some 34,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh, the United Nations says.
Residents and rights groups accuse security forces of abuses during the operation including summary executions and rape, which the government of Aung San Suu Kyi denies.
In footage shared widely on social media and aired by Myanmar broadcasters, several policemen appeared to beat and kick two villagers during an operation in which dozens of Rohingya Muslims were told to line up for questioning.
The video offers a rare glimpse into the region that has been cut off to aid workers and other outsiders since October.
Suu Kyi's office confirmed the authenticity of the footage, which it said was shot by a member of the police during a clearance operation on Nov. 5 in northern Rakhine State.
"Action will be taken against police who allegedly beat villagers," the office said in a statement issued late on Sunday.
Police were acting on a tip-off that gunmen who attacked police two days earlier were being sheltered in the village, called Kotankauk, the office said.
The office identified four policemen by name, including the leader of the operation and one it said could be seen beating villagers in the video.
"Further investigations are being carried out to expose other police officers who beat the villagers," it said.
A senior police officer in the capital of Naypyitaw told Reuters authorities detained four policemen on Monday on suspicion they were involved in the beating. The officer declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to media.
The violence in Rakhine State has renewed international criticism that Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has done too little to help members of the Muslim minority, who are denied citizenship in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar.
The government has blamed militants with links to Islamists overseas for the Oct. 9 attacks. State media has reported at least 86 deaths in the security force operation that followed. | Shwe Yee Saw Myint;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-police-idUSKBN14M0GV | CENTER |
4,323,163 | 2017-01-02 10:57:07 | Breitbart | FBI-DHS 'Russian Hacking' Report Begins with Major Caveat | The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused Russian intelligence services of compromising networks and infrastructure associated with the 2016 presidential election. | SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday released a joint report accusing Russian civilian and military intelligence services of compromising networks and infrastructure associated with the 2016 presidential election.
Much of the news media coverage of the joint report failed to mention that the 13-page document, which is short on specifics, starts off with a glaring disclaimer that the DHS does not “provide any warranties” about the information contained inside the report.
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The disclaimer states:
This report is provided “as is” for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within.
The report was produced by the U.S. Computer Readiness Team (US-CERT), a cybersecurity and information-sharing service of the DHS.
A spokesperson for DHS told Breitbart News on Monday that the disclaimer is “standard” for “previous JARs (Joint Analysis Reports), though most cannot be shared publicly.”
Of the 48 documents currently posted on the US-CERT website’s main “publications” page, only six could be found with a similar disclaimer, including a June 2012 report on technical methods to defend networks and a similar report from October 2012. The other reports with similar disclaimers include a May 2014 report on combatting “insider” technical threats; a July 2014 report warning of breaches into hospitality industry computers; a report from that same month in 2014 warning that “malicious actors are using publicly available tools to locate businesses that use remote desktop applications;” and a report from 2014 warning about the possibility of electronic U.S. highway signs being exploited.
The text of the document released last Thursday on alleged Russian intrusion, meanwhile, states the report is meant to provide technical details regarding “the tools and infrastructure used by the Russian civilian and military intelligence Services (RIS) to compromise and exploit networks and endpoints associated with the U.S. election, as well as a range of U.S. Government, political, and private sector entities.”
More than half the document contains advice on how to protect the integrity of computer networks.
Two and a half pages of the document feature images, a list of alternate names reportedly utilized by RIS to infiltrate U.S. networks, and an example of a signature utilized by one of the alleged Russian agents.
The report states that attribution of the alleged anti-U.S. activities to RIS “is supported by technical indicators from the U.S. Intelligence Community, DHS, FBI, the private sector, and other entities.”
Here is a list of the actual accusations made inside the report:
“The U.S. Government confirms that two different RIS actors participated in the intrusion into a U.S. political party. The first actor group, known as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 29, entered into the party’s systems in summer 2015, while the second, known as APT28, entered in spring 2016.
“These actors set up operational infrastructure to obfuscate their source infrastructure, host domains and malware for targeting organizations, establish command and control nodes, and harvest credentials and other valuable information from their targets.”
“In spring 2016, APT28 compromised the same political party, again via targeted spearphishing…Using the harvested credentials, APT28 was able to gain access and steal content, likely leading to the exfiltration of information from multiple senior party members. The U.S. Government assesses that information was leaked to the press and publicly disclosed.
The RIS cyber operations “have included spearphishing campaigns targeting government organizations, critical infrastructure entities, think tanks, universities, political organizations, and corporations leading to the theft of information.
The report does not mention WikiLeaks or DC Leaks, the two organizations that published thousands of pages of private emails during the 2016 presidential race. The document does accuse Russian agents of exploiting unnamed “political and private sector entities.”
Responding to the alleged Russian intrusion into the U.S. election, President Obama on Thursday expelled 35 suspected Russian intelligence agents from the U.S. and announced sanctions targeting two Russian intelligence services.
In a statement released by the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Moscow would not retaliate by booting any U.S. diplomats. “We will not create problems for American diplomats. We will not expel anyone,” Putin said in the statement.
On Sunday, the Washington Post retracted the main accusation in a story headlined, “Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say.”
The post added an editor’s note stating: “An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.”
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
With research by Joshua Klein. | Aaron Klein | www.breitbart.com | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/disclaimer-fbi-dhs-report-russia-hacking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29 | RIGHT |
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