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DC5m United States art in english 100 articles, created at 2016-12-10 18:08 articles set mostly positive rate 5.0
1 2.4 Trump accuses CNN of 'fake news' over reported Celebrity Apprentice plans (6.52/7) President-elect denies reports he plans to remain an executive producer amid widespread concern over spread of fake news on social media 2016-12-10 09:54 4KB www.theguardian.com
2 2.8 Schwarzenegger: OK Trump is still ‘Apprentice’ producer
(4.32/7) UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the new version of “Celebrity Apprentice,” is unfazed that President-elect Donald Trump has retained a producer’s stake in the show. Schwarzenegger said Friday that it’s just… 2016-12-10 09:03 3KB wtop.com
3 1.8 As thousands flee E. Aleppo, RT hears stories of those trapped there for years (VIDEO) — RT News (3.25/7) People who've been trapped in eastern Aleppo for years are now being reunited with their families. Some of them told RT’s Lizzie Phelan why they didn’t flee when the militants took over. 2016-12-10 10:26 3KB www.rt.com
4 0.0 Freight train carrying flammable gas explodes in Bulgaria – video (2.33/7) A freight train carrying highly flammable gas has derailed and exploded in north– eastern Bulgaria, so far claiming the lives of five people 2016-12-10 11:28 1KB www.theguardian.com
5 3.2 Lame-duck Congress works to set stage for President Trump
(2.14/7) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The lame-duck Congress is embarking on its final work session of 2016 as lawmakers face a Dec. 9 deadline for spending legislation to ke 2016-12-10 06:34 5KB mynorthwest.com
6 0.6 US' Kerry urges Russia to show "grace" in Geneva Aleppo talks
(2.10/7) PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Backers of the Syrian opposition appeared resigned to the fall of eastern Aleppo on Saturday, with the United States pleading Mosco... 2016-12-10 09:40 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
7 3.4 Trump on the 'lock her up' chant: 'Now we don't care' When the audience revived the chant in Michigan Friday night -- more than one month after Trump won the election -- the president-elect responded. 2016-12-10 08:05 1KB (2.07/7) www.aol.com 8 2.2 Oil Cartel Seeks Output Cutbacks by Non-Member Countries
(1.16/7) OPEC member states are meeting with Russia and other non-OPEC countries in Vienna for talks about a reduction in oil production. Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said the discussions began Saturday in a "positive atmosphere" at the headquarters of the oil producers' cartel. OPEC... 2016-12-10 09:07 2KB abcnews.go.com
9 0.0 Gambian president rejects election result in television address to the nation – video (1.12/7) Gambian president Yahya Jammeh announces his rejection of last week’s election results and calls for fresh vote 2016-12-10 06:22 1KB www.theguardian.com
10 2.2 Durban herbalist gets tongues wagging with ‘money suit’ at Sfiso Ncwane funeral
(1.06/7) Durban herbalist‚ Andile Dlamini has drawn major criticism on social media‚ after he arrived at Sfiso Ncwane’s funeral in his trademark money suit. 2016-12-10 08:32 1KB www.timeslive.co.za
11 2.3 Human Rights Day, A Call to Care December 10th marks the U. N. Human Rights Day, celebrating and upholding the indispensable and crucial declaration of universal human rights. On the eve of this (1.02/7) event, I visited a refugee camp housing 700 families in Kabul. Conditions in refugee camps can be deplorable... 2016-12-10 09:48 6KB www.commondreams.org
12 1.0 Exxon CEO is now Trump's secretary of state favorite, says transition official (1.02/7) Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson emerged on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate for U. S. secretary of state, a senior transition official said. 2016-12-10 09:46 3KB www.cnbc.com
13 0.8 Shutdown Averted, Senate Backs Stop-Gap Spending Bill With less than hour to spare, the Senate late Friday backed legislation averting a
(1.02/7) government shutdown as coal-state Democrats retreated on long-term health care benefits for retired miners and promised a renewed fight for the working class next year. The 63-36 vote sent the... 2016-12-10 08:33 5KB www.newsmax.com
14 0.9 Bob Dylan’s hometown struggles with how it should honor him HIBBING, Minnesota — The city of Hibbing has long struggled with how it should honor (1.02/7) its most famous son, Bob Dylan. There is a street sign, a small exhibit in the public library, but little 2016-12-10 00:00 2KB entertainment.inquirer.net 15 0.3 Burundi Recalls Belgium Ambassador Amid Tensions
(1.02/7) Burundi's foreign minister says the country's ambassador to Belgium has been told to return home amid diplomatic tensions related to political violence in the central African nation. Alain Aime Nyamitwe told The Associated Press on Saturday that Burundi's embassy in Brussels remains open... 2016-12-10 07:54 1KB abcnews.go.com
16 0.0 Jennifer Lawrence apologises for Hawaii ‘butt- scratching’ story
(1.00/7) Image copyright PA Image caption 2016-12-10 00:00 2KB headlinenewstoday.net
17 1.2 Watford 3-2 Everton: Stefano Okaka brace stuns the Toffees as second half comeback bags all three points for (0.03/7) the Hornets at Vicarage Road KIERAN GILL AT VICARAGE ROAD: Watford secured a comeback victory against a lacklustre Everton side who surrendered an early lead at Vicarage road. 2016-12-10 10:24 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk
18 3.2 Niall Horan pays tribute to Louis Tomlinson's mum Johannah (0.02/7) The This Town singer took to Twitter on Friday to share his condolences with his pal, sharing an emotional tribute with his 28 million followers. 2016-12-10 08:32 11KB www.dailymail.co.uk
19 2.6 French-Tunisian Auteur Raja Amari on Feminine Desire in ‘Foreign Body’ In a certain sense, French-Tunisian director-writer Raja Amari creates feminist thrillers, even if she may not choose to describe them that way. In her debut feature “Red Satin” (2002), a re… 2016-12-10 11:37 3KB variety.com
20 2.4 The Bachelor's Kiralee 'Kiki' Morris and boyfriend Jeremy Banks pack on the PDA in Bali Bachelor's Kiralee 'Kiki' Morris poses with beau Jeremy in a loved up snap of the pair kissing which was posted to the brunette hunk's Instagram on Sunday morning. 2016-12-10 11:35 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
21 1.4 Amber Rose and Dancing With The Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy CONFIRM their romance Amber Rose and Val Chmerkovskiy appear to have confirmed their rumoured romance. 2016-12-10 11:29 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 22 2.3 Elle Evans dons figure-hugging bandage dress with boyfriend Matt Bellamy Elle Evans, 26, looked every inch the blonde bombshell in a sexy skin-tight ensemble as she celebrated her birthday in West Hollywood with beau Matt Bellamy, 38 2016-12-10 11:29 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
23 2.0 Victorian dairy farmer pours out 2600 litres of milk after he was forced to drop prices Fed-up Victorian dairy farmer George Kantarias, 50, has filmed himself pouring thousands of litres of milk down the drain after he was forced to drop his prices below production cost. 2016-12-10 11:20 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
24 3.8 Sunrise's Samantha Armytage in relationship with Channel Seven colleague Peter Fegan Journalist and television presenter Samantha Armytage, 40, is reported to be dating Channel Seven reporter Peter Fegan. 2016-12-10 11:08 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
25 3.3 Review: Zac Brown Tribute Band rocks Mulcahy's for December show (Includes first-hand account) On December 9, Zac Brown Tribute Band performed at Mulcahy's Pub and Concert Hall, as part of their annual holiday show. 2016-12-10 11:07 3KB www.digitaljournal.com
26 3.8 'Turkey submits bill strengthening Erdogan powers to parliament' Turkey on Saturday submitted a bill to parliament strengthening the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state-run TRT television reported. 2016-12-10 11:00 951Bytes www.digitaljournal.com
27 2.2 Why Should We Care About Contracts? On the occasion of today's award ceremony for the Prize in Economic Sciences 2016 we take a closer look at Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström's work on contract theory. Almost every aspect of life in modern society is regulated by contracts and yet it is an area... 2016-12-10 11:00 1KB www.forbes.com
28 1.7 We Asked An Economist How Many Jobs Nuclear Power Supports A new study on Pennsylvania's nuclear industry paints a worrisome picture of what could be lost if reactors continues to be shut down. The new research found that Pennsylvania’s five nuclear plan 2016-12-10 10:49 6KB dailycaller.com
29 2.8 Orlando shops designate themselves 'safe places' for gays Orlando officials are launching a program that allows businesses to designate themselves as safe places for gays and lesbians if they feel threatened. 2016-12-10 10:47 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 30 4.0 Harry Potter fans meet up for magical night Harry Potter fans in the Saginaw area met up at the Barnes & Noble store on Tittabawassee Road for magical night on Friday, Dec. 9. 2016-12-10 10:47 2KB www.mlive.com
31 2.2 WATCH: Mother beats child at a Joburg restaurant A video showing a mother smacking her apparently disabled son at a restaurant in Fourways north of Johannesburg earlier this week is causing outrage on social media. Caxton Greater Joburg North 2016-12-10 10:46 2KB www.timeslive.co.za
32 2.4 Illinois company to seek regulatory OK in FairPoint merger FairPoint Communications has struggled with the loss of traditional telephone customers, labor unrest and customer service problems in northern New England. But Consolidated Communications sees an opportunity. 2016-12-10 10:44 3KB www.washingtontimes.com
33 2.7 Bec Judd dotes on twin son Tom in yet ANOTHER Instagram snap Rebecca Judd never wastes an opportunity to share snaps of her newborn twins Tom and Darcy on social media. And Saturday was no different for the stunning WAG, 2016-12-10 10:41 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
34 1.4 Retiring Ohio University president leaving job early Ohio University’s president will be leaving his job more than four months before the retirement date he originally announced. 2016-12-10 10:39 1KB www.washingtontimes.com
35 5.6 Gifts for the modern man Finding the right present takes a little extra thought -- but knowing where to buy it can save you time. 2016-12-10 10:37 2KB www.aol.com
36 1.6 Ridership falls on Cincinnati's new $148M streetcar service Ridership on Cincinnati’s new $148 million streetcar service is dropping but still topping expectations three months after it opened. 2016-12-10 10:34 1KB www.washingtontimes.com
37 1.1 Sununu pledges to fight for natural gas projects Incoming Republican governor Chris Sununu is pledging to put his “political capital” behind projects designed to bring more natural gas into New Hampshire. 2016-12-10 10:32 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 38 1.5 MUST SEE: The Pacquiao Family Christmas Decor is Unbelievable It is definitely looking a lot like Christmas at the family mansion of Manny Pacquiao. It is definitely looking a lot like Christmas at the family mansion of Manny Pacquiao. 2016-12-10 10:27 958Bytes www.cbn.com
39 4.2 Traditional marriage must return to the heart of humanity‚ says Cape Town Declaration Cape Town’s name is attached to a worldwide campaign by conservatives to re- establish the traditional man-woman marriage as the bedrock of civilisation. 2016-12-10 10:18 1KB www.timeslive.co.za
40 6.2 Layaway angel pays off more than $46K at Pa. Walmart
The spirit of giving is alive and well this season. 2016-12-10 10:18 1KB rssfeeds.usatoday.com
41 4.0 The buzzy wellness practice Kate Middleton de- stresses with Her husband, Prince William, has revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge is an avid fan of adult coloring books. 2016-12-10 10:18 33KB www.aol.com
42 4.0 Cuomo: Second Avenue subway could open Jan. 1 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the long-delayed Second Avenue subway will open early in the New Year. 2016-12-10 10:15 1KB www.washingtontimes.com
43 3.3 Vijay reaps reward for clearer mindset By Sudipto Ganguly MUMBAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Murali Vijay's technique had been questioned in the run-up to the fourth test after the India opener got out th... 2016-12-10 10:09 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
44 1.3 Raggle the rescue terrier is the star of the show as she comes out of retirement for a festive photoshoot Raggle, 16, the terrier showed a couple of keen young pups the poise it takes to be a canine model when she came out of retirement for a festive photo-shoot for book ‘Bark! The Herald Angels Sing’ 2016-12-10 10:02 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk
45 0.9 Party-goers flood the streets of Wollongong for the annual Santa Pub Crawl Party-goers took to the streets of Wollongong, in Sydney's south, on Saturday to celebrate the annual Santa Pub Crawl. A blaze of questionable Christmas-themed costumes were on display. 2016-12-10 10:02 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 46 3.8 #Hashtag Lunchbag looks to distribute 1,000 lunches to homeless in holiday effort A social media movement dedicated to helping feed the homeless is giving a little extra to Detroit residents this holiday. 2016-12-10 10:00 2KB www.mlive.com
47 5.6 ‘Amélie’ musical's creators bring to the stage a ‘love letter to imagination’
Amélie Poulain sees the world as no one else does. 2016-12-10 10:00 10KB www.latimes.com
48 7.1 New video: The Obamas' love story is nicely told in 'Southside With You'
New on Blu-ray 2016-12-10 10:00 4KB www.latimes.com
49 0.7 Remembering Harold Russell, the soldier-actor who won two Oscars for 'Best Years of Our Lives' This year marks the 70th anniversary of the classic 1946 film “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Director William Wyler’s post- World War II drama remains one of the most popular movies of all time. “Best Years” is remarkably contemporary in its appeal, still touching the... 2016-12-10 10:00 5KB www.latimes.com
50 0.0 Doctors call for anathema on diesel engines in London
Image caption Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens 2016-12-10 00:00 2KB headlinenewstoday.net
51 0.8 Australia's hottest export admits to stalking Victoria's Secret models on Instagram... before asking talent scout Ed Razek to hire her Elyse Knowles, 24, has revealed her biggest modelling triumph will be becoming a Victoria's Secret Angel after admitting she stalks VS models Taylor Hill and Romee Strijd online. 2016-12-10 09:50 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
52 4.5 Give your bedroom a Scandinavian makeover The Scandinavian look is still one of the most popular home decor styles that isn't just good for living areas. 2016-12-10 09:41 3KB www.aol.com
53 0.0 Rwanda confirms August 2017 presidential election date Rwanda will stage presidential elections next August, according to a government statement issued Saturday. Rwandans abroad will cast their votes on August 3,... 2016-12-10 09:20 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 54 2.9 What time, channel are Sunday's Critics' Choice Awards on? T. J. Miller hosts first major televised award show of the 2016-2017 Oscar season 2016-12-10 09:19 1KB www.nola.com
55 2.7 Her runway! Melanie Griffith steps out in faux fur leopard print coat and shades as she works airport glamour at LAX airport In 2014 she spent over £5k on faux fur after vowing to stop wearing the real thing. 2016-12-10 09:16 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
56 1.0 NY State opens snowmobile trails in Moose River Plains The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has opened the gates on the seasonal roads designated as snowmobile trails in the Moose River Plains Wild Forest. 2016-12-10 09:14 1KB www.washingtontimes.com
57 1.9 Anne Hathaway opts for understated elegance in a figure-hugging Bardot dress as she attends festive winter bash
She's currently filming Ocean's Eight. 2016-12-10 09:14 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
58 2.1 Botox Toronto Your Approach to Look Younger Who does not want to looks beautiful be a man or women? To obtain the timeless beauty, people try to use many methods to get timeless method. People use to do exercising, take balanced diets and applying homemade herbal face packs to hold on to the... 2016-12-10 09:11 2KB article.wn.com
59 2.7 Christina Milian dresses in mismatched ensemble as she recovers from GQ Awards She spent Thursday night partying alongside the likes of Karrueche Tran, Sophia Richie and Paris Hilton at Galore magazine's private party after attending the GQ Man of The Year Awards. 2016-12-10 09:09 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
60 1.3 2017 Carponizer Carp Calendar shows naked and scantily-clad women holding huge fish A German online retailer is selling its 2017 Carponizer Carp Calendar, which features 12 pages of topless models posing with carp. It is described as a 'true must have' for passionate anglers. 2016-12-10 09:07 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 61 0.0 Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' sequel to premiere at Sundance Paramount Pictures says it will release in theaters next year the follow-up to "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary about the world's climate crisis. 2016-12-10 09:06 1KB www.upi.com
62 1.7 Klopp won't pile pressure on returning Matip Centre-back Joel Matip's return is set to bring a calming influence to Liverpool's defence but manager Jurgen Klopp has tried to deflect attention away from the 25- year-old. 2016-12-10 09:06 4KB www.independent.ie
63 0.0 Guns N' Roses sells 1M concert tickets in 24 hours Reunited rock band Guns N' Roses has sold more than 1 million tickets in 24 hours, Live Nation announced. 2016-12-10 09:05 1KB www.upi.com
64 10.0 Bristol Palin is pregnant with her third child Reality television personality Bristol Palin is pregnant with her third child. 2016-12-10 09:04 1KB www.upi.com
65 1.3 Can YOU guess the iconic Christmas movie by an anagram of its name? From Home Alone to Bad Santa and Love Actually, how well do you know your Christmas movies? Try the new quiz, created by Playbuzz that will put your puzzle solving skills to the test. 2016-12-10 09:04 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk
66 3.0 Md. incinerator plant fire continues to burn after 48 hours Hundreds of firefighters have been rotating at the scene of a fire that broke out at a Maryland incinerator plant Thursday evening. 2016-12-10 09:04 1KB wtop.com
67 2.1 Niall Horan, Shawn Mendes, Emeli Sande to perform on 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' special Niall Horan, Lukas Graham, Shawn Mendes, Emeli Sande and Fifth Harmony are to perform on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest. " 2016-12-10 09:03 1KB www.upi.com
68 0.3 Mel Greig flaunts trim pins in chic blue frock before boozy Wave FM Christmas party She's the outspoken radio star known for flaunting her ample bust on social media. But Mel Greig opted for a change of pace on Saturday, instead showing off her slender pins in a chic blue frock. 2016-12-10 09:03 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 69 2.9 Pranksters in Switzerland rearrange a nativity scene into a compromising position Supposed to be one of the holiest scenes in Christianity, pranksters rearranged a nativity setup in Switzerland to make it look like Joseph is getting a Christmas treat from his wife. 2016-12-10 09:01 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
70 1.4 Jeep Renegade: rugged-cute design, legit off-road chops The sub-compact class of SUVs often gets a bad rap for being too cute and more wanna-be than actual off-road capable. 2016-12-10 09:00 3KB chicago.suntimes.com
71 3.7 New hiking route connects Los Angeles to 67 miles of backcountry bliss One of the newest backcountry trails in the West skirts the busiest city in the country. 2016-12-10 09:00 4KB rssfeeds.usatoday.com
72 1.4 125-year-old Heritage Hill mansion getting new life as recovery center for men Originally built for Dr. Charles Hazeltine in 1891, the 3-story mansion has served as a home for working women, a teen runaway center and a workshop for stringed instrumentsin its long history. 2016-12-10 09:00 5KB realestate.mlive.com
73 0.8 How to protect citrus trees from freezes Cold weather is on its way, and many people are concerned about their citrus trees. One of the most common questions I get from gardeners is, "How much cold can citrus trees tolerate? " Because there are a number of variables, it's... 2016-12-10 09:00 6KB www.nola.com
74 2.1 Notting Hill pub The Churchill Arms is decorated with 21,000 lights and 90 Christmas trees The Churchill Arms in Notting Hill, west London, is famous for the festive display it puts on each year. The impressive display, which includes stars on the roof, took a week and a half to put up. 2016-12-10 08:58 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
75 1.7 SANCO shocked at non-vetting of SABC executives The South African National Civic Organisation(SANCO) reacted with shock to a revelation by former Group Executive for Risk Governance at the South African Broadcasting Corporation(SABC)‚ Itani Tseisi‚ that the public broadcaster had not taken steps to mitigate risk through vetting of its executives and senior managers. 2016-12-10 08:57 2KB www.timeslive.co.za
76 3.7 Pinckney High School opens Cyber Training Institute for students, pros This high school cyber program is the first of its kind in the nation, according to a press release on the grand opening. 2016-12-10 08:55 3KB www.mlive.com 77 2.4 Made In Chelsea's Georgia Toffolo flashes her flat stomach in glamorous gown Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo was certainly taking centre stage at the Teens Unite The Advent Tale fundraising gala in London on Friday night, mingling with a host of her reality star pals. 2016-12-10 08:54 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
78 0.9 Greek ferry workers end 9-day strike ATHENS, Greece — Greek ferry workers have ended a nine-day strike, saying they did not wish to disrupt the holiday season, but promised to resume action if the government did not back off tax hikes for ferry workers. ... 2016-12-10 08:54 724Bytes article.wn.com
79 2.1 Top 5 Marketing Plans for new brands Now a days there various marketing options offering best opportunities and companies can easily connect to their customers that were not present earlier. Everything is now on internet which has dramatically changed the landscape for the business. If we talk about small companies, even they are also... 2016-12-10 08:49 3KB article.wn.com
80 1.0 Trump: Companies That Leave U. S. Will Have a ‘Very, Very Substantial Tariff or Tax to Pay’ “We don’t want companies to leave our country, go to another country, and sell their product and then sell the product where they left. “We don’t want companies to leave our country, go to another country, and sell their product and then sell the product where they left. " 2016-12-10 08:47 2KB www.infowars.com
81 3.0 Marrakech Festival Pays Tribute to Isabelle Adjani MARRAKECH, Morocco — On its penultimate night, the 16th Marrakech Film Festival paid tribute to acclaimed French actress Isabelle Adjani, the only person to have ever one five best actress pr… 2016-12-10 08:42 5KB variety.com
82 2.1 Karanka hails Middlesbrough recruitment chief Orta over summer deals Aitor Karanka has hailed the influence of recruitment chief Victor Orta on Middlesbrough's fortunes and thinks he was "crazy" to do the job himself. 2016-12-10 08:41 3KB www.independent.ie
83 2.9 Facebook finds beautiful missing photo for girlfriend of Oakland fire victim Saya Tomioka posted a plea to Facebook to help her find a picture of her kissing her boyfriend, Griffen Maddens, a victim of the Oakland warehouse. 2016-12-10 08:38 3KB www.aol.com 84 0.0 Parthiv Patel was quick to criticise the quality of England's spinners... but India wicketkeeper has a point LAWRENCE BOOTH IN MUMBAI: Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are better spinners than England's Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. Gut instinct and the statistics tell you this. 2016-12-10 08:34 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
85 0.9 Granier bakery forced to close after rats crawled over food in Madrid Rats were filmed crawling over and eating ham sandwiches at a Grainer bakery in Madrid. The company operates locations in London, including Woolwich and Wood Green. 2016-12-10 08:15 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
86 2.1 'Nocturnal Animals' review: Amy Adams headlines jumbled arthouse-noir thriller
It's two movies in one - one terrific, the other tedious. 2016-12-10 08:00 5KB www.mlive.com
87 2.3 Scientists Find Million-Year-Old Superbug In New Mexican Cave : Goats and Soda : NPR Scientists were shocked to see what happened when this ancient bacterium encountered modern antibiotics. 2016-12-10 08:00 3KB www.npr.org
88 0.0 Mad for plaid Check out how this fashion blogger pairs her black OTK boots with a plaid mini skirt to create the perfect fall look! 2016-12-10 08:00 1012Bytes www.aol.com
89 0.2 Tropical plants, spring-flowering bulbs, Get It Growing and flowers to sow: This week's gardening tips Tropical container plants moved indoors for the winter generally do not need any fertilizer since growth is slow at best. Most problems are associated with reduced light and dry air. Fertilizing plants struggling with these conditions will not help them.... 2016-12-10 08:00 2KB www.nola.com
90 1.2 How South Korea's politics could get even more confusing The impeachment by the South Korean national assembly of President Park Geun-hye has not only sent shockwaves through Korea and its neighbors, but also caused great confusion. Nothing quite like this has ever happened in South Korea before. 2016-12-10 07:46 4KB rss.cnn.com
91 4.3 SA photographers' Tutu exhibition on show in New York A photographic exhibition focusing on 30 years of Archbishop Desmond Tutuâs life has opened in New York. 2016-12-10 07:42 2KB www.news24.com 92 2.8 ‘La La Land’ expected to lead Golden Globe nominations Nominations for the Golden Globes will be unveiled Monday with critics expecting musical 2016-12-10 00:00 4KB entertainment.inquirer.net
93 2.6 Cesarean births are changing how we evolve Cesarean sections (or C-sections) save the lives of mothers and babies, and they are also a ‘lifestyle’ choice for some expectant mothers. This area has been examined by researchers to see what the impact is upon human evolution. 2016-12-10 07:16 3KB www.digitaljournal.com
94 1.4 Ultraviolet light can control inflammation With a potential medical breakthrough scientists have come up with d a chemical tool to control inflammation, one that is activated by ultraviolet light. 2016-12-10 07:12 3KB www.digitaljournal.com
95 0.8 Ikea bizarrely renames furniture to help with relationship problems at home (VIDEO) — RT Viral Dubbed “retail therapy,” the latest Ikea campaign attempts to resonate with customers by renaming furniture items things like: “I need more men in my life” photo frame, and a “how to live with bonus children” extendable table. 2016-12-10 07:03 1KB www.rt.com
96 5.3 Just Cool Cars: 1961 Panhard is no tiger, but it's fun The French have always had their own unique approach to automobiles. 2016-12-10 07:03 1KB rssfeeds.usatoday.com
97 5.0 Rep. Upton delivers GOP weekly address Rep. Fred Upton delivers the Republican weekly address, highlighting medical innovation bill that Obama is to sign 2016-12-10 07:02 3KB rssfeeds.detroitnews.com
98 2.1 Strange slimming effect of sweet potato waste Obviously eating sweet potatoes is not going to make you slim, especially when accompanied by other starchy food. However, a study on mice suggests the water left over from cooking sweet potatoes may have slimming effects. 2016-12-10 07:01 4KB www.digitaljournal.com
99 3.7 18 of the best tech products under $100 Give the gift of tech this holiday. Check out 17 of our favorite tech products that are all under $100 on Amazon right now. 2016-12-10 07:00 1KB www.aol.com
100 1.6 Winter fashion in the city Winter in the city involves tons of cozy layers. Check out how this style blogger dresses for the cold! 2016-12-10 07:00 1KB www.aol.com Articles
DC5m United States art in english 100 articles, created at 2016-12-10 18:08
1 /100 2.4 Trump accuses CNN of 'fake news' over reported Celebrity Apprentice plans (6.52/7) President-elect Donald Trump has accused CNN of reporting “ fake news ” regarding his reported intention to maintain an executive producer credit on The Celebrity Apprentice after moving into the White House.
He would not be working on the series at all, he said in two tweets sent before dawn on Saturday, “even part time”.
MGM said on Thursday Trump would not remove his name from the titles of the forthcoming season of The Celebrity Apprentice. On Friday, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told CNN the president-elect’s ties to his reality show were being reviewed for potential conflicts of interest.
Trump’s charge against CNN is an emotive one, both regarding potential clashes between the president-elect’s business empire and his new role and as debate continues over the impact of “fake news” on the election and Russia’s likely involvement in its spread.
On Friday night, reports in the New York Times and Washington Post said US intelligence agencies including the CIA believed Russia had interfered with the election in favour of Trump. The Trump transition team flatly rejected the reports.
Trump has long been accused of using controversial tweets to distract attention from troublesome press attention.
He made his new charge against CNN a little before 6.30am on Saturday, after a Friday night rally in Michigan and before a scheduled appearance and interview at the army v navy football game in Baltimore.
He also used Twitter to confirm that the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was no longer in the running to be secretary of state. Debate continues over Trump’s cabinet picks , including climate sceptics for the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump said: “I have NOTHING to do with The Apprentice except for fact that I conceived it with Mark B[urnett] & have a big stake in it. Will devote ZERO TIME!
He added: “Reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are rediculous & untrue [sic] – FAKE NEWS!” The spread of “fake news” on social media has caused widespread and growing concern.
Last Sunday, the potential consequences of such stories became clear when a conspiracy theorist “self-investigating” fake news stories about a Washington pizza restaurant and a child sex ring run by senior Democrats walked into the restaurant and fired shots from an assault rifle.
In a speech at the Capitol in Washington on Thursday, Trump’s presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, called for action.
“This is not about politics or partisanship,” she said. “Lives are at risk. Lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days to do their jobs, contribute to their communities.
“It is a danger that must be addressed and addressed quickly.”
The Washington pizza restaurant in question, Comet Ping Pong, was this weekend being supported by a “Stand With Comet” event. More than 2,000 people said on Facebook they would support the pizza place and other neighbourhood restaurants.
On Friday at Comet Ping Pong, people waited an hour and a half for a table and carry-out took 45 minutes. Local restaurants sent wait staff to help. Others sent food for employees.
A GoFundMe page set up to help the restaurant pay for legal expenses and extra security had passed $15,000, with a goal of $28,000.
Interim District of Columbia police chief Peter Newsham visited the restaurant, and had a message for peddlers of fake news.
“It’s not funny,” he said. “It’s serious. It can have very, very serious consequences.”
The man police arrested last Sunday at Comet Ping Pong was 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, North Carolina. He has a court hearing next week.
Welch surrendered peacefully “when he found no evidence that underage children were being harbored in the restaurant”, police said.
TRUMP: Reports that I will Trump blasts CNN for ‘fake Trump tweets that CNN Trump calls CNN reporting have a role on The news’ over Celebrity reporting 'FAKE NEWS' ‘rediculous’ fake news Apprentice are 'fake news' Apprentice executive nola.com nypost.com aol.com producer report — RT America rt.com It's 'rediculous': Donald The Latest: Trump says Trump denies he will be CNN reporting 'rediculous' working on 'Celebrity fake news Apprentice' during cbs46.com presidency, slams CNN for 'FAKE NEWS' feeds.nydailynews.com
2016-12-10 09:54 Martin Pengelly www.theguardian.com
2 /100 2.8 Schwarzenegger: OK Trump is still ‘Apprentice’ producer (4.32/7) UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the new version of “Celebrity Apprentice,” is unfazed that President-elect Donald Trump has retained a producer’s stake in the show.
Schwarzenegger said Friday that it’s just business, comparable to his situation when he became California’s governor and retained a screen credit and kept earning royalties for the “Terminator” movie.
“So, I think this is a contract that he had and I think it’s great that he was part of it,” Schwarzenegger said during a red-carpet event for NBC’s “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” which debuts Jan. 2.
Replacing Trump as boss in the reality show’s boardroom meant “big shoes to fill,” he added.
Cast members including Boy George, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Eric Dickerson compete to raise money for charity, advised by Warren Buffett, Steve Ballmer and other financial heavyweights.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for “Apprentice” creator Mark Burnett confirmed that Trump remains an executive producer on the latest edition of the long-running “Apprentice” franchise. The eight episodes ordered by NBC from MGM, where Burnett is president of its TV and digital group, were taped last February.
Trump tweeted with a defensive tone Saturday, saying he has “NOTHING to do with The Apprentice except for fact that I conceived it with Mark B & have a big stake in it. Will devote ZERO TIME!” Flubbing his spelling, he also criticized CNN’s coverage of the story, calling it “rediculous & untrue – FAKE NEWS!” Trump’s continued profit from a TV series is yet another unprecedented aspect of the election of a businessman and reality star to the presidency, with questions raised about how his holdings may intersect with his presidential decisions. The extent of his involvement with “Apprentice” is unclear, including how much he earns from it. The show last aired in 2015, and with Trump starring.
Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said Friday on CNN that his ties to the reality show are being reviewed by experts looking into the president-elect’s business ties. She compared Trump’s continued interest in the entertainment industry to President Barack Obama’s off-hours golfing.
“Presidents have a right to do things in their spare time, in their leisure time, and nobody objects to that,” she said.
Tyra Banks, an adviser on the series, said Friday she had just learned of Trump’s producer status “so I’m still processing.”
TV personality Carrie Keagan, one of the contestants, said the show belongs to a different boss now.
“It’s a brand-new show,” she said. “It’s an Arnold Schwarzenegger show now. It’s his brand. There was no talk of anything else when we started the show. And hopefully there will be no more talk of anything else after.”
___
Television Writer Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report. comments
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TRUMP: Reports that I will Donald Trump Denies He Donald Trump denies he will Donald Trump tweets that have a role on The Will Work on ‘Apprentice’ work on The Apprentice he won't be working on 'The Apprentice are 'fake news' While President while president Apprentice' aol.com variety.com bbc.co.uk latimes.com
2016-12-10 09:03 The Associated wtop.com
3 /100 1.8 As thousands flee E. Aleppo, RT hears stories of those trapped there for years (VIDEO) — RT News (3.25/7) “Only strong men have a good chance of escaping rebel areas. It’s especially difficult for families, when you have kids they don’t allow you to leave, ” local resident Ibrahim said. He told RT some families were simply unable to leave their children behind – if you have a boy of a fighting age, the terrorists simply won’t let you take him with you. And fighting age in militant-held Aleppo is just 14.
“Because I have a boy, they wouldn't let him leave with me. That’s why I stayed – because I have a boy. I stayed here for him. Thanks to God, today we were able to leave,” Ibrahim says.
Many of his neighbors say the militants had been trying to drive them away but they had to stay because their children were too small for such a journey.
“ The rebels would constantly come to our home and steal our belongings, they would fire mortars at us to try to make us leave our homes, so they could come and steal our things, and frighten us because all our neighbors left but we stayed in our home. They would ask why we don’t leave: we told them we have many small children that we can’t leave. We have cows and sheep, we can’t leave them alone, they need to be taken care of, too,” a man called Jawaher explained.
Now, however, these people are finally free and say their biggest joy is to meet their relatives, who live in western districts, after so much time.
“ I feel like its Eid [holiday], with the power of the Syrian Army we have victory. After five years I am with my family – I am so happy, ” says young Salah, holding on to his brother.
READ MORE: Drone footage shows civilians fleeing from militant-held E. Aleppo (VIDEO)
Mohamad has come from western Aleppo to pick up Ibrahim, his brother, who was trapped in Sheikh Sa'eed district.
“ Four years ago he couldn't escape, but I did. He was stuck there and thank God we are reunited now,” he tells our crew, meeting for the first time his two youngest nephews who were born in eastern Aleppo.
Another man, Mahmoud says he is free now, but he will wait for his brother in law, who was imprisoned by the militants after coming to eastern Aleppo to visit his wife.
“ They put my sister's husband in jail, they put her husband in jail…because he was living on this side. He went to see his wife, and some people told them that he comes from this side; they caught him and put him in jail.”
For now, all these people are left to deal with what is left of their city after years of fighting. During their retreat, the militants littered the areas they fled with booby traps and mines. These are now being cleared by Russian Army bomb disposal specialists. “ In the past 24 hours, they demined a total area of 8 hectares. In addition, 24 buildings have been cleared from explosive objects, including one bakery, two schools, two mosques, one power substation, and some 4.5km of roads,” the Russian Center for Reconciliation said on Saturday.
Thousands flee Syria's Drone footage shows Russia says thousands Russia Says Thousands Aleppo as Assad nears civilians fleeing from fleeing Aleppo as Assad Fleeing Aleppo as Assad victory militant-held E. Aleppo nears victory Nears Victory article.wn.com (VIDEO) — RT News cbs46.com abcnews.go.com rt.com
2016-12-10 10:26 www.rt.com
4 /100 0.0 Freight train carrying flammable gas explodes in Bulgaria – video (2.33/7) A freight train carrying highly flammable gas has derailed and exploded in north–eastern Bulgaria. The explosion, which occurred on Saturday, demolished surrounding buildings and has so far claimed the lives of five people, with local authorities saying the numbers are likely to rise
Five killed as cargo train Death toll rises as cargo Several killed as Bulgarian Five people are killed and explodes in Bulgaria train explodes in Bulgaria freight train derails and nearly 30 injured when a article.wn.com article.wn.com explodes freight train carrying gas theguardian.com derailed and EXPLODED in Bulgaria dailymail.co.uk Bulgaria: 4 killed after train carrying gas derails, explodes article.wn.com
2016-12-10 11:28 Source: www.theguardian.com
5 /100 3.2 Lame-duck Congress works to set stage for President Trump (2.14/7) WASHINGTON (AP) — The lame-duck Congress is embarking on its final work session of 2016 as lawmakers face a Dec. 9 deadline for spending legislation to keep the government running.
Republican leaders want to pass a short-term spending bill to extend existing funding levels into next spring, allowing a new President Donald Trump the opportunity to play a bigger role in crafting agency budgets.
Congress is also trying to finalize legislation to address lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan, and pass a bipartisan bill to promote medical research and innovation. And House Democrats will be voting in a new leadership team Wednesday after a delay sought by lawmakers angry over Democrats’ poor showing in this month’s federal elections. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California is expected to prevail, but must answer demands for change from a Democratic caucus that has been led for years by the same aging lawmakers and committee chairmen.
A number of other odds and ends await action as well. And throughout, GOP leaders will be working with Trump’s transition teams to craft an agenda for next year, when Republicans will control both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.
“We’ve got a lot to do,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
A look at the pending legislation:
__
SPENDING
Work on 11 of the 12 annual agency spending bills has sputtered and a stopgap spending measure is keeping the government running until Dec. 9. Republican leaders have decided to punt the remaining measures into next year, in part because they may have better chances of winning additional Pentagon spending from the incoming Trump administration. Another temporary spending bill is in the works that would keep the government open until the end of March or later.
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FLINT’S WATER A popular water projects measure, including $220 million to help Flint, Michigan, and other cities repair aging water systems that are poisoned by lead, is in House-Senate talks.
McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have promised that Flint assistance will be approved in the lame-duck session.
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CURES ACT
The House plans to vote Wednesday on legislation beefing up brain, cancer and other research at the National Institutes of Health and accelerating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval processes. A Senate vote could come next week.
The 21st Century Cures Act would provide $6.3 billion over the next decade, including $1 billion for state grants for programs for preventing and treating the abuse of opioids and other addictive drugs. It would also expand government mental health programs.
The measure is supported by pharmaceutical and other medical industry groups. But some consumer advocates say it goes too far in relaxing testing standards, and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts attacked it Monday as “political cover for huge giveaways to giant drug companies.”
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DEFENSE
House and Senate negotiators hope to wrap up the defense policy bill, which Congress has passed every year for more than five decades.
House Republicans are seeking to use the must-pass $602 billion bill to reverse protections against workplace discrimination by Pentagon contractors based on sexual or gender orientation. Another battle is over how much additional money to spend on weapon systems that the Pentagon didn’t request in its budget.
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IRAN SANCTIONS
Congress must act to renew a decades-old law that allows the United States to hit companies with economic sanctions for doing business with Iran. Congress first passed the Iran Sanctions Act in 1996 and has extended it several times since then. The sanctions law, which is separate from the landmark nuclear deal, is to expire at the end of the year and there is strong bipartisan support for legislation that would extend it by another decade.
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COAL MINERS
Lawmakers are pushing a bill to protect health care and pension benefits for about 120,000 retired coal miners and their families. Several Republican incumbents supported the bill during the fall campaign, including Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who both won re-election. But McConnell and others are wary of bailing out unionized workers.
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ENERGY BILL
The House and Senate remain far apart as they seek to approve the first major energy bill in nearly a decade. Prospects for completion look dim as senators push provisions opposed in the House. These include speeding exports of liquefied natural gas and long-term authorization for a fund that promotes land and water conservation.
___
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly and Richard Lardner contributed to this report.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Donald Trump denies he will Donald Trump Denies He work on The Apprentice Will Work on ‘Apprentice’ while president While President bbc.co.uk variety.com
2016-12-10 06:34 By Associated mynorthwest.com
6 /100 0.6 US' Kerry urges Russia to show "grace" in Geneva Aleppo talks (2.10/7) PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Backers of the Syrian opposition appeared resigned to the fall of eastern Aleppo on Saturday, with the United States pleading Moscow to show "grace" when officials meet in Geneva to try to reach a deal for civilians and fighters to leave the city. Syrian government and allied forces have in the last two weeks driven rebels from most of their territory in what was once Syria's most populous city. The rebels have controlled the eastern section since 2012, and President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published on Thursday that retaking Aleppo would change the course of the civil war across the whole country. Critics of the operation have warned that thousands of civilians risk being caught in the crossfire and have repeatedly called on Syrian government forces and its backers to accept a ceasefire to at least allow corridors for civilians and rebel fighters to leave to safer areas. Speaking in Paris after a meeting of countries that oppose Assad, including France, Britain, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, an exasperated Kerry showed little optimism for U. S. and Russian talks in Geneva later on Saturday. "Our teams are meeting in Geneva today in order to flesh out details of a possible way of trying to save lives. Russia and Assad have a moment where they are in a dominant position to show a little grace," Kerry told reporters. "I believe there could be a way forward but it depends on big, magnanimous choices from Russia... and insistence of Russia on the Assad regime," Kerry said. Moscow and Washington have discussed a ceasefire to let civilians escape eastern Aleppo and aid enter. Russia also wants the United States to urge rebel fighters to abandon their territory and accept transport out. "Fighters... don't trust that if they agreed to leave to try to save Aleppo that it will save Aleppo and they will be unharmed and free to move where they are not immediately attacked," he said. Rebel fighters now believed their choice was to either "die in Aleppo or die in Idlib, but die," Kerry said referring to the rebel-held city in northwestern Syria. (Reporting by John Irish, editing by Louise Heavens)
Aleppo: John Kerry urges John Kerry Urges Russia to Russia, Syria to seek Show 'Grace' to 'Save Lives' ceasefire in Aleppo cnn.com newsmax.com
2016-12-10 09:40 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
7 /100 3.4 Trump on the 'lock her up' chant: 'Now we don't care'
(2.07/7) The crowd at President-elect Donald Trump 's victory rally on Friday night started up a familiar chant: "Lock her up. " The slogan was a staple of his raucous election campaign, targeting his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
When the audience revived the chant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Friday night — more than one month after Trump won the election — the president-elect said, "That plays great before the election — now we don't care, right? "
Trump during his campaign repeatedly vowed to seek criminal prosecution against Clinton for her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.
PHOTOS: Donald Trump on his "thank you" tour
During one fiery exchange at the second presidential debate in October, Trump said if he were elected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton, telling her " You'd be in jail, " if he was in the White House.
The next day, when a crowd at one of his rallies began chanting "lock her up," Trump declared " Special prosecutor, here we come. " Two weeks after the election, Trump reversed his position , saying investigating Clinton was "just not something that I feel very strongly about" and "I don't want to hurt the Clintons, I really don't. "
NOW WATCH: 'That hypocrisy is also real' — Jon Stewart takes liberals to task for calling all Trump supporters racist
See Also:
Donald Trump on 'lock her SEE IT: Donald Trump up' chant: 'Now we don't admits he doesn't 'care' care' about locking up Hillary rss.cnn.com Clinton feeds.nydailynews.com
2016-12-10 08:05 AOL Staff www.aol.com
8 /100 2.2 Oil Cartel Seeks Output Cutbacks by Non-Member Countries (1.16/7) OPEC member states are meeting with Russia and other non-OPEC countries in Vienna for talks about a reduction in oil production.
Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said the discussions began Saturday in a "positive atmosphere" at the headquarters of the oil producers' cartel.
OPEC agreed on Nov. 30 to cut 1.2 million barrels in daily output by its own members in an attempt to raise oil prices that have put pressure on government finances in oil-producing countries including Saudi Arabia .
Now it is hoping for another 600,000 barrels to be cut by countries outside the group.
Barkindo expressed optimism about getting agreement on the 600,000 "or even more maybe. "
Much of that is expected to come from major producer Russia, which Barkindo said was co- chairing the meeting.
Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said the meeting was "a unique window of opportunity for oil producers to help the market find equilibrium. And missing this chance would just be wrong. "
Crude prices have risen since the OPEC agreement was announced, with U. S. crude up 1.3 percent on Friday at $51.48 a barrel, 6 percent higher than before the OPEC announcement.
That's despite doubts about how much impact any OPEC-led cutback will have due to weak demand from a sluggish global economy and due to a tendency among some members to produce more than agreed.
Oil cartel seeks output cutbacks by non-member countries article.wn.com
2016-12-10 09:07 By abcnews.go.com
9 /100 0.0 Gambian president rejects election result in television address to the nation – video (1.12/7) Gambian president Yahya Jammeh announces on state TV his rejection of last week’s election outcome, in which he lost to opposition leader Adama Barrow. Speaking in the Gambia’s capital city of Banjul on Friday, Jammeh called for a fresh round of voting, despite perviously conceding to Barrow
Gambia President's rejection The Gambia: troops of poll results "null and void"- deployed to streets as African Union president rejects election dailymail.co.uk defeat theguardian.com
2016-12-10 06:22 Source: Reuters www.theguardian.com
10 /100 2.2 Durban herbalist gets tongues wagging with ‘money suit’ at Sfiso Ncwane funeral (1.06/7) Andile who is no stranger to making headlines joined thousands of mourners in paying their last respects to gospel star‚ Sfiso Ncwane.
The well-known herbalist arrived at Moses Mabhida Stadium at around 9.45 am on Saturday morning dressed in his popular suit.
As funeral proceedings got underway and pictures of Andile circulated on social media‚ Twitter users roasted him for the outfit.
While it has become his trademark attire‚ Twitter users labelled him “disrespectful”.
Thank you @SABC, at least one is able to stream the funeral service of the legendary Sfiso Ncwane! Lala Ncwane pic.twitter.com/4szt1X1QfY — Sibusiso D. Mthembu (@SbuNoah) December 10, 2016
I respect that...but let's not change the focus of the day. The ANC is like that guy who's wearing the money suit https://t.co/2T299due3x — The Boss Lady (@Miss_Bohlokoa_M) December 10, 2016
Meanwhile‚ an emotional funeral service filled with heart-warming speeches and musical tributes has been underway since 11 am this morning.
Sfiso who died on Monday after suffering from kidney failure will be laid to rest at Heroes Acre Cemetery in Chesterville.
Generations actor brought to WATCH: 5 touching Menzi Ngubane overcome tears at Ncwane funeral moments from Sfiso with emotion at Sfiso channel24.co.za Ncwane's funeral Ncwane funeral timeslive.co.za timeslive.co.za
2016-12-10 08:32 Tshisalive www.timeslive.co.za
11 /100 (1.02/7) 2.3 Human Rights Day, A Call to Care Mothers and children inside a Kabul refugee camp (Photo: Henrietta Cullinan)
December 10th marks the U. N. Human Rights Day, celebrating and upholding the indispensable and crucial declaration of universal human rights. On the eve of this event, I visited a refugee camp housing 700 families in Kabul. Conditions in refugee camps can be deplorable, intolerable. Here, the situation is best described as surreal. As I approach the entrance to the camp with my friends Nematullah, Zarghuna and Henrietta, we are overcome by the stench emanating from an open sewer filled with filth. I ask myself, "Can this be real? " Inside the camp, primitive mud huts are separated by narrow walkways. When the inevitable snow comes, the ground inside and outside the homes will be muddy until the mud freezes. Plastic has been placed over some of the doors and roofs, in hopes of providing insulation from the coming cold. Mothers in the camp tell us winter months are unbearably hard. Children become sick at the onset of winter and they don’t recover until spring arrives. People burn plastic, boots, clothing, and water bottles for fuel, but when those resources are depleted, they rely solely on heavy blankets to protect them from the cold.
A single water pump serves all 700 families, and the water isn’t even potable. It needs to be boiled for twenty minutes before use.
Latrines here are the “traditional type,” simple holes dug in the ground.
Our visit was arranged by Nematullah, an Afghan Peace Volunteer. A friend of his teaches informal language and math classes to children at the camp. Nematullah leaned over and asked me to jot down the rights listed in the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I quickly scribbled food, water, shelter, health care, employment and security in my notebook. As we listened to the mothers describe their daily lives, we checked off the rights they have been denied.
“Some days we get food from the market if our children work there,” said Nazar Bibi. “They bring back potatoes or turnips. Otherwise we eat bread and tea. Sometimes we have no tea, and sometimes we don’t even have bread.”
We were told, "If someone becomes sick there is no clinic, no first aid. And we have no hospitals nearby that will help us. We can’t afford to travel to hospitals that might accept us. (Six hospitals serving “better off” people are within walking distance of the camp, but none of them accept the camp residents, who have no means to pay hospital bills, as patients.) We don’t want to send our children to work on the streets. We’re afraid they’ll be hit by a car or blown up by a suicide bomber. But we are desperate for food and fuel and there is no work for men and women here in the camp. Sometimes the children return home and there is no bread for them. They wake up after midnight, begging for food because they are so hungry, and there is nothing for them. "
"If we had education, perhaps we wouldn’t be here,” said Nazar Bibi. “We want our children to learn, but even government schools cost money. We have no income. "
One woman managed to laugh. “We don’t even know what a dollar looks like! What color is it? Is it black, or white?” said Shukria. “If America sends dollars here, we never see them. No one cares about us.”
The women said they do feel secure within the camp. They can go to the latrine without being harassed.
Shojun and her family are relieved to have escaped the fighting in Kunduz. She described nightmare experiences with bullets flying back and forth over and through her house. After fleeing in haste they realized one of the seven children was still in the house. Fortunately, he was saved. She and her family arrived in Kabul with no belongings, only themselves.
Shukria, who fled fighting in the Laghman province, showed us the large raw scar tissue covering her inner, upper arm. The Taliban killed her husband twelve years ago. She then married his brother, but two years ago, during renewed fighting between the Taliban and government forces, their home was attacked. Her husband lost a foot. He then left the province, abandoning her and her two children. Shukria says that sometimes she considers suicide but then thinks of the two children. Today, she has no food to serve them lunch. Shukria herself is painfully thin. She shakes her head, and adds because she never has shampoo she washes her hair with detergent and she thinks it’s causing her hair to fall out.
Up to the end of 2014, the U. S. had spent more money for ‘reconstruction’ in Afghanistan than was allotted for the Marshall Plan ( more than two thirds of this had gone to build up Afghan military and police forces), yet Afghans remain one of the poorest people in the world. At the same time, the U. S. Congress has authorized $618.7 billion for the National Defense Authorization Act , to fund the Department of Defense in 2017. Even a fraction of this budget, directed toward human needs, would solve the problem of starving children worldwide as well as meet the needs of the destitute people living in the camps throughout Afghanistan. It would be fitting on this December 10th, U. N Human Rights Day, if the citizens of the US were to extend a hand of true friendship to those in need throughout the world and make meeting the needs of the world's least fortunate the first priority. True security for the US will be achieved through caring for and respecting the world's most needy, not through the rampages of war and destruction which has made the US the most feared country in the world.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Kathy Kelly ( [email protected] ) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence ( www.vcnv.org ).
Brazilians Revolt as Post-Coup Govt. Pushes 'Deliberately Retrogressive' Austerity Package
US Military Admits: We Deliberately Bombed a Hospital in Iraq
Veterans at Standing Rock Ready to Take Clean Water Fight to Flint
'Fascist Rhetoric' Becoming Commonplace in US and Europe, Warns UN
Human rights a long journey: NHRC article.wn.com
2016-12-10 09:48 Kathy Kelly www.commondreams.org
12 /100 1.0 Exxon CEO is now Trump's secretary of state favorite, says transition official (1.02/7) Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson emerged on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate for U. S. secretary of state, a senior transition official said.
Trump met Tillerson on Tuesday and may talk to him again over the weekend, the official said. Trump appears to be in the final days of deliberations over his top diplomat with an announcement possible next week.
Tillerson's favored status was revealed as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for secretary of state.
The transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson, 64, had moved ahead in Trump's deliberations over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has met Trump twice, including at a dinner in New York.
But the official said Romney was still under consideration for the job, along with John Bolton, a former U. S. ambassador to the United Nations; U. S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, and retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis.
Giuliani's withdrawal came after he was fully vetted by the Trump transition team for his overseas business ties in what was described by the Trump official as an "intense" effort by lawyers and accountants.
Giuliani, who runs a global consulting firm, was given a clean bill of health, with Trump's aides concluding his business interests would not pose a risk to his confirmation.
Should Tillerson be nominated, his business ties, too, will come under scrutiny. Exxon Mobil has operations in more than 50 countries and boasts that it explores for oil and natural gas on six continents.
In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson his nation's Order of Friendship.
But U. S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea cost Exxon Mobil dearly, forcing it to scrap some projects and costing it at least $1 billion in losses. Tillerson has been a vocal critic of the sanctions.
Trump has spoken of wanting warmer relations with Moscow, which has sparked concerns in Congress that he could lift or loosen some of the sanctions on Russia.
Tillerson has been chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil since 2006. He is expected to retire from the company next year.
Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another divisive issue. The company is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming. Exxon CEO emerges as Trump's top secretary-of- state candidate nola.com
2016-12-10 09:46 CNBC www.cnbc.com
13 /100 0.8 Shutdown Averted, Senate Backs Stop-Gap Spending Bill (1.02/7) With less than hour to spare, the Senate late Friday backed legislation averting a government shutdown as coal-state Democrats retreated on long-term health care benefits for retired miners and promised a renewed fight for the working class next year.
The 63-36 vote sent the stop-gap spending bill to President Barack Obama, who signed the measure early Saturday morning. The Senate also passed and sent the president a $10 billion water bill with money to respond to lead-tainted drinking water in Michigan and drought in California. The vote was 78-21.
The votes came hours after Democrats dropped threats to block the spending measure in hopes of using the shutdown deadline to try to win a one-year respite for 16,500 miners facing the loss of health care benefits at year's end. Instead, the legislation provides benefits at a cost of $45 million for four months.
Democrats invoked President-elect Donald Trump's promises to coal country as they pressed to continue the benefits. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., a potential member of the Trump Cabinet, led the fight of coal-state Democrats.
But House Republicans were unrelenting and had already vacated the Capitol for a three-week holiday, forcing Democrats to concede. Manchin acknowledged Friday night that he did not have the votes to block the bill, but said "the fight will continue" next year.
"I'm born into a family of coal miners. If I'm not going to stand up for them, who is? " he asked reporters.
Manchin was meeting with Trump on Monday.
The fight gave Democrats, who suffered devastating election losses a month ago at the hands of working-class voters, a chance to cast themselves and not the GOP as the champions of the common man. Manchin was joined by other coal-state Democrats who face re-election in 2018 in states Trump won last month, including Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"We're just getting warmed up," said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., vowing a fight next year. "These miners and their families kept their promise, put their lives at risk. ... It's not too difficult for a senator or House member to keep a promise. "
The dispute over health benefits and a separate fight over controversial legislation to shift more of California's scarce water resources to inland farmers were the final battles of a two-year session marked by constant quarreling. It was capped by a burst of productivity on legislation to authorize hundreds of water projects, repair Flint, Michigan's lead-tainted water system, and keep the government running through April.
Congress will take a break before reconvening on Jan. 3 to get a swift start on repealing key elements of the Affordable Care Act and confirming Trump's Cabinet.
The underlying funding bill would keep the government running through April 28 to buy time for the incoming Trump administration and Congress to wrap up more than $1 trillion in unfinished agency budget work. It also provides war funding, disaster aid for Louisiana and other states, and an expedited process for considering Trump's nominee for defense secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis.
The trucking lobby won permanent relief from recent Transportation Department rules mandating more rest and overnight breaks for long-haul drivers. The White House and Main Street Republicans were denied in a bid to revive the Export-Import Bank's ability to approve export financing deals exceeding $10 million.
The miners' issue had history: 70 years ago, President Harry S. Truman guaranteed retired miners a lifetime of health and pension benefits to avert a strike.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the four-month extension was better than nothing. McConnell himself represents thousands of miners in the struggling coal industry and said he tried to get a longer solution in talks with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
"Would I have preferred that provision to be more generous? Of course I would have," the Republican said in a speech on the Senate floor.
The House had left town on Thursday, creating a dynamic in which the Senate had little choice but to adopt the stopgap measure. Both the funding measure and a water projects bill passed there by sweeping bipartisan votes.
Democratic opponents of the popular water projects bill, led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., assailed provisions to divert more water to corporate farmers. The bill also authorizes long- delayed funding of $170 million to help Flint, Michigan, to fix its lead-tainted water system.
Democrats griped that GOP negotiators on the water bill dumped a permanent "Buy America" provision requiring U. S.-produced steel be used in water projects. But that effort lost steam Friday.
The spending bill also would provide $7 million to reimburse the New York Police Department for the cost of security around Trump Tower in Manhattan, far less than the $35 million the city requested. Shutdown averted, US Senate backs stop-gap spending bill article.wn.com
2016-12-10 08:33 www.newsmax.com
14 /100 0.9 Bob Dylan’s hometown struggles with how it should honor him (1.02/7) HIBBING, Minnesota — The city of Hibbing has long struggled with how it should honor its most famous son, Bob Dylan. There is a street sign, a small exhibit in the public library, but little more.
As Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize in literature Saturday — proclaimed Bob Dylan Day in the state — some residents think that should change.
“A prophet in his own land is not always noticed,” said Mary Palcich Keyes, who is part of an effort to honor the singer- songwriter-poet. “For many years, I think people just took it for granted and it didn’t seem that big of a deal. Now the Nobel Prize seems to have, it’s like it shook something loose finally.”
Dylan was born in Duluth in 1941, raised in the Iron Range town of Hibbing and graduated from the city’s high school in 1959. Earlier this year, he became the first musician in the Nobel’s 115- year history to win the prize in literature.
Dylan’s relationship with Hibbing has been complicated: Many didn’t understand the artistic Robert Zimmerman, and after he left, they didn’t realize how famous he had become, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.
Aaron Brown, who used to help run the now-defunct Dylan Days festival, said when Dylan left town, most people didn’t think he had a great singing voice.
“Then two or three years later … everyone’s fawning over him!” he said.
Around 1990, a restaurant named Zimmy’s — Dylan’s nickname in high school — opened downtown and drew tourists until it closed a couple of years ago. The public library still has an exhibit in its basement.
“As a person who loves Hibbing, we need to do a better job of explaining Bob to the rest of the world,” said retired teacher Craig Hattam, who gives Dylan-focused tours, including passing by Dylan’s childhood home, which he hopes will someday become a museum.
Hattam and others are working on an effort called the Hibbing Dylan Project to come up with a way to publicly honor Dylan. Hattam wanted a statue at the high school, but a Dylan relative has said the family would prefer a focus on educational work.
Laureates to receive Nobels, except Bob Dylan newsinfo.inquirer.net
2016-12-10 00:00 Associated Press entertainment.inquirer.net
15 /100 0.3 Burundi Recalls Belgium Ambassador Amid Tensions
(1.02/7) Burundi's foreign minister says the country's ambassador to Belgium has been told to return home amid diplomatic tensions related to political violence in the central African nation.
Alain Aime Nyamitwe told The Associated Press on Saturday that Burundi's embassy in Brussels remains open despite the recalling of Ambassador Jeremie Banigwaninzigo.
Nyamitwe says relations with former colonizer Belgium "are not really good. We have called our ambassador to assess relations between the two countries. "
Burundi's government has persistently accused Belgium of backing the exiles who opposed President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision last year to seek a third term. Hundreds of people have been killed in political tensions since then.
Many protests have been staged outside the Belgian embassy in Burundi by demonstrators who accused Belgium of supporting opponents of Burundi's government.
Burundi recalls Belgium ambassador amid tensions article.wn.com
2016-12-10 07:54 By abcnews.go.com
16 /100 16 /100 0.0 Jennifer Lawrence apologises for Hawaii ‘butt- scratching’ story (1.00/7) US singer Jennifer Lawrence has apologised after revelation a story about scratching her “butt” on dedicated rocks in Hawaii.
In a matter on Facebook, she pronounced she meant “absolutely no disregard to a Hawaiian people”.
The singer had told a BBC’s The Graham Norton Show that a occurrence happened when she was filming The Hunger Games in a US state.
She faced a backlash, with some viewers job on her to apologise.
Lawrence, who won an Oscar for her purpose in a 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, had told a BBC presenter she had been filming in a plcae where there were “sacred rocks”.
“You’re not ostensible to lay on them since you’re not ostensible to display your genitals to them,” she said .
“I, however, was in a wetsuit for this whole fire so – oh my God, they were so good for butt- itching. One stone that we was butt-scratching on finished adult entrance loose.
“It was a hulk stone and it rolled down this towering and roughly killed a sound guy.”
She added: “His whole hire got destroyed, it was a outrageous thespian understanding and all a Hawaiians were like ‘Oh my god, it’s a curse’. And I’m turn a dilemma going, ‘I’m your abuse – we wedged it lax with my ass’.”
More than 1.3 million people watched a shave after it was posted on BBC One’s Facebook page .
Some viewers called on Lawrence to apologize for her comments.
Arghya Ghosh commented: “Weird to see how perspectives work, we meant it’s humorous to her since she doesn’t go to that culture. we meant if we destroy a chronological or informative site, it’s flattering most a crime.”
Marcia Ogasawara, from Hawaii, pronounced she didn’t find it funny, adding: “If she left a partial of it being dedicated out, afterwards we wouldn’t care; though meaningful local Hawaiians built that for some stress and her articulate like it’s not a large deal, it’s unequivocally disappointing.”
The star after took to her possess Facebook page to apologise, starting a post: “From Jen to a Internet.”
“I meant positively no disregard to a Hawaiian people,” she said.
“I unequivocally suspicion that we was being self-deprecating about a fact that we was ‘the curse’, though we know a approach it was viewed was not humorous and we apologize if we annoyed anyone.”
It is not famous accurately where a rocks are in Hawaii though some of a scenes of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire were filmed on a North Shore of Oahu during Kawela Bay.
It was used as a plcae for a stage when a tributes seem on tip of a saltwater lake during a locus for a Quarter Quell.
Rail chastisement fares: Passengers could get new appeals body headlinenewstoday.net
2016-12-10 00:00 admin headlinenewstoday.net
17 /100 1.2 Watford 3-2 Everton: Stefano Okaka brace stuns the Toffees as second half comeback bags all three points for the Hornets at Vicarage Road (0.03/7) Watford secured a comeback victory against a lacklustre Everton side who surrendered an early lead at Vicarage road. Ronald Koeman's men looked set to build upon their recent draw to Manchester United after taking the lead against the Hornets through Romelu Lukaku - but a second half meltdown would soon see the Toffees on the back foot. Watford retained composure and struck back, first though a sublime near-post flick from Stefano Okaka before Austria Sebastian Prodl powered home a header from a dangerously placed free-kick taken by Jose Holebas. The Hornets made the Toffees pay for weak set-piece defending by adding a third, Okaka getting himself on the score sheet for a second time, tucking away a corner to give Holebas assist number two. Lukaku provided the Toffees with last gasp hope after heading home an Aaron Lennon cross, but the home side held firm to take all three points. More to follow.
Stefano Okaka brace helps Watford to victory over slumping Everton dailymail.co.uk 2016-12-10 10:24 Kieran Gill www.dailymail.co.uk
18 /100 3.2 Niall Horan pays tribute to Louis Tomlinson's mum Johannah (0.02/7) Niall Horan has reached out to his former One Direction bandmate, Louis Tomlinson, after his mother Johannah Deakin passed away on Wednesday. The This Town singer took to Twitter on Friday to share his condolences with his pal, sharing an emotional tribute with his 28 million followers. He said: 'Very sad news. Louis I love you mate and I'm / all of us are here for you all the way. You're mum was an incredible person. Scroll down for video 'Thinking of you and your family. Love from my family to yours.. (sic)'. Performing at last night's Z100's Jingle Ball 2016 at Madison Square Garden, the Mullingar native refrained from interviews ahead of his performance after the news broke. Following his lead, Louis's ex Briana Jungwirth paid tribute to his late mother on social media. 'My heart aches. Every time I look at Freddie, I see you in him Jay. I will always remember the times we shared and the talks we had.' 'I looked up to you and sadly only knowing you for a short time, I aspired to be just like you in a mother to Freddie. Adding: 'I promise to share with him all of what I know of you including your beautiful attributes. We both loved you very much. You'll always stay close forever in our hearts.' While Briana's step-father Brett Clarke shared an emotional message on the social media platform alongside a picture of late Johannah and her husband Dan Deakin. 'My heart goes out to the whole Tomlinson-Deakin family. Although I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I wanted she always made my family and I feel special,' he wrote. 'She was warm, funny and selfless. She raised a whole group of Legends and was more than a mom to her children but also a friend.' 'She always put her kids first and was more than a awesome mom. Her whole life was about her kids and her husband Dan. 'I put this here in promise to love more like you, to be more humble like you, to be more compassionate about others like you did and maybe pass on a little of your legacy to be more selfless like you were. #ripjohannah #familyovereverything #lovelikejay'. Meanwhile, Cheryl has reached out to Louis with a touching message following his mother death. Taking to Twitter on Friday after the news was released, the pop star - who is expecting a baby with Louis' One Direction bandmate - wrote: 'My heart breaks for you. I am so sorry. 'My thoughts are with you and your loved ones at this incredibly tragic time.' Cheryl first met Louis when he auditioned for the X Factor at 18 years old, and has remained a big part of the lives of all the One Direction stars. Liam also took to Twitter, posting a note which read: 'Louis, I'm so sorry for you my brother my heart aches for you, just know I love you the same from a million miles away as i do right next to you. 'I'm always here for you through everything as you have been for me. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this incredibly sad time I can't begin to imagine what you are all going through. 'Rip Johanna you are forever in my thoughts.' She was not the only star to pay her respects to Louis' mother, with Louis' former bandmate, Zayn Malik - who famously feuded with the star - paying tribute. He wrote: '@Louis_Tomlinson love you bro! All of your family is in my prayers. proud of your strength and know your mum is too x' Simon Cowell - who mentored One Direction and has them on his record label - wrote: 'Heartbroken for you @louis_tomlinson. Your mum Jay was an incredible person. Sending you all my love.' One Direction’s songwriter Savan who wrote What Makes You Beautiful and was the band's singing coach on X Factor also took to Twitter, posting '@Louis_Tomlinson your family is in my prayers. So sorry for your loss, she was such a sweet and caring person. And was so proud of you.' Liam Payne's elder sister Ruth also paid her respects, posting: 'When there are no words there is always love, god bless you all! #RIPJohannah.' Ronan Keating also took to Twitter, with the Boyzone star, posting: 'My Heart goes out to Louis Tomlinson and his family at this time. Heartbreaking.' Piers Morgan wrote: What sad, shocking news. Deepest sympathy to @louis_tomlinson & all his family'. The Wanted's Nathan Sykes wrote: 'Thoughts are with @louis_tomlinson today. Heartbreaking news.' Take That's Howard Donald posted: '@Louis_Tomlinson sending you strength to you and your family.' Union J's JJ Hamblett wrote: 'My thoughts are with Louis Tomlinson and his family, such sad news!!!' Members of the X Factor family were also quick to offer Louis some kind words. Duo Jedward - who appeared on series six - shared a tweet that Johannah had sent them about being mother of twins which read: '@planetjedward That is true! Louis (One Direction) has identical twin sisters! They said Jedward have the same faces like us :o) Louis Mum x' Above the message, they added: 'Sending All The Love in the world to @Louis_Tomlinson Rest in Peace @JohannahDarling.' Lauren Platt, who appeared on Series 11 of the show, wrote: 'Thoughts are with @Louis_Tomlinson and his family on this tragic day. I'm so sorry for your loss #RIPJohannah.' Ben Haenow, Series 11 winner posted: '@Louis_Tomlinson sending love and thoughts to you and family.' Series seven contestant Katie Waissel also shared a sweet message Louis' mother Johannah died after a battle with leukaemia at the age of 43. The midwife passed away in the early hours of Wednesday, it was confirmed in a statement to MailOnline on Friday. As well as One Direction star Louis, 24, she leaves behind six other children, Lottie, 18, Felicite, 16, twins Daisy and Phoebe, both 12, and twins Ernest and Doris, both aged two, who she gave birth to prematurely in 2014. She was also grandmother to Louis' ten-month-old son Freddie. Louis will perform at the X Factor final on Saturday night in tribute to his late mother. The performance was previously scheduled, with Johannah said to be looking forward to seeing her son back on the stage where he first shot to fame. The statement released to MailOnline on Friday reads: 'It is with immeasurable sadness that Johannah Deakin's family said goodbye to Johannah in the early hours of Wednesday 7th December 2016.' 'Earlier this year Johannah was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of leukaemia that required immediate and continuous treatment. We respectfully request that the family are given time and space to grieve in private.' Johannah’s husband Dan Deakin added: 'Johannah was first and foremost a truly amazing mother to seven children – Louis (24), Lottie (18), Félicité (16), and two sets of twins, Phoebe and Daisy (12) and Ernest and Doris (2) - whose individual talents and success are testament to the principles and beliefs she instilled in them. She was also an incredibly proud grandmother to Freddie. 'Incredibly selfless, she would always look to put other people before herself. She desired nothing more than for everyone around her to be happy and loving. She worked tirelessly on numerous charity campaigns, creating memories for many individuals and their families.' 'It wasn't uncommon for Johannah to hear through the media of an individual in need of assistance, and she would immediately make it her objective to get that person what they often desperately needed, and rarely without success.' 'These are the things that made Johannah happy and content in life, and all of which for me made her simply the perfect wife and best friend to face each day with.' 'I thoroughly loved walking through life with her, and though five years was far too short a time, during that time we had so many lifetimes worth of happiness, adventures, and memories.' 'We would like to send our sincere thanks to Professor Steve Mackinnon and his team at University College London Hospital where Johannah was hospitalised since May. And during the last few weeks Professor John Snowden and his colleagues at Royal Hallamshire Hospital Sheffield.' Two weeks ago Louis, who lives in Los Angeles to be near to his son Freddie, shared an Instagram photo with his mother, alongside the caption: 'My mother looking gorgeous before the Brits earlier this year. I love you and miss you so much!' Five weeks ago, in what was her last Instagram post, Johannah shared a shot of her One Direction singer son alongside the simple caption: 'My perfect boy.' Her Instagram profile reads: 'Mummy to 7 stars & 1 little grand star.' Johannah's 16-year-old daughter Felicite tweeted on Thursday night, sharing a heartbreak emoji. In 2013, Johannah announced her engagement to Doctor Dan Deakin and that the couple were expecting twins. Their wedding in July 2014 saw her son as best man, while Louis' band mates, Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Niall Horan all attended. Born Johannah Poulston on March 25 1973, she grew up in Doncaster in South Yorkshire. She worked as a midwife and a TV assistant during her career. Johannah gave birth to Louis when she was 18, but split from his biological father Troy Austin, in 1997 when he was aged just five. She then had four children with Mark Tomlinson, who Louis considers his real father, - Charlotte, Felicity and twins Phoebe and Daisy. Johannah and second husband Dan Deakin had twins Ernest and Doris on February 10 2014. Devoted to her family, Johannah told Sugarscape that she couldn't have been more proud of her eldest child, Louis. Calling him 'a really nice lovely brother,' she went on to say that the 1D star always offered to pay for his sister's trips at school. 'He always asks me, "Tell me what trips they've got, where do they want to go? Let me use my money to pay for their trips",' Johannah said. 'He's always been like that. he's not a materialistic person himself, but he likes to give people things. He spoils me and the girls and he's happiest doing that.' In January Sarah Hext revealed how Johannah and Louis supported her family when her nine-year-old son died from a rare form of cancer. Ms Hext told the Huffington Post that the 1D star and his mother changed her son's life before his death in November 2015, after Sarah and Johannah met at a charity event in 2014. Explaining that Louis and his mother created 'precious memories' with the youngster and his twin brother Spencer, who were both born with Down's Syndrome, Ms Hext revealed that the family attended events as Louis' guests and were treated to a trip to Disneyland. 'Louis and Johannah have given us precious memories with Harvey and all of our children and that is priceless, we have so many beautiful photos of Harvey to look back on in some amazing places,' Sarah told the publication. 'People don't know the real Louis, Jay has told me that when Louis suffers a bad press day he says to her "come on mum, let's make someone happy today. " That's the kind of man Louis is,' Sarah said, adding: 'Louis Tomlinson is very grounded, he is family orientated and both Louis and Jay hold a very special place in my family's hearts.'
Louis Tomlinson breaks Louis Tomlinson's ex Briana Twitter silence after mum Jungwirth shares heartfelt Johannah loses battle with tribute to his mum Johannah leukaemia dailymail.co.uk dailymail.co.uk
2016-12-10 08:32 Lisa Mcloughlin www.dailymail.co.uk
19 /100 2.6 French-Tunisian Auteur Raja Amari on Feminine Desire in ‘Foreign Body’ In a certain sense, French-Tunisian director-writer Raja Amari creates feminist thrillers, even if she may not choose to describe them that way. In her debut feature “Red Satin” (2002), a respectable widow spies on her daugher and then defies convention to become a belly dancer. The dark fairy tale “Buried Secrets” (2009) investigates the effects of seclusion on the development of a woman’s sense of self. And her latest, “Foreign Body,” sends an immigration story into unexpected byways as it explores a relationship triangle.
“All my movies are focused on female characters,” says Amari. “I like to follow them in a certain evolution and make them drift from one stage to another, while confronting them with both inner and social issues.”
Her films also notably explore gender and desire. “For me, those two themes interlace,” she notes. “Foreign Body” questions the notion of territory, boundaries and identity. Those questions also apply on an intimate level. “The body is a territory where the characters test their own limits and where they end up transgressing those limits.”
“I wanted to deal with the political and social aspect of the immigration issues from an intimate perspective, focusing on two female characters drawn into a shady relationship,” she adds.
“It was important for me to show immigrants as individuals capable of passion and desire unlike the faceless masses represented in the media. With this subject, I felt in familiar territory since I had explored it in my previous movies. It seems to me important to continue to explore the question of desire both in a realistic and fantasised way. It’s an essential element in emancipation or frustration in the Arab world today, especially when it’s related to women.”
Amari was a serious student of dance and her main characters always display a sensuous physicality.
“In “Foreign Body,” the dance scene with Samia reveals something different in her character,” she notes. “She appears more perplexing, freer. When the three characters dance together, it crystallizes the attraction between them and allows something ambiguous to escape from them.” Palestinian-French performer Hiam Abbass, the star of Amari’s “Red Satin,” reunites with her in “Foreign Body.” The film also features two younger thesps. “I saw Sarra Hannachi in a Tunisian movie and I loved her magnetism and sensuality,” says Amari. “We made some tryouts, and I found in her something like the Samia I imagined, with this rebellious and untamed side. I enjoyed working with her on the evolution of the character from an illegal immigrant to a sophisticated woman and building up her disturbing side.”
Regarding the male character, Imed, she “wanted an actor who could be both kind and threatening. And found that in Salim Kechiouche, whom she had seen in several films, including “Blue is the Warmest Color.“
For her next project, Amari says she’d like to work on a genre movie. “I always felt drawn to some genre aspects in my previous films. This time, I want to fully explore the thriller genre.”
2016-12-10 11:37 Nick Vivarelli variety.com
20 /100 20 /100 2.4 The Bachelor's Kiralee 'Kiki' Morris and boyfriend Jeremy Banks pack on the PDA in Bali She's been counting down the days before jetting off to Bali with her new boyfriend Jeremy Banks. And on Sunday, Bachelor reject Kiralee 'Kiki' Morris and Jeremy were pictured packing on the PDA during their very romantic trip. Jeremy posted a cheesy snap of he pair enjoying a heavy makeout session on a staircase in their resort. Kiki appeared in happy spirits as she excitedly took to Instagram on Sunday morning, and was spotted wearing a patterned sarong and matching crop in her snap. She captioned one snap: 'Pitchers > Pizza? #endlesssummer va cay with Bae @jembanks.' Meanwhile, Jeremy who appeared absent in Kiki's photo, sealed their vacation with a kiss in a loved-up snap captioned: 'No where else I'd rather be than with my love.' Jeremy wore a crisp white button up shirt for the snap and dark shorts with a rectangular pattern on them as he embraced his girlfriend. The muscular brunette held Kiki close with one arm and planted a kiss on her lips. Kiki was seen wearing the same outfit in Jeremy's picture, which was taken prior to the honeycomb tressed beauty's snap. The pair have been almost inseparable as seen in pictures on Instagram - with Jeremy seemingly replacing Kiki's Bachelor bestie, Noni Janur, in photos. Noni and Kiki were joined at the hip after filming stopped the Bachelor with Richie Strahan - with the pair moving in together in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Since Jeremy's appearance on Halloween Noni's frequency on Kiki's Instagram seems to have diminished substantially. What Noni makes of the relationship is yet to be confirmed - as she settles into her new home in Sydney often posting pictures exploring the east coast city alone.
2016-12-10 11:35 Aneeta Bhole www.dailymail.co.uk
21 /100 1.4 Amber Rose and Dancing With The Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy CONFIRM their romance Amber Rose and Valentin Chmerkovskiy appear to have confirmed their rumoured romance. The model, 34, who appeared on Dancing With The Stars alongside the dancing pro, 30, stepped out holding hands with the handsome Ukrainian on Friday. Heading for a date night at popular restaurant Delilah, the duo were sartorially in sync. Scroll down for video Amber showed off her killer curves in a high-neck velvet black playsuit with a preppy white collar. The form-fitting, thigh-skimming piece flaunted her enviable midriff and voluptuous hips, revealing her toned thighs. Accentuating her stature with over-the-knee boots, the blonde beauty accessorised with a slim velvet choker and square-rim glasses. And carrying a petite blush velvet clutch, the stunning mother of one showed off her natural beauty with minimal make-up. Holding onto her handsome beau's hand, the duo looked happy as they headed out for a date night. Meanwhile Val- whose brother was Amber's dance partner, looked dapper in a crisp black shirt with red sleeve detail, black trousers and coordinating red trainers. There have been rumours the two are dating since their appearance on DWTS over the summer, during which Amber danced with Val's brother Maksim. The duo have sent tongues wagging being pictured on numerous occasions, before spending Halloween together. Taking to Instagram, Amber shared a snap as they enjoyed a party in full costume, with The Dancing With The Stars pro cheekily grabbing the model's bottom. In October the duo enjoyed another dinner at Delilah's with a source telling E! News they appeared to be a couple. 'They were sitting at a big booth and it was just the two of them sitting very close together in the middle. 'As they were sitting next to each other their hands intertwined - definitely a date night,' the source continued. Amber, who shares 3-year-old Sebastian with ex-fiance Wiz Khalifa, captioned it: 'We take Halloween seriously'. When previously asked about the romance rumors, Val told ET, 'I can't control what people think. 'I live my life and I try to live it, you know, the way I want to live it.' This fall she appeared on ABC's Dancing With The Stars but was eliminated in week five. 'I'm not really good with a lot of attention,' she told E! after being voted off. 'I probably shouldn't have done this show, but whatever..... I'm just not good with a lot of eyes on me and a lot of ‘Oh, you're doing great, everything's good'.'
2016-12-10 11:29 Jessica Rach www.dailymail.co.uk
22 /100 2.3 Elle Evans dons figure-hugging bandage dress with boyfriend Matt Bellamy She became one of the most desirable women in the world after her saucy appearance in Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines video. And Elle Evans looked positively smitten with her man of one year, Matt Bellamy, as they headed out for her birthday celebrations in West Hollywood on Friday night. The 26-year-old model was every inch the blonde bombshell in a sexy skin-tight ensemble as she led her British beau to their car after dinner. Scroll down for video Clearly in the mood to celebrate, the former Playboy Playmate of the Month looked flirty as she raised an immaculately manicured finger up to her mouth. Clad in a body-hugging bandage mini-skirt, the stunner had no issue flaunting her lean pins in a pair of snakeskin open-toe heels. Her glossy man effortlessly cascaded against her icy white faux-fur shrug as she attempted to shield herself stylishly from California's cooler weather. Happy with letting the former Miss. Louisiana Teen USA hog the limelight, Matt kept it simple in an all-black outfit. With dark jeans, bomber jacket and matching shoes, the Muse front-man looked every inch the rocker. Elle and Matt started dating in April 2015 and have been inseparable ever since, enjoying several exotic holidays together over the past months. Matt was previously in a relationship with American actress Kate Hudson but split in 2014 after four years together. Despite remaining good friends now, Goldie Hawn's daughter In one of her most candid interviews to date, Kate revealed the couple 'had different visions of how [they] wanted to live [their] lives'. She said: 'Relationships ending are painful, and you can choose to carry that or you can choose to reframe it. 'If Matt and I had a great relationship, we would still be together, but we chose to move on because we had different visions of how we wanted to live our lives,' the Almost Famous star explained. '[It] doesn’t mean, though, that we can’t rebuild something that would be the best thing for the kids. […] We said, ‘We need to try to create something for the kids where they feel like they’re gaining something rather than losing something.
2016-12-10 11:29 Jabeen Waheed www.dailymail.co.uk
23 /100 2.0 Victorian dairy farmer pours out 2600 litres of milk after he was forced to drop prices A fed-up dairy farmer has filmed himself pouring thousands of litres of milk down the drain after he was forced to drop his prices below production cost. The video shows second-generation farmer George Kantarias releasing the valve on a vat in his milking shed on his northern Victoria farm. Over the next six-and-a-half minutes Mr Kantarias films 2600 litres of milk spill onto the floor until his vat his completely dry. Scroll down for video The 50-year-old posted the video to Facebook in September with a powerful message to Murray Goulburn- Australia's largest dairy processor. 'To all the Murray Goulburn directors kiss my a***,' he wrote. Mr Kantarias, like many other Australian dairy farmers, was forced to sell his product to Murray Goulburn for less than production cost. 'It was costing us 38 cents a litre to produce it and we were being paid 30 cents for it,' his wife Sharyn Kantarias told The Herald Sun . 'There were a couple of months when our milk cheque was zero.' Murray Goulburn announced in June an opening price for the 2016/17 season at $4.31 per kilogram of milk solids, including a $0.14kg repayment of a cash support package provided to farmers to see them through the 2016 financial year. The low opening price is a double blow to farmers still reeling from a cut to milk prices in April - down from $5.60 to between $4.75 and $5.00kg. A Murray Goulburn said the board and management were 'very aware' of the challenge that the new rate presented suppliers. 'As announced yesterday and communicated to our suppliers, we have commenced a targeted efficiency program, which includes a focus on cost reduction across the business,' the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia in June.
2016-12-10 11:20 Peter Devlin www.dailymail.co.uk
24 /100 3.8 Sunrise's Samantha Armytage in relationship with Channel Seven colleague Peter Fegan Despite her vivacious personality and voluptuous curves, she's been rather unlucky-in-love. But things appear to be looking bright for Samantha Armytage, with new reports claiming the Sunrise host has finally found love. The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday that the 40-year-old is in a relationship with Channel Seven reporter Peter Fegan and that 'they are taking things slowly.' Scroll down for video A source pointed out that the happy couple are in no rush to go public. 'They get along well....it has been going on for a little while now,' said the insider. 'With her busy schedule and the paps [paparazzi] constantly following her, things have been difficult.' Daily Mail Australia reached out to Channel Seven for comment. Media personality Peter has been working as a Channel Seven reporter since July 2015. He is also a writer for Rugby League Player magazine, while a previous role saw him as a cadet journalist for Northside Radio 99.3. Peter has covered various human interest-type news stories for the network, which he regularly shares to his public Facebook page. Samantha looked to be in happy spirits on Saturday as news of her rumoured romance surfaced. The television personality took to Instagram to share a beaming selfie, while gushing about a short vacation in Bowral, New South Wales. Sporting a pair of trendy sunglasses and with her blonde locks slicked back in a chic up-do, Samantha shared with her fans that she was on her way to the popular vintage store, Dirty Janes. 'Enroute to Moss-Vegas, plonked myself right in the middle of the newly re-opened @dirtyjanesbowral..amaaaazing. And yes, I shopped lots,' she wrote. Meanwhile, Samantha's love life has always been a topic of conversation in the media. Speculation this week surrounded the blonde beauty's friendship with another Channel Seven reporter, Shaun White. During a segment on Sunrise's show on Friday, the pair exchanged some friendly banter to keep viewers entertained. When Samantha and co-host Michael Usher, who was filling in for David Kochie, tossed to a special report from Shaun on property predictions for the new year, she broke into a big smile at the simple mention of his name. 'Shaun White has been looking at where prices are expected to go,' started Michael, as she turned her head toward the presenter and grinned from ear to ear. Despite her making eyes at him, Shaun replied with a head nod to both hosts, affectionately calling her 'Sammy'. But it wasn't until Samantha posted a photo of the two of them looking happy and relaxed to her Instagram on Monday, that really had people intrigued. The image taken at their work Christmas party saw Samantha write in the caption: 'This'll get them talking.' Shaun posted a similar version of the photo to his Instagram account, with the smiling duo beaming for the camera. 'That pic will start rumors!' one fan insisted in a comment. Another enthusiast went a step further and suggested the co-workers should 'Get out the Xmas party mistletoe'. Shaun immediately quelled talk of the twosome being anything more than friends, calling her his 'sista.'
2016-12-10 11:08 Kristy Johnson www.dailymail.co.uk
25 /100 3.3 Review: Zac Brown Tribute Band rocks Mulcahy's for December show (Includes first-hand account) Wantagh - On December 9, Zac Brown Tribute Band performed at Mulcahy's Pub and Concert Hall, as part of their annual holiday show. Equally soothing was "Sweet Annie" and the same holds true for "As She's Walking Away. " After "The Wind," they went on to cover "Bohemian Rhapsody. " In the second part of their show, it was great to hear newer songs such as "Beautiful Drug" and of course, "Homegrown. " Most impressive about Zac Brown Tribute Band is that they cover the actual songs that Zac Brown covers in his live concerts, which included Metallica's "Enter Sandman. " They closed with the atmospheric "Colder Weather," where they displayed their velvet harmonies, as well as "Chicken Fried" and a medley of other hits. Pete Frank nailed the lead vocals as Zac Brown, Matthew Stephens played the guitar and provided the backing vocals, while Tim Hull proved to be "all about that bass. " Mike Kedley was sensational on fiddle and banjo, while Jeremy Laursen killed the lead guitar. Taylor Smith was a great new addition to the band, where he played the keyboards. The Verdict Overall, Unlike their previous show, where they opened with "Homegrown," this time Zac Brown Tribute Band changed it up a bit by kicking off their set with "Castaway," and it was followed by "Keep Me in Mind" and the laid-back "Toes," which showcased their soaring harmonies. Front-man Pete Frank interacted well with the audience. Equally soothing was "Sweet Annie" and the same holds true for "As She's Walking Away. " After "The Wind," they went on to cover "Bohemian Rhapsody. " In the second part of their show, it was great to hear newer songs such as "Beautiful Drug" and of course, "Homegrown. "Most impressive about Zac Brown Tribute Band is that they cover the actual songs that Zac Brown covers in his live concerts, which included Metallica's "Enter Sandman. " They closed with the atmospheric "Colder Weather," where they displayed their velvet harmonies, as well as "Chicken Fried" and a medley of other hits. Pete Frank nailed the lead vocals as Zac Brown, Matthew Stephens played the guitar and provided the backing vocals, while Tim Hull proved to be "all about that bass. " Mike Kedley was sensational on fiddle and banjo, while Jeremy Laursen killed the lead guitar. Taylor Smith was a great new addition to the band, where he played the keyboards. Overall, Zac Brown Tribute Band knows to deliver each time they take the stage. They are the pride of Rochester and it is an absolute pleasure to hear them live each time they perform on Long Island. They earned five out of five stars.
2016-12-10 11:07 www.digitaljournal.com
26 /100 3.8 'Turkey submits bill strengthening Erdogan powers to parliament' Turkey on Saturday submitted a bill to parliament strengthening the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state-run TRT television reported.
A constitutional change which would see Turkey switch from a parliamentary system to executive presidency was presented to parliament after the ruling party reached an agreement with the opposition, TRT reported.
2016-12-10 11:00 www.digitaljournal.com
27 /100 2.2 Why Should We Care About Contracts? On the occasion of today's award ceremony for the Prize in Economic Sciences 2016 we take a closer look at Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström's work on contract theory.
Almost every aspect of life in modern society is regulated by contracts and yet it is an area that was neglected. Contracts help us deal with conflicting interest, thousands of transactions, and more practically speaking they help design how much we pay for particular health treatments.
The 2016 prize has been awarded to a practical, behavioural and political approach:
For more Nobel Perspectives, visit UBS Nobel Perspectives
This material originally appeared in UBS Nobel Perspectives.
2016-12-10 11:00 UBS www.forbes.com
28 /100 1.7 We Asked An Economist How Many Jobs Nuclear Power Supports A new study on Pennsylvania’s nuclear industry paints a worrisome picture of what could be lost if reactors continues to be shut down.
The new research found that Pennsylvania’s five nuclear plants account for 15,900 in-state, high paying, full-time jobs and generate $69 million in net state tax revenues each year. The reactors keep electricity prices low, reducing Pennsylvania residents’ power bills by about $788 million annually.
“Nuclear power keeps power prices lower than they would be otherwise,” Dean Murphy, an economist who coauthored the research for an economics consulting firm called The Brattle Group, told The Daily Caller. “It’d be a huge drag for the economy if the nuclear power plants closed and those prices went up. A big part of the positive effect is that the economy multiplies the benefits of cheap power.”
America currently operates 99 nuclear reactors across 61 commercially operating nuclear power plants, according to the EIA. The average plant employs between 400 and 700 high- skilled workers, has a payroll of about $40 million and contributes $470 million to the local economy, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. A pair of reactors The Daily Caller New Foundation visited in April shells out $22.8 million in tax revenue each year .
“Electricity is so ubiquitous that the impact is extremely widespread,” Murphy continued. “The aggregate effect on the economy is really big and positive. If we were to lose the plants, the economy would multiply the harm of more expensive power.”
Murphy noted that several of the plants are risking closure. Within the past two years, six states have shut down nuclear plants and dozens of other plants across the country are facing challenging economic conditions which places them at risk of imminent early retirement.
“Probably at least three of these plants are in economic distress,” Murphy concluded. “When they do close, it’s very bad not only for the people who work at the plant, but it’s bad for everybody else in the state and electric region. The region these plants supply power to is huge. Power prices would go up for everybody in the region. Even the waiter in the local restaurant would feel that impact through things like fewer hours.”
Much of the benefits Pennsylvania receives from nuclear power can be difficult to see, according to Murphy, as cheaper power mostly puts cash back in the hands of consumers. These consumers then spend the money on goods and services which create economic output.
“These nuclear power plants do a lot of good for the local economy,” Murphy told TheDCNF. “Some of these plants are threatened by the cheap power prices they created. Every single Pennsylvania ratepayer saves about $4 bucks a month in savings due to these nuclear plants, and that’s just the direct effect. That saved $4 bucks is spread throughout the rest of the economy, for example it means that ratepayers can spend more money going to restaurants, which is good for the waiter.”
Most analysts agree keeping residential electricity prices low is good for American households, especially impoverished ones. Pricey power disproportionately hurts poorer families and other lower-income groups as the poor tend to spend a higher proportion of their incomes on “basic needs” like power, so any increase in prices hits them the hardest.
“Generally, people with lower incomes pay a larger share of their income for necessities like power,” Murphy continued. “The price of power and other such necessities are typically regressive. The benefit of keeping the nuclear plants is better for poorer people than rich.”
As essential goods like electricity become more expensive, the cost of producing goods and services that use electricity increases, effectively raising the price of almost everything. The higher prices are ultimately paid for by consumers, especially the poor.
Murphy also noted that Pennsylvania’s nuclear plants have the serious environmental benefit of preventing roughly 37 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually, which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) figures value at $1.6 billion per year. The plants also prevent the emission of other pollutants. Nuclear power provides about 63 percent of America’s CO2 free power. A single nuclear reactor prevents about 3.1 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.
Murphy highlighted that if the state were to lose the nuclear power plants, they would likely be replaced by coal and natural gas, which would increase CO2 emissions. If the plants were actually replaced however, it could pose a threat to the stability of the power grid.
“Natural gas plants are much more flexible than nuclear power, as nuclear plants don’t turn on or off rapidly,” Murphy continued. “You can’t just shut a nuclear plant off, so they’re often effectively forced to produce power at a loss occasionally. Below zero bidding from power sources like wind and low average prices are hurting the nuclear industry. However, the power grid needs to have baseload power that only nuclear really provides. There’s a point beyond which nuclear plants can’t survive financially.”
Murphy’s report was prepared by the economics consulting firm The Brattle Group for various Pennsylvania institutions, including the Building and Construction Trades Council and Chamber of Commerce.
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2016-12-10 10:49 Andrew Follett dailycaller.com
29 /100 2.8 Orlando shops designate themselves 'safe places' for gays ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Orlando officials are launching a program that allows businesses to designate themselves as safe places for gays and lesbians if they feel threatened.
Orlando officials on Monday will begin distributing decals to local businesses to post in their windows identifying them as places members of the LGBTQ community can go if they feel they are in jeopardy.
The rainbow-colored decals are in the shape of a police badge and say, “Safe Place.”
The program is starting on the six-month anniversary of the massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub. Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more seriously injured in the worst mass shooting in modern U. S. history. Seattle was the first city to adopt this type of program, and Orlando is the first city to do so in the southeast.
2016-12-10 10:47 By www.washingtontimes.com
30 /100 4.0 Harry Potter fans meet up for magical night SAGINAW, MI - Some wore long ball gowns, while others sported black robes with scarlet and gold ties.
Some identified with Slytherin House, while others were proud Gryffindors.
If these terms don't mean anything to you, you're most likely a Muggle who was not at the Harry Potter Magical Holiday Ball, hosted by the Barnes and Noble store on Tittabawassee in Saginaw.
The magical night took place on Friday, Dec. 9, and featured all things Harry Potter. Cosplay was encouraged, though not mandatory. Activities included trivia, crafts, music and dancing. Harry Potter-themed drinks and food were served at the cafe, along with books and merchandise that were for sale.
The event was not exclusive to Saginaw, and took place at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide .
But for Saginaw Heritage High School and White Pine Middle School students, the event was a chance to support both their school's book fair, and their local Barnes & Noble.
According to librarian Catherine Kerns, if a student attending the ball mentioned the Heritage High School/White Pine Book Fair , the schools would receive a percentage of the sales made from those purchases.
"It is cool, it's a two-way thing," Kerns said. "My kids love to come here, and I try to give them as much business as I can. "
Kerns said that she wants to see local bookstores remain open, which is why she partners with Barnes & Noble.
Given the popularity of the Harry Potter series, Kerns saw the event as the perfect way to kick off the winter book fair, which runs until Dec. 16.
"Who doesn't like Harry Potter? " she said.
2016-12-10 10:47 Heather Khalifa www.mlive.com
31 /100 31 /100 2.2 WATCH: Mother beats child at a Joburg restaurant A report in the Fourways Review said the woman‚ who was seated in the open seating area outside the restaurant‚ had ordered a plate of pasta for the child and was attempting to force feed him.
“The boy wasn’t eating properly‚ maybe he didn’t want the food‚ and the woman became frustrated and began to smack [the boy] across the head and try to force-feed him‚” the report quoted the co-owner of the restaurant‚ Kyri Tjirkos‚ as saying‚
Nearby patrons saw this and tried to intervene‚ telling the woman that she could not do that to the boy‚ it said.
“A man sitting nearby approached her‚ and I think at that point she lost complete control. She began swearing at the people watching her‚ hitting the child more and even overturned one of the tables‚ breaking the plates that were on it.
“At this point‚ I went outside and tried to calm the man down‚ because I thought that he was making her more angry and I didn’t want the situation to get physical. Then the [shopping centre’s] security guard arrived on the scene and began comforting the young boy who was crying.”
The woman apologised to Tjirkos for the damage she had caused‚ offered to pay for it and then followed the security guard‚ who had decided to take the child outside to try and calm him‚ the Fourways Review reported.
2016-12-10 10:46 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za
32 /100 2.4 Illinois company to seek regulatory OK in FairPoint merger PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - FairPoint Communications has struggled with the loss of traditional telephone customers, labor unrest and customer service problems in northern New England. But Consolidated Communications sees an opportunity.
Consolidated Communications will begin laying out its plans for the merged company during meetings with federal and state entities that oversee and regulate its activities in coming weeks and months.
The company plans to submit documents with federal officials next week, and will file with regulators in 13 states including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont by month’s end. The filings will include some details based on initial discussions with regulators, said Jennifer Spaude, company spokeswoman.
In northern New England, regulators stung by FairPoint’s performance when it took over Verizon’s landlines will give close scrutiny to details.
FairPoint bought Verizon’s landline holdings in northern New England for $2.3 billion in 2007 and filed for bankruptcy 18 months later after losing customers because of operational and integration problems. It has continued to struggle since emerging from bankruptcy in 2011. Federal entities regulating it sought to make FairPoint stick to its promises to expand broadband and to meet customer service expectations.
The merger calls for Consolidated to buy North Carolina-based FairPoint in a deal worth $1.5 billion. The companies hope to complete the transaction this summer.
So far, details on Consolidated Communications’ long-term plans for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have been scant. But analysts see positives in the deal for both companies, especially FairPoint, which is experiencing revenue declines of 4 to 5 percent per year.
Part of Illinois-based Consolidated’s success has been placing a greater focus on business customers - with residential voice customers accounting for only 10 percent of business, compared to 32 percent for FairPoint, said Jonathan Charbonneau, an analyst at Cowen and Company.
Mergers have been common in recent years as telecommunication companies seek to increase their service footprint and expand their customer base in an era in which many traditional telephone customers are switching to cable companies or abandoning land lines in favor of cellphones.
FairPoint’s shareholders have been beating the drums for the company to be sold since the end of a strike by 1,700 workers in February 2015.
In that regard, workers and shareholders were united. There was no love lost between FairPoint management and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Some customers, like John Bouchard, also welcomed the change in ownership.
Bouchard dumped FairPoint’s broadband, which he said was unreliable, retaining FairPoint only basic telephone service at his home in Robbinston, 12 miles from the Canadian border.
“It certainly can’t hurt at this point. They might need some fresh blood in there to stir things around,” he said.
2016-12-10 10:44 By www.washingtontimes.com
33 /100 2.7 Bec Judd dotes on twin son Tom in yet ANOTHER Instagram snap Rebecca Judd never wastes an opportunity to share snaps of her newborn twins Tom and Darcy on social media. And Saturday was no different for the stunning WAG, who posted yet another photo of herself with young Tom. The wife of AFL legend Chris Judd was seen gazing lovingly into the youngster's eyes, while the newborn stared back at his mother. 'Big Tommy,' Bec captioned the snap she shared with her 589,000 Instagram followers. The post came just hours after Bec playfully pointed out little Tom's 'arm rolls' as she shared another selfie on Instagram. 'Check out the arm rolls,' wrote the 33-year-old as she pouted behind a pair of designer sunglasses while propping the sleeping infant up to the camera. Notably, the TV personality disabled the comments on both of her latest social media posts. Since welcoming Tom and Darcy in September, the brunette beauty has barely gone a day without sharing loving snaps on Instagram. Last week, she posted a photo and hinted she was having trouble telling the identical twins apart. 'I see double,' the mother-of-four wrote in the caption. Just a few days before, Bec posted a selfie featuring her and Darcy with their favourite floral headpiece filter from Snapchat. Earlier, the 33-year-old entrepreneur flaunted her trim pins in tight active wear, while cradling her newborn sons. Tom and Darcy were welcomed into the world two months ago, adding to Bec and husband Chris's brood of Oscar, five, and Billie, two.
2016-12-10 10:41 Max Margan www.dailymail.co.uk
34 /100 1.4 Retiring Ohio University president leaving job early ATHENS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio University’s president will be leaving his job more than four months before the retirement date he originally announced.
The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/2h66zBk ) reports President Roderick McDavis will leave Feb. 17 to take a job as managing principal and chief executive officer of AGB Search. The company helps universities and other higher education institutions find executives.
McDavis earlier said he would step down from the job he has held for 12 years on June 30, 2017. The university president said he wouldn’t have accepted the new job if he believed his early departure would have any negative effect on the university.
The university’s search for McDavis’ replacement began in June. Officials haven’t named any candidates yet.
The Board of Trustees president says an interim president will be named in January.
2016-12-10 10:39 By www.washingtontimes.com
35 /100 5.6 Gifts for the modern man This holiday season, I'm swapping gifts with another blogger who is a modern man for eBay's holiday gift exchange. I've partnered with eBay to create this post! Enjoy!
One of my favorite things in life is sharing my love and appreciation to another, which is why I love the holiday season. I love to find the right gifts for enhancing the recipient's life with something experiential, functional, and lasting - like a melodic vinyl that would complement the perfect wintry night with family or a pair of versatile boots that would take the owner on a memorable adventure. eBay put together a secret holiday gift exchange between me and another influencer and I've partnered with eBay to help find thoughtful gifts for the modern man in all our lives. It was such a breeze to find hot new items from brand names directly on eBay and of course take advantage of some amazing deals. I've curated 10 stylish gifts found on eBay that they are sure to love!
Crosley Two Speed Manual Turntable Deck | Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 | Nixon Time Teller Watch | Versa Watch Winder
B&O Play Beoplay S3
Steven Alan Cardigan | Kenneth Cole Chelsea Boots | Garrett Leight Venezia Sunglasses Sena iPhone 7 Wallet Case | Alice Made This Cufflinks
My favorite standout gift from this list is the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay S3 portable speaker. Its modern design will let it sit elegantly on the credenza or bedside table, while providing great sound distinctive of Bang & Olufsen's high end products. It's a no-fail gift for the modern man who appreciates elegance and quality in the details. The speaker is travel-friendly, so my influencer friend can bring a piece of home along to their worldly hotel stays. This gift was such an amazing deal on eBay, I'm already convinced to get one for myself!
RELATED: Explore more eBay gift ideas in the slideshow below
2016-12-10 10:37 AOL Staff www.aol.com
36 /100 1.6 Ridership falls on Cincinnati's new $148M streetcar service CINCINNATI (AP) - Ridership on Cincinnati’s new $148 million streetcar service is dropping but still topping expectations three months after it opened.
Daily ridership numbers show nearly 50,000 rode streetcars last month, an average of 1,700 riders a day. Both numbers are down from September and October. The service saw more than 133,000 total riders for an average of more than 4,300 riders a day in September. In October, total riders topped 95,000, an average of nearly 3,100 riders daily.
WVXU radio in Cincinnati reports the system needs about 3,000 riders a day to meet its operating budget.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports ridership overall is 53 percent above expectations.
The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority says streetcar timing has been off, so riders aren’t sure when it’ll arrive.
2016-12-10 10:34 By www.washingtontimes.com
37 /100 1.1 Sununu pledges to fight for natural gas projects CONCORD, N. H. (AP) - Incoming Republican governor Chris Sununu is pledging to put his “political capital” behind projects designed to bring more natural gas into New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Public Radio reports (http://bit.ly/2huQS3u) Sununu told business leaders Thursday he hopes to see more companies look to build natural gas pipelines in New Hampshire. He said he’ll fight for any projects that are designed with local input and would be a good deal for New Hampshire.
Businesses across New Hampshire say bringing down high energy costs should be a top priority for lawmakers. Sununu was speaking at a Business and Industry Association energy symposium.
Sununu also told the group that while renewable energy is important, it can’t be the state’s sole focus.
2016-12-10 10:32 By www.washingtontimes.com
38 /100 1.5 MUST SEE: The Pacquiao Family Christmas Decor is Unbelievable It is definitely looking a lot like Christmas at the family mansion of Manny Pacquiao.
The award-winning boxer's wife Jinkee Pacquiao is giving the world a glimpse of their winter wonderland on her Instagram. However, the festive Christmas decorations would not be complete without her usual message of faith.
Stay informed with the latest from CBN News delivered to your inbox.
2016-12-10 10:27 www.cbn.com
39 /100 39 /100 4.2 Traditional marriage must return to the heart of humanity‚ says Cape Town Declaration Saturday’s launch of the International Organisation for the Family’s Cape Town Declaration marks the beginning of a year- long campaign to obtain two million signatures.
The declaration‚ already signed by hundreds of religious‚ political‚ social and civic leaders from around the world‚ says the family is the “first and primordial community” and that marriage is “the conjugal bond of man and woman”.
This definition is not “a matter of preference or temperament or taste” but “the heart of any just social order”.
The text states that a thriving culture will firmly resist “every push to redefine marriage: to include same- sex or group bonds‚ or sexually open or temporary ones”.
The document also declares that the nature of marriage as between one man and one woman is “a truth that no government can change”.
IOF president Brian Brown‚ who was introduced at the launch by Errol Naidoo‚ of South Africa’s Family Policy Institute‚ told Breitbart News the Cape Town Declaration was a “historic step in the global fight to preserve the truth about marriage”.
He added: “Forcing the agenda of same-sex ‘marriage’ on nations by manipulation of foreign aid or the like is a deplorable practice.”
2016-12-10 10:18 Dave Chambers www.timeslive.co.za
40 /100 6.2 Layaway angel pays off more than $46K at Pa. Walmart The spirit of giving is alive and well this season.
A secret Santa spent $46,265.59 to pay off every single layaway item on hold at a Walmart store in Everett, Pa. last week, CNN reported.
Walmart store manager Ryan Kennedy told CNN he was shocked when he got a call from “Santa B” offering to pay the entire cost of the items on layaway.
"It was complete disbelief," Kennedy told CNN. "It was definitely a great gesture. I was completely shocked. "
A person close to “Santa B” dropped of the check on Wednesday. Kennedy said workers called 194 people with layaway counts to tell them they no longer owned anything on their accounts, CNN reported.
This isn’t the first time that an anonymous donor has generously paid off layoff items at Walmart.
In 2015, an anonymous donor visited two Ohio Walmarts and paid a total of more than 106,000 in layaway items.
Follow Mary Bowerman on Twitter: @MaryBowerman
2016-12-10 10:18 Mary Bowerman rssfeeds.usatoday.com
41 /100 4.0 The buzzy wellness practice Kate Middleton de- stresses with Kate Middleton is certainly no royal dunce when it comes to health— she uses a natural facial oil (because they don't give you acne , after all), and has a trick up her (designer) sleeves for curbing sugar cravings. And now her husband has revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge is an avid fan of adult coloring books.
Related: The natural face oil that Kate Middleton swears by
According to an article in Telegraph , Prince William dished about it to illustrator Johanna Basford when she was at Buckingham Palace. "I think we've just seen the coloring community flourish," she says. "And Prince William actually said that his wife likes to color in the Secret Garden , which was really sweet. "
Related: 6 tips for cutting back on sugar
Secret Garden happens to be Basford's adult coloring book, which has sold over 1 million copies. "I think people are just craving a digital detox ," she said of the wellness trend that fans say quiets your mind and puts you in a relaxed, meditative state.
Related: The beginner's guide to cutting out sugar
The practice is known to activate the creative part of your brain and welcome inward observations as it shuts off the processing part (which is typically on overdrive all day). Sounds divine—we'd be happy to do tea time (with coloring books) at the palace anytime.
Related: Kate Middleton's royal-approved recipe for curbing sugar cravings
Related: Kate Middleton's style transformation
184 PHOTOS
Kate Middleton Style Transformation
See Gallery
Kate Middleton Style Transformation
1985
1985: A 3 year-old Kate wearing bright stripes.
Photo: Middleton Family/WireImage
1987
1987: An adorable Kate smiles at the camera, age five.
Photo: Middleton Family/WireImage c.1989 c.1989: Kate with sister Pippa and Father Michael in Jerash, Jordan. The Middleton Family moved to Amman, Jordan for two and a half years.
Photo: Middleton Family/WireImage
March 2005
March 2005: Kate skis in the Klosters with William and family.
Photo: Antony Jones/Brendan Bierne/UK Press via Getty Images
June 2005
June 2005: Kate attends the wedding of a friend, wearing a lace-patterned black and white skirt with a complimentary jacket and fascinator.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
June 2005 June 2005: Kate at her graduation from St. Andrews, where she met Prince William.
Photo: Michael Dunlea/AFP/Getty Images
June 2005
June 2005: Kate Middleton and Prince William on the day of their graduation ceremony at St. Andrews University.
Photo: Middleton Family/Clarence House via GettyImages
June 2005
June 2005: A casual Kate out and about with her father, graduation weekend.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
August 2005
August 2005: Kate, dressed in a casual sweater with a brown jacket, wore her hair up for the Gatcombe Horse Trials.
Photo: Anwar Hussein/WireImage
November 2005
November 2005: Kate and her mother, Carole Middleton, attended the Spirit of Christmas Shopping Festival in London, Kate wearing jeans and a light blue blazer.
Photo: Antony Jones/Brendan Bierne/UK Press
March 2006
March 2006: Kate wore flat boots, a long coat and Russian-style fur hat at the Cheltenham Festival with her sister Pippa.
Photo: Tim Graham/Getty Images
March 2006
March 2006: Wills made Kate laugh after she and her sister watched him play in a field game at Eton College.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
May 2006
May 2006: Kate looked lovely in a long cream coat and fancy fascinator at a friend's wedding.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
June 2006
June 2006: Kate attended the Boodles Boxing Ball, dressed in bright blue to support the sports charity Sparks.
Photo: Dominic O'Neill/Photoshot/Getty Images
June 2006
June 2006: Kate wore a floral dress and pink jacket to a store opening, letting her bangs fall to a fringe.
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
June 2006
June 2006: Kate wore red and white polka dots to the Chakravarty Polo match, completing the look with strappy wedges and classic sunglasses.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
June 2006
June 2006: Kate dances with a friend at a pre-Wimbledon party, dressed in a dark floral dress.
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
June 2006
June 2006: Kate wore one of her favorite silhouettes, a simple wrap dress, for a Polo match.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
July 2006
July 2006: Dressed in casual summer whites, Kate attended the Rundle Cup Day with Chelsy Davy (Prince Harry's former girlfriend) and William's cousin Zara Phillips.
Photo: Antony Jones/UK Press
July 2006
July 2006: Kate rocked white jeans and a simple cardigan at the Beaufort Polo Club.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
December 2006
December 2006: Kate wore a red Armani coat to the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
January 2007
January 2007: Kate wore this casual black and white patterned dress, arriving home from work. Photo: FilmMagic/Getty Images
February 2007
February 2007: Showing off some not-often-seen skin, the now Duchess was out on the town with friends.
Photo: FilmMagic/Getty Images
February 2007
February 2007: Seen leaving the venue Boujis, Kate looked classic in a shimmering black jacket.
Photo: Niki Nikolova/FilmMagic
March 2007
March 2007: Back to her classic, almost professional, duds, Kate wore a matching deep green skirt and coat to the Cheltenham Festival.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
March 2007
March 2007: For the next day of the festival, Kate went for a mix of blues and browns, wrapping it up with a pretty scarf and beret.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
March 2007
March 2007: Kate and Pippa watched William play rugby in casual jeans and boots.
Photo: Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty Images
April 2007
April 2007: Kate wore a 60s-inspired dress out and about in London.
Photo: Mark Milan/FilmMagic
May 2007
May 2007: Kate wore a sweater and pencil skirt with boots to the Badminton Horse Trials, mastering that transitional time when Spring has a chill in the air.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
May 2007
May 2007: The Middleton sisters looked lovely at a book launch party in London.
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images May 2007
May 2007: Kate smiles in a casual top and jeans in London.
Photo: Mel Bouzad/FilmMagic
July 2007
July 2007: Kate attended the Concert for Diana in London, wearing a white trench and black heeled boots.
Photo: Antony Jones/UK Press
July 2007
July 2007: Looking nautical in stripes and wedges, Kate was spotted in London.
Photo: Mark Milan/FilmMagic
July 2007
July 2007: Sporty-chic Kate took part in a training session with the Sisterhood Cross Channel rowing team.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
July 2007
July 2007: Wearing a vest over long sleeves, Kate and the rowing team practice for the Charity Boat Challenge.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
November 2007
November 2007: Kate attended another book launch, dressed in a simple cap-sleeved dress.
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
January 2008
January 2008: Kate attended an afterparty following the opening night of Afrika Afrika, wearing an animal print dress.
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
March 2008
March 2008: We love that Kate paired navy blue with black -- a look that the fashion-savvy know is super chic, but many would be afraid to do.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press April 2008
April 2008: Kate with Prince William after his graduation, now a Royal Air Force pilot, wearing a pretty peacoat.
Photo: MICHAEL DUNLEA/AFP/Getty Images
May 2008
May 2008: Kate in her go-to casual look: jeans and a jacket.
Photo: Antony Jones/UK Press
June 2008
June 2008: Kate attended the Most Noble Order of the Garter service, standing with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in contrasting black and white.
Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
June 2008
June 2008: Always there to support, Kate watched Wills and Harry play in a charity polo match.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press
June 2008
June 2008: Kate wore a pretty white Issa sundress with a cardigan to the Wimbledon tennis championships.
Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
July 2008
July 2008: Kate looked lovely at Lady Rose Windsor's wedding, wearing a pop of color and print with black accessories.
Photo: Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty Images
August 2008
August 2008: Kate channeled the '60s in this mod-inspired dress while out in London.
Photo: Mark Milan/FilmMagic
September 2008
September 2008: Kate attended the Day-Glo Midnight Roller Disco in London, supporting an Oxford charity.
Photo: Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty Images
June 2009 June 2009: Kate wore skinny jeans and a leather jacket to a charity Polo match in which Prince William and Harry were playing.
Photo: Anwar Hussein/WireImage
August 2009
August 2009: Kate wore a stunning blue patterned Jane Troughton coat to a friend's wedding, paired with a Jane Corbett fascinator and black court shoes.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
July 2010
July 2010: Kate chose a belted teal sundress and leather bag for the Chakravarty Cup Polo Match.
Photo: Samir Hussein/Getty Images
October 2010
October 2010: Kate and Wills attend a friend's wedding, Kate wearing a bright silk dress with a black jacket and accessories.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
November 2010
November 2010: A royal engagement! Kate's navy Issa dress from her engagement photo is one of the most sought-after dresses she's worn.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
December 2010
December 2010: The couple attended a Christmas "Spectacular," Kate dressed in contrasting black and white with a bold necklace.
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
November 2010
November 2010: For Kate and William's official engagement photos, she chose a white Reiss dress. The couple looked lovely and happy as can be!
Photo: Mario Testino
February 2011
February 2011: Kate wore all shades of neutral to launch a new RNLI lifeboat in the chilly February weather.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage February 2011
February 2011: Kate and William visit their Alma Mater, St. Andrews University, for its 600th anniversary celebrations.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
March 2011
March 2011: Kate wore a flared neutral trench coat while visiting Northern Ireland.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
April 2011
April 2011: The dashing couple matched in navy blue suits while visiting an athletic track in Darwen, England.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
April 2011
April 2011: Here comes the almost-bride... Kate smiled for the camera as she arrived at the Goring Hotel with her mom and sister the day before her wedding. She looked stunning in a patterned Issa dress and L. K. Bennett wedges.
Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage
April 2011
April 2011: The blushing bride steps out of Westminster Abbey, stunning in her Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen gown.
Photo: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images
April 2011
April 2011: The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to cheers from the crowd.
Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage
April 2011
April 2011: Kate leaving Clarence House to attend the evening celebrations following her wedding to Prince William, in a pretty satin dress with an embellished belt showing off her tiny waist.
Photo: JOHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty Images
April 2011
April 2011: Kate and William headed out for their honeymoon the day after their wedding, Kate dressed in a simple belted blue dress and her L. K. Bennett wedges.
Photo: John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images
May 2011
May 2011: The Duchess met Michelle Obama in Buckingham Palace, wearing a cap-sleeved neutral Reiss dress.
Photo: TOBY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images
June 2011
June 2011: Kate attended Derby Day, everyone dressed to the nines. The Duchess was in a white Reiss dress and beige fascinator.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
June 2011
June 2011: Kate attended the 10th Annual ARK Gala Dinner in a stunning floor-length embellished Jenny Packham gown.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
June 2011
June 2011: Kate and her sister Pippa attend a friend's wedding, both dressed in black and white patterned dresses and matching court shoes.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
June 2011
June 2011: Kate and William were the picture of elegance at the 2011 Trooping the Colour ceremony for the Queen's birthday.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
June 2011
June 2011: Kate wore her Jane Troughton cornflower blue brocade coat to the church service celebrating the 90th birthday of Prince Philip.
Photo: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
June 2011
June 2011: Kate and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, wearing pretty coats to the Order of the Garter Service.
Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AFP/Getty Images
June 2011 June 2011: Kate wore this bold Alexander McQueen military-style coat while visiting army Barracks in Windsor.
Photo: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
June 2011
June 2011: Kate wore a lace Erdem shift dress and nude L. K. Bennett heels while attending the wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in Canada.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
July 2011
July 2011: Kate looks over her shoulder as she and Wills attend Canada Day celebrations in Ottowa. She was wearing a white Reiss dress with bold red accents in her fascinator and heels.
Photo: Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: Kate was a bronzed beauty in this long-sleeved, purple Issa dress on the royal couple's Canada tour.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
July 2011
July 2011: Kate wore this grey shift dress while in Canada, with a pointed collar and cuffed sleeves.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
July 2011
July 2011: On day 4 of their Canada visit, Kate was seen in a brilliant blue Erdem dress with lace detailing on the bodice.
Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage
July 2011
July 2011: Kate wore this simple white shift during their Canada visit, carrying her favorite L. K. Bennett "Natalie" clutch.
Photo: ROGERIO BARBOSA/AFP/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: The newlyweds are cute and casual, in a rare embrace (public, at least!) after taking part in a dragon boat race.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage July 2011
July 2011: Kate and Wills smile at one another, the Duchess dressed in Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen on their 5th day in Canada.
Photo: Ian Vogler - Pool/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: Kate looked cool and casual in boat shoes and jeans.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
July 2011
July 2011: The Duke and Duchess boarded a Canadian Airforce jet, Kate wearing J. Brand skinny jeans and L. K. Bennett slingback wedges.
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: Kate looked lovely in this canary yellow Jenny Packham dress, but battled with the wind at Calgary International Airport.
Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage
July 2011
July 2011: The Duke and Duchess arrived in Los Angeles, Kate in a bright green dress by one of our favorite designers, Diane von Furstenberg.
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: Kate wore this grey shift by London-based designer Roksanda Ilincic while in Los Angeles.
Photo: Lionel Hahn - WPA Pool/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: Kate and Wills attended the BAFTA Awards, Kate showing off a tiny waist in this Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen floor length gown.
Photo: Mark Large - Pool/Getty Images
July 2011
July 2011: Kate in Santa Barbara, in a floral Jenny Packham dress.
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images July 2011
July 2011: Kate and Wills are back in the U. K., the Duchess wearing a beige v-neck dress for the opening of the state rooms in Buckingham Palace.
Photo: John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images
August 2011
August 2011: The Duke and Duchess visited Birmingham, Kate wearing Alexander McQueen.
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
September 2011
September 2011: Kate looked lovely in Amanda Wakeley as she and William visited the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
October 2011
October 2011: A beautiful duo: Kate wore this crimson Beulah London gown, adding some vibrance to Fall in London.
Photo: Theodore Wood via Getty Images
November 2011
November 2011: Kate spoke with dinner guests at a reception at St. James Palace, wearing a silver one-shouldered gown.
Photo: LEFTERIS PITARAKIS/AFP/Getty Images
December 2011
December 2011: Prince William, Kate and Prince Harry arrive at the Imperial War Museum, all dressed in their black-tie best.
Photo: Rota/Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
December 2011
December 2011: Just before the holidays, the Duke and Duchess visited a homeless charity, Kate in a simple Ralph Lauren turtleneck dress.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
December 2011
December 2011: The royal family attended a Christmas Day service, all in chic jackets and boots as they arrived together. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
January 2012
January 2012: Attending the premiere of War Horse in the UK, Kate wore a lace Temperley London gown.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
February 2012
February 2012: Kate visited the National Portrait Gallery in a belted grey jacket with a wide collar.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
February 2012
February 2012: Kate wore this brown Hobbs coat to visit Liverpool, pairing it with black stockings and pumps.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
February 2011
February 2011: Kate visited schools in Oxford, wearing a flared, bird-print Orla Kiely dress.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
March 2012
March 2012: Kate wore this slightly distressed tweed Missoni coat to tea with the Queen and Camilla.
Photo: Jeff Spicer - WPA Pool/Getty Images
March 2012
March 2012: Kate wore this peplum skirt suit by L. K. Bennett and a James Lock hat during a visit to Leicester, England.
Photo: Indigo/Getty Images
March 2012
March 2012: Kate wore an Orla Kiely dress for a visit in South London.
Photo: MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images
March 2012
March 2012: Kate looked cute and casual in coral skinny jeans while playing hockey with the Olympic team. Photo: Chris Jackson - WPA Pool /Getty Images
March 2012
March 2012: It was St. Patrick's Day, and Kate looked gorgeous in green, a belted Emilia Wickstead dress.
Photo: Chris Jackson/AFP/Getty Images
March 2012
March 2012: The Duchess is a hard worker! Helping to plant a tree, Kate still looked totally glam in a vibrant blue Reiss dress.
Photo: DAVID CRUMP/AFP/Getty Images
April 2012
In one of our favorite looks, Kate had the embellishment on the neckline of this Matthew Williamson dress added just for her -- and she looked gorgeous.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
May 2012
Kate shows a little leg in this sleek Roland Mouret gown.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
May 2012
Attending an Olympic Concert, Kate dominated the red carpet in a lace-back Jenny Packham gown.
(Photo via Getty)
May 2012
Ok, so maybe this photo is more about the puppy-love than the dress, but the Duchess still looks chic, even while playing with her and Wills' pup, Lupo!
(Photo via Getty)
May 2012
Kate is pretty in pink at the Queen's Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, wearing an Emilia Wickstead dress and classic nude heels.
(Photo via Getty)
June 2012
Kate wore a vibrant red Alexander McQueen dress, carrying a clutch by the same designer and sporting her favorite L. K. Bennett heels during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. (Photo via Getty)
June 2012
The Diamond Jubliee continues, and Kate is seen in a nude lace Alexander McQueen dress with a Jane Taylor fascinator.
(Photo via Getty)
June 2012
Kate waved from a carriage during the Trooping the Colour ceremony, wearing one of her favorite designers, Erdem.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
June 2012
Kate wore wellies to a polo match, with casual jeans and her pooch Lupo by her side.
(Photo via Getty)
June 2012
Time for the Order of the Garter, and while most members of the royal family were in pale hues, Kate's Alexander McQueen stole the show.
(Photo via Getty)
July 2012
Kate payed homage to Scotland with her clutch while she watched as Prince William was installed as a Knight of the Thistle in Edinburgh.
(Photo via Getty)
July 2012
Kate looked chic in white at Wimbledon, carrying a fun animal print clutch.
(Photo via Getty)
July 2012
Kate looked vibrant in Stella McCartney while visiting the National Portrait Gallery.
(Photo via Getty)
July 2012
Our three favorite royals wait to receive the Olympic Torch at Buckingham Palace on it's route around Britain to the Olympic Stadium. (Photo via Getty)
July 2012
Kate and William visited Bacon's College with Prince Harry, Kate dressed in a grey and white checked dress.
(Photo via Getty)
July 2012
Kate sparkled in this classic drape dress by Roksanda Ilincic.
(Photo via NBC/Getty)
July 2012
The Olympics took London by storm, and the young royals weren't going to miss it. Kate sported UK colors in this striped top and navy jeans.
(Photo via Getty)
August 2012
Wills and Kate celebrate a big win for the UK during the Olympics.
(Photo via Getty)
August 2012
Kate attends the 10th day of the Olympics in a zipped-up windbreaker for the sailing events.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
Kate looked chic and professional at the Paralympics Day 4 medal ceremony.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
September 2012
Kate and William kicked off the 2012 Diamond Jubilee tour in Singapore, the Duchess wearing a vibrant dress by Prabal Gurung.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
September 2012
On day 2, Kate wore this sheer Raoul dress and nude pumps. (Photo via WireImage/Getty)
September 2012
She also wore a lovely Alexander McQueen skirt and jacket with Stuart Weitzman wedges.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
Kate looked gorgeous in a floral Erdem dress during the British Gala reception.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
September 2012
On Day 4, Kate and William visited a Mosque, respectfully removing their shoes, Kate wore a headscarf and looked lovely in white.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
While in Malaysia, Kate wore an ice blue lace Temperley London dress, with her hair pulled back in a pretty updo.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
Kate wore a pale teal dress to visit the Memorial Cemetery in Singapore, looking back thoughtfully as she walked beside her husband.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
September 2012
Kate wore this sparkling Alexander McQueen to a dinner with Malaysia's Head of State.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
The casual duo cross a bridge at a Rainforest Research center in Malaysia.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
September 2012
On day 6, Kate and Wills arrived at the Solomon Islands, Kate dressed in a bright Jonathan Saunders dress.
(Photo via Getty) September 2012
This yellow Jaeger shirtdress was light, bright and cool for the warm island weather.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
September 2012
The Duke and Duchess smiled in traditional Island clothing as they visited the Governor General's house.
(Photo via Getty)
September 2012
The royal couple boarded a plane, Kate wearing a pale yellow eyelet dress and Stuart Weitzman wedges.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
September 2012
Kate prepared to dance with traditional dancers, in a much cooler grass skirt than we've ever seen.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
September 2012
Kate wore this navy eyelet Mulberry dress with traditional adornments during their visit, with her hair in natural waves.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
October 2012
Back in the UK, Kate and Wills attend the official launch of the new Football Centre, the Duchess wearing a Reiss coat.
(Photo via Getty)
October 2012
Kate bends down to receive flowers from an adorable two-year-old, looking lovely in Alexander McQueen.
(Photo via Getty)
October 2012
Kate attended a royal reception for team Great Britain's Olympic and Paralympic athletes, wearing a black floral dress with sheer sleeves. (Photo via Getty)
November 2012
Kate dons her lace Temperley London gown once more, this time adding a pop of red with her Alexander McQueen clutch.
(Photo via Getty)
November 2012
Kate was glowing in an emerald green Mulberry dress for an opening at the Natural History Museum.
(Photo via Getty)
November 2012
Kate wore this MaxMara Studio coat over a leopard-print dress for her and William's first visit to Cambridge.
(Photo via UK Press/Getty)
November 2012
Kate played hockey in Alexander McQueen while visiting St. Andrews University.
(Photo via Getty)
December 2012
Kate left the hospital, after being admitted for severe morning sickness, in a navy coat by Diane von Furstenberg.
(Photo via Getty)
January 2013
Kate looks on in a pretty Whistles dress after viewing her first official portrait.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
February 2013
Kate showed off her baby bump in a patterned MaxMara dress and simple pumps during a visit to Hope House.
(Photo via Getty)
March 2013
Kate visited Grimsby in a gorgeous brown Hobbs coat, with her baby bump just starting to show.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty) March 2013
Kate attended the fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival in a gorgeous peach wool coat by Joseph.
(Photo via Getty)
March 2013
The Duchess of Cambridge attended the St Patrick's Day Parade at Mons Barracks in the same gorgeous green Emilia Wickstead coat of the previous year.
(Photo via Getty)
March 2013
Kate Middleton wore this black Topshop dress as she visited the headquarters of Child Bereavement UK.
(Photo via Getty)
March 2013
Dressed in a pretty white Redgrave Goat collarless coat over a dress from Topshop, Kate visited the headquarters of Child Bereavement UK.
(Photo via Getty)
March 2013
Kate visits the Baker Street Underground Station in this teal Malene Birger coat, and true to royal style: a pretty black fascinator.
(Photo via Getty)
March 2013
Kate visited the Great Tower Scout camp, keeping warm in green rain boots, a green army jacket and a knit crochet hat.
(Photo via Getty)
April 2013
During a visit to Scotland, Kate and Wills met well wishers, played some ping pong, field hockey and basketball while she wore this tartan coat by British brand moloh.
(Photo via Getty)
April 2013
Kate donned her red Armani coat, as seen on her in 2006, for the visit to Scotland. (Photo via AFP/Getty)
April 2013
Kate attended the National Review of the Queen's Scouts, wearing a mint green Mulberry Coat, Whiteley fascinator and her L. K. Bennett pumps. As you can see, the Duchess finally popped and her baby bump was fully visible.
(Photo via Getty)
April 2013
Kate visited a primary school in a pretty Erdem floral dress.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
April 2013
Kate attended an event at the National Portrait Gallery, wearing a '50s-inspired, powder blue Emilia Wickstead dress and grey suede pumps.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
April 2013
Kate visited the Harry Potter sets at Warner Bros with William and Harry, wearing in a polka-dot dress by Topshop.
(Photo via Getty)
April 2013
Kate visited Naomi House on the day of her wedding anniversary, wearing a peach coat by Tara Jarmon.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
May 2013
Kate was bold and bright at this year's Garden Party, wearing a bespoke version of the Marella coat by Emilia Wickstead.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
June 2013
Kate looked positively lovely at the Queen's Coronation service in one of her favorite designers, Jenny Packham, a light peach, almost nude lace empire-waisted dress.
(Photo via Getty)
June 2013
Kate was glowing as she named a cruise ship in a printed Hobbs coat. (Photo via Getty)
June 2013
For her last official appearance before giving birth, the Duchess chose pale pink Alexander McQueen at the 2013 Trooping the Colour.
(Photo via UK Press/Getty)
July 2013
Kate wore a bespoke Jenny Packham blue polka dotted dress when she presented her son to the world, and she looked lovely.
(Photo via FilmMagic/Getty)
July 2013
When Will and Kate took off to go visit her parents in Bucklebury for the first few weeks after George's birth, she wore a dress by Seraphine perfect for new moms.
(Photo via Rex USA)
July 2013
Kate definitely had a new mom glow about her when she left the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital.
(Photo via Getty)
August 2013
Kate and William pose with Prince George for the family's first official portraits at her family's home.
(Photo via Michael Middleton)
August 2013
Kate wore another Seraphine knot-front dress for the photo while William was casual in a gingham button down. And in this photo, both the Middletons' family dog and Lupo made the cut! (Photo via Getty)
September 2013
Kate and William attended a gala for the Tusk Trust, Kate glittering in Jenny Packham.
(Photo via Getty)
August 2013
Kate joined William out and about in Anglesey, wearing a Zara top, Paige denim jeans and a Ralph Lauren jacket. (Photo via Splash News)
October 2013
Kate attended the SportsAid Athlete Workshop just a few months after having Prince George. She wore a pre-pregnancy outfit: her J. Brand skinny jeans, Ralph Lauren striped top, navy Smythe blazer and Stuart Weitzman wedges.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
October 2013
Kate chose Alexander McQueen for Prince George's Christening.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
October 2013
Kate attended a charity gala the following day, wearing an elegant navy Jenny Packham gown.
(Photo via Getty)
November 2013
In honor of Poppy Day, William and Kate stepped out in London -- Kate wearing her long scarlet L. K. Bennett coat.
(Photo via AFP/Getty)
November 2013
Kate wore a pretty black Temperley coat to honor Remembrance Day in London, wearing her hair in ringlets.
(Photo via Getty)
November 2013
Kate recycled an Orla Kiely dress and her Aquatalia boots for a charity visit with William.
(Photo via WireImage/Getty)
November 2013
Kate looked lovely in London, wearing an Orla Kiely skirt and MaxMara coat as she received flowers from a young girl.
(Photo via Getty)
November 2013
Kate attended the SportsBall, donning a laser-cut, black lace Temperley London cocktail dress, paired with her Jimmy Choo heels and Alexander McQueen clutch. (Photo via WireImage/Getty)
July 2015
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attends day nine of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at Wimbledon on July 8, 2015 in London, England.
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2016-12-10 10:18 AOL Staff www.aol.com
42 /100 4.0 Cuomo: Second Avenue subway could open Jan. 1 NEW YORK (AP) - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the long-delayed Second Avenue subway will open early in the New Year.
The Democratic Cuomo tweeted the remark after surveying the new East Side subway line Friday.
He said: “Good news: the progress is encouraging.” He said he was “cautiously optimistic” about hitting a deadline of Jan. 1.
Construction on the Second Avenue line began in 2007. Under the first phase of the project, trains will run from 63rd Street to 96th Street.
The second phase will extend the line up to 125th Street. WCBS-TV (http://cbsloc.al/2glQpzN ) reports the agency says it will be delayed beyond 2019. 2016-12-10 10:15 By www.washingtontimes.com
43 /100 3.3 Vijay reaps reward for clearer mindset By Sudipto Ganguly MUMBAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Murali Vijay's technique had been questioned in the run-up to the fourth test after the India opener got out three times during the series to short- pitched balls from the England fast bowlers. The 32-year-old showed he had worked out the problem, however, with a fine 136 at the Wankhede Stadium. The touring side dished up a number of bouncers to him but Vijay swayed away from most of them while dropping his wrists on the way to his eighth test century. "I did think about it because I was playing a lot of those balls which I should have left alone and lot of other factors which I don't want to reveal at this moment," Vijay told reporters on Saturday. "My basic game plan was to back my instinct and play the way I want to play. " Vijay started the five-match series with a century in the first innings of the opening test at Rajkot but could only manage 66 runs in his next five innings. "I would like to rate this hundred highly because I started off well in this series but couldn't do well in couple of matches," he said. "I couldn't play the way I wanted to play, I was getting out too early. Here I came out in a much clearer mindset. " His knock was studded with 10 fours and three sixes against the English spinners. "Actually my game plan is to attack the spinners because I don't want them to settle in one particular area where they find it comfortable," he said. "I just wanted to use my feet and use the depth of the crease and play according to my game plan and it came out pretty well I guess. " Captain Virat Kohli's unbeaten 147 ensured the hosts, who lead the series 2-0, were already 51 runs ahead in the first innings on a pitch assisting the spinners. All 10 England wickets in the first innings went to spinners with Ravichandran Ashwin picking up six and left-armer Ravindra Jadeja taking the remaining four. "Any lead is gold on this wicket, and so we think that we are definitely in a very strong position at the moment," said Vijay. "During tea, we decided that we need to get as close to their target as possible but now the way Virat and Jayant (Yadav) are batting, I think we are in a pretty good position to dictate terms. " (Editing by Ed Osmond)
2016-12-10 10:09 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
44 /100 1.3 Raggle the rescue terrier is the star of the show as she comes out of retirement for a festive photoshoot So much for not being able to teach an old dog new tricks..... At the grand old age of 16, Raggle the terrier showed a couple of keen young whipper snappers the poise it takes to be a canine model when she came out of retirement for a fun festive photo-shoot. So relaxed was the rescue dog adopted by Peter Thorpe, a commercial photographer with a studio in Bristol, and his wife Julie, that she even slotted in a sneaky snooze on the set while adjustments were made to the scenery. Then it was the turn of the young hopefuls to don the red Christmas bobble hat and recreate her pose of a pooch peeking up through a crack in a frozen pond after an imagined sledging mishap. Mazey, a two-year-old Jack Russell, nearly didn’t measure up - so, as our behind-the- scenes pictures show, her owner Charlotte Randall had to lie down beneath the set and lend a helping hand. Miss Randall, 32, a beauty therapist, from Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, who was at the shoot with her fiancée Karl Wakefield, 37, a builder, said: ‘She was a little bit too small, bless her, so I had to get underneath to push her up a bit. ‘It took about an hour to do her shot - and there were lots of treats being given out to keep her in place and get her to look in the right direction too. ‘It was good fun and I think Mazey enjoyed it as she likes being held. She was quite tired at the end of it and slept all the way home. I’m really pleased with the end result - she looks brilliant.’ Next up was Lenny, an 11-month-old ‘mixture’ who began life living as a stray on the streets of Cyprus and was found a loving home in England at the age of five months via a rescue centre. His owner Alix Hayhurst, 28, of Chiswick, west London, who runs a video marketing company with her partner Lucas Nicholson, 27, said: ‘Lenny isn’t keen on long journeys, so that was the worst bit for him. ‘It was great fun working with Peter, but Lennny was a bit like, What is going on? It was his first proper photo shoot, after all. ‘Everyone always says Lenny is very photogenic so we’re hoping he could have a career as canine model or actor one day. He already has his own Instagram page called ‘I’m still Lenny from the block’ where he has 1,500 followers.’ Both pets were given the chance to have their photographs taken and turned into Christmas cards for their owners by Mr Thorpe after winning a competition run by the publishers of a new book of his work called ‘Bark! The Herald Angels Sing’. It tells the story of how he began a Christmas tradition of taking amusing pictures of his dogs for greeting cards back in 1990. It started with his previous pet Paddy, who wore antlers and red nose for a card which Mr Thorpe sent to his clients. Paddy went on to be a fairy on top of the Christmas tree and a choirboy. Following his death in 2002 at the age of 17, Raggle became the star of the cards, which were featured in the Daily Mail two Christmases ago. That year, in what was thought would be her last shoot before retirement due to old age, Raggle became a mouse sitting beside a giant mousetrap gazing at the Christmas pudding bait. But she made a surprise comeback last year as a Santa being winched to safety after getting stuck in a chimney. This year’s shots of her, taken to show what the lucky competition winners had to live up to, effortlessly proved yet again her lasting pedigree as a top model. *’Bark! The Herald Angels Sing’, published by Countryman Press, is on sale now priced £9.99.
2016-12-10 10:02 David Wilkes www.dailymail.co.uk
45 /100 0.9 Party-goers flood the streets of Wollongong for the annual Santa Pub Crawl Christmas Day is still weeks off, but it hasn't deterred hundreds of revellers from embracing the Christmas spirit and celebrating the holiday early. Hundreds of party-goers took to the streets in their most festive attire on Saturday for the annual Wollongong Santa Pub Crawl. Pleasure-seekers dressed up as everything and anything Christmas related for the event, which is one of the biggest Santa pub crawls in Australia. While some revellers appeared a little worse for wear, all were pictured in high spirits. Men and women donned their best Santa Claus, Mrs Claus and elf outfits for the notoriously loose event. But some costumes were somewhat more ambiguous. One particularly well dressed woman is seen with a cider can in one hand while enthusiastically posing for the camera alongside her friend. Wearing a jewel encrusted bra, wings and loosely flowing skirt, she appears to be dressed as an angel. She and her brunette friend can be seen cuddling up to each other and striking a string of glamorous poses. But it was when the two girls decided to come in for a kiss on the lips, their antics caught the attention of nearby party-goers, who appear to be enthusiastically watching the girls' show. Other women were also spotted taking advantage of their creativity and dressing as something other than Santa Claus. Three blonde women pictured side-by-side all decided to dress in the exact same snow-flake costume. With their outfits matching right down to the tutus, jewellery and snow-flake shaped facial glitter, the girls appear extremely prepared for the festive occasion. It seems glitter was the order of the day, as another blonde pictured with her brunette friend, can also be seen doused in the decorative sparkles. Eagerly showing their affection for one another, the two girls are seen leaning in for a friendly kiss on the lips. Both women and men took advantage of the warm weather, as there was plenty of skin on show for the event. The Christmas spirit also appeared to inspire some revellers' affections for one another to grow, as public displays of effection were snapped on camera. Two loved-up party-goers were seen taking time out for a passionate kiss up against a wall during the day's events. With a stack of beverages in one hand, the Santa hat- wearing man appears to be enjoying the lust-filled moment. Regardless of the debauchery, the day appeared to be a merry one for the Wollongong crew.
2016-12-10 10:02 Kate Darvall www.dailymail.co.uk
46 /100 3.8 #Hashtag Lunchbag looks to distribute 1,000 lunches to homeless in holiday effort DETROIT -- A social media movement dedicated to helping feed the homeless is giving a little extra to Detroiters in need this holiday season.
#Hashtag Lunchbag Detroit is an organization that stemmed from the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Living through Giving Foundation, which promotes giving back and paying good deeds forward through social media.
The group made its way to Detroit organization in 2014, looking to "end world hunger one lunch bag at a time. " From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 17, the organization will host a holiday packing and distribution event inside the One Woodward Detroit building, which was purchased by Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Detroit real estate team in 2012 and currently holds some of his Quicken Loans and Rock Connections operations.
This year's goal is to package and distribute 1,000 lunches, according to Brittni Brown who is part of the grassroots effort in Detroit.
Lunch bags contain cold sandwiches, water, fruit and positive messages.
Across 22 cities in the U. S. and Canada, volunteers have served nearly 20,000 meals through the program. In Detroit alone, more than 5,000 people were fed in the summer of 2014.
From March through November, events were held every last Sunday of the month at Marygrove College in Detroit.
Volunteers aim to hit areas including Downtown Detroit, the Cass Corridor and the Highland Park-area.
"We have a list of different shelters we call ahead to see how many people are there," Brown said. "There are people who do their own thing and go to Southwest Detroit, or may know someone or a family to help. "
Their goal is to reach 500 volunteers for this holiday event.
Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Joshua Kennedy, community coordinator, at 313-812-8253 or [email protected].
2016-12-10 10:00 Dana Afana www.mlive.com
47 /100 5.6 ‘Amélie’ musical's creators bring to the stage a ‘love letter to imagination’ Amélie Poulain sees the world as no one else does.
Her imagination is a fun-house mirror that magnifies the oddities, intensifies the colors and warps every random detail of her environs in Paris’ Montmartre.
Audiences experience the 2001 French film “Amélie” through her eyes, and much goes unexplained because the title character is a young woman of very few words. But Amélie sees magic everywhere, and that seems rather wonderful.
It works well on film — and was extraordinarily well received by audiences — because director Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses movie technology in all sorts of playful ways and because Audrey Tautou’s mischievous half-smile, seen in close-up, wordlessly conveys volumes. But try translating all of that into a stage musical. That’s the doozy of a challenge embraced by the makers of “Amelie, A New Musical,” which opens Friday at the Ahmanson Theatre and plays through the holidays before heading to Broadway for a spring opening.
The creators are an eclectic group — the sort that Amélie, a surreptitious community-builder, might matchmake for their varied yet complementary traits. Daniel Messé, the composer, co-lyricist and project originator, is principal songwriter and guiding spirit for the alt-Americana band Hem. The other lyricist, Nathan Tysen, collaborated on this year’s preternatural Broadway musical “Tuck Everlasting.” Script author Craig Lucas is a playwright whose often fantastical vision has resulted in such works as “Prelude to a Kiss.” And director Pam MacKinnon is known for such kaleidoscopic dramas as “Clybourne Park.”
Amélie’s story is at once cautionary and eternally, infinitely hopeful. Blessed — or possibly cursed — with an active imagination, she’s so busy remaking the world into a Technicolor adventure that she lets reality drift into the distance. Yet this obstacle is also what frees her. Time and again, someone or something fascinates her and draws her beyond her fantasies.
The movie resonated with the team in different ways.
“It was this beautiful love letter to imagination,” Tysen says.
“I see it very much as a coming of age story,” MacKinnon says. “I don't think we see that many stories about a young woman coming of age — it’s more frequently a boy to a man.”
Messé responded to the themes: “How we recover from our past and move forward, and how important it is to move past your own limitations and connect with other people.”
The story follows Amélie from her birth in 1975 through her early 20s in the 1990s. In her adult years she is portrayed by Phillipa Soo, leading a cast of 13 in her first post-“Hamilton” project.
Amélie cultivates her imagination to compensate for a shut-in life prescribed by her overprotective parents. Once old enough to leave home, she heads to Montmartre, where she rents a small apartment, takes a job at a neighborhood cafe-bar and continues living in her head. Then a chance discovery sends her on a do-good mission, which inspires more. Gradually, she is drawn into the wider world, where a young man catches her eye — a strange young man she repeatedly encounters rooting around beneath photo booths. He’s a mystery she tries to solve.
Finding a man is not the solution. That’s not the moral here. Rather, MacKinnon says, it’s learning that “stepping into something that is scary, at first, can be worth it — taking that risk, crossing that threshold, demanding that your life be full.”
The visuals of “Amélie” the film are perhaps its most talked-about quality, so one challenge for the stage team was to reward theatergoers expecting a similar experience. “The movie uses very sophisticated lens craft, lighting,” says Lucas. “The mise-en-scène was right at the cutting edge of what you could do. There’s some deep focus, some things that are very, very hard to accomplish, and cinephiles love it.”
In a few especially heightened moments, special effects — a talking lamp figurine or a heart glowing beneath a shirtfront — rupture the line between fantasy and reality.
Rather than try to compete with all of that technology, the “Amélie” theater team embraces the old-fashioned, the tried-and-true.
If the movie is “a kind of love letter to cinema,” Tysen says, then the stage version is a “love letter to theater and simple, magical stagecraft — a kind of DIY approach where it’s a small group of actors playing many, many characters and a very simple set that is full of surprises.”
The buildings of Montmartre are constructed of armoires, chests of drawers and suitcases, adorned with picture frames and lamps.
The effect is at once mundane and magical. The neighborhood is built of the objects with which Amélie has surrounded herself in her cozy apartment, but it’s also an enticing environment for her to explore whenever she ventures farther afield.
“In the movie she's in her apartment a lot,” MacKinnon explains, and “looks out at other people. The apartment and that cloistering is very important to her. We wanted, even in her exterior moments, to bring that to bear.”
Above all, the surroundings look like fun. “She's enchanted by every place she goes,” says set and costume designer David Zinn. “She sees the quirky interestingness in everything.”
As in the movie, colors set moods and make statements: Magritte-ian blue, chalkboard green, sunny yellow, amorous pink.
“The world is very vivid for her,” MacKinnon says. “In the movie, there’s almost no frame where there isn't some red.” Here, that color is largely reserved for Amélie — it’s the color she wears. “It’s passionate,” Zinn says. “It has strength. It’s a little punk rock.”
Fantasy is never far away, as when young Amélie, yearning for a best friend, decides it’ll have to be her pet goldfish. The part is played by an actor with a goldfish puppet on his head. And keep your eyes on that garden gnome.
A much bigger challenge emerged in trying to give voice to Amélie — trying to explain all of the things that in the movie just played across Tautou’s expressive face.
“We had to unpack the inner life,” Lucas says.
The solution, obviously, was songs. After all, that’s what songs usually do: They express an inner state.
But Amélie is not your typical central character. She isn’t, at first, filled with the grand tensions that make for exciting music.
Amélie is “really, really pleased with her life,” Messé explains. She doesn’t realize that her active inner life — which leaves her happily alone with herself — is distracting her from making richer connections with other people.
This stumped the creators for a long time. “She doesn't know she has a problem,” Lucas says, “which is part of what makes her so refreshing — and part of what makes writing a musical about her really next to impossible.”
Even at the world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre a year ago, they didn’t have her fully figured out. “Amélie didn’t sing very much in Berkeley,” Messé points out, but in the time since, they’ve unlocked more of her secrets.
He is particularly pleased with a new number, “Times Are Hard for Dreamers,” which Amélie sings as she settles into Montmartre. In it, she lists the small joys she’s finding in her new world: a room of her own, a window to look out of. But the song also hints at the insularity that she hasn’t yet acknowledged.
“The verses start out really big,” Messé says, “and then get very quiet.”
To illustrate, he slips into song: “They say times are hard for dreamers / and who knows maybe they are,” he sings in a voice swollen with enthusiasm, but by the end of the statement, a stillness settles in: “And I might be a dreamer / but it’s gotten me this far / and that is far enough for me.”
Amélie’s excitement ebbs just enough for a whispery thought to emerge. It’s coming from the furthest edge of her awareness, and even if she doesn’t seem to notice, the audience does.
Amélie has an instrumental voice, as well: a trombone that stands out among the mostly quieter instruments divided among the eight musicians. This delights MacKinnon to no end. “If she were in a marching band, she'd play the trombone. Here’s the outlier.”
The songs have none of Yann Tiersen's popular movie score in them. “I have my own voice as a composer,” Messé says, “and my voice is very American. But American music is very much based on European music, so I’m just one step removed. And I’ve always loved Debussy and Honegger and Les Six, all those great French composers.”
“You actually,” Lucas interjects, “have a great deal in common with them in terms of the intervals that you prefer.”
Messé hopes the music is, essentially, a welcome mat. “I am a big fan of beautiful melodies and hook-y tunes. I want music that brings the audience in.” He sweeps his arms toward himself, as if welcoming people. Once they’re in, he can engage them with ideas.
“Isolation is the disease of the age,” Messé says, “and I want to talk about it.
“I firmly believe that the cure is available. It takes guts, and Amélie’s got guts. Love and community are the answer.”
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Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L. A.
When: In previews now, opens Friday, ends Jan. 15. Performances at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays (call for exceptions and additions). Tickets: $25-$125 (subject to change)
Information: (213) 972-4400, CenterTheatreGroup.org
Jusin Chang reviews 'La La Land,' directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Justin Chang reviews "The Founder," directed by John Lee Hancock and starring Michael Keaton. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Kenneth Turan reviews "Land of Mine," a Danish-German historical drama film directed by Martin Zandvliet. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
"Manchester By the Sea" director Kenneth Lonergan discusses writing a quiet character and working with actor Casey Affleck to bring him to life.
Director Kenneth Lonergan discusses the setting of "Manchester By the Sea," and how the location helped beef up the film's story.
Director Kenneth Lonergan discusses the setting of "Manchester By the Sea," and how the location helped beef up the film's story.
2016-12-10 10:00 Daryl H www.latimes.com
48 /100 7.1 New video: The Obamas' love story is nicely told in 'Southside With You' “Southside With You” (Lionsgate DVD, $19.98; Blu-ray, $24.99; also available on VOD)
The big hook of writer-director Richard Tanne’s indie romance is that it tells the story of Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date, with actors Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter doing a fine job of balancing impersonation and originality as the future POTUS and FLOTUS. Staunch supporters of the current presidential administration may feel uplifted by this glimpse of the young Obama in his days as a budding lawyer and Chicago community organizer, bringing people together. But even right-wingers should be able to appreciate how well Tanne weaves the details of two real people’s lives into a modest little drama. “Southside With You” works beautifully just as a film about two folks falling in love, regardless of who they’d later become.
[Special features: A Tanne commentary track]
“Solace” (available 12/16) Anyone who’s feeling bummed that “Westworld” and “The Walking Dead” are done for the rest of the year can now catch those show’s stars Anthony Hopkins and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a psychic and an FBI agent tracking a serial killer played by Colin Farrell. The movie’s been sitting on the shelf for a while — after a long development process — and there’s very little about its story of cops and sickos that hasn’t been seen on big and small screens over and over, ever since Hopkins’ massive success with 1991’s “Silence of the Lambs.” Still, this is a well-made procedural with a few supernatural wrinkles and three strong performances at its center. Sometimes good company matters more than a great yarn.
Jusin Chang reviews 'La La Land,' directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Justin Chang reviews "The Founder," directed by John Lee Hancock and starring Michael Keaton. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Kenneth Turan reviews "Land of Mine," a Danish-German historical drama film directed by Martin Zandvliet. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
"Manchester By the Sea" director Kenneth Lonergan discusses writing a quiet character and working with actor Casey Affleck to bring him to life.
Director Kenneth Lonergan discusses the setting of "Manchester By the Sea," and how the location helped beef up the film's story.
“Star Trek: The Original Series — The Roddenberry Vault” (Paramount Blu-ray, $76.99)
The original 1960s “Star Trek” episodes have been repackaged so many times in so many formats that fans may think they’ve seen everything associated with the series that’s worth checking out. But the new three-disc collection offers something genuinely new, supplementing 12 classic episodes with outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage. The long-locked-away trims have been assembled into new documentaries, which explain what happened on the set and why some of this material was cut in the first place. Devotees will be delighted, and even casual viewers may learn more about why this show remains a sensation.
[Special features: Commentary tracks on selected episodes and isolated music tracks on all 12]
“Black Christmas: Collector’s Edition” (Scream! Factory Blu-ray, $29.99)
Ten years before he directed the holiday classic “A Christmas Story,” Bob Clark helmed a very different kind of yuletide tale, a sly Canadian slasher movie that’s had a lasting impact on the horror genre. Set at a sorority house that’s been infiltrated by a serial killer, “Black Christmas” creates a feeling of queasy uncertainty in its first few minutes, with point-of-view tracking shots, deep shadows and the promise that any character can be murdered at any time. An unusual cast (including Andrea Martin , Margot Kidder, John Saxon, and Keir Dullea ) and some shaggy counterculture jokes about useless cops keep the movie from being too grim. But make no mistake: There’s a reason why John Carpenter borrowed so heavily from Clark for his “Halloween.” The camera tricks and sudden shocks here drew a blueprint that bloody thrillers still follow today.
[Special features: Three commentary tracks and hours of interviews with the cast and crew]
“Equity” (Sony DVD, $25.99; Blu-ray, $30.99; also available on VOD); “Florence Foster Jenkins” (Sony DVD, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99; also available on VOD); “Little Men” (Magnolia DVD, $26.97; also available on VOD)
2016-12-10 10:00 Noel Murray www.latimes.com
49 /100 0.7 Remembering Harold Russell, the soldier-actor who won two Oscars for 'Best Years of Our Lives' Watching the film recently on Turner Classic Movies, I was moved by seeing my old friend Harold Russell come back to life again on screen. His role as Homer Parrish, an injured soldier with a pair of prosthetic hooks where his hands used to be, is one of the most distinctive in the history of Hollywood.
Harold was the only actor to ever win two Academy Awards for the same part. The largely unknown actor and veteran walked home with the Oscar for supporting actor, and academy voters also gave him an honorary gold statuette for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.” (The movie also won best picture, taking seven Oscars in all.)
Harold’s memorable role in “The Best Years of Our Lives” was an exemplary case of art imitating life. The film’s original script was rewritten to reflect Harold’s own injury from a terrible accident he suffered during World War II. To feature a real-life amputee as a major character in a big Hollywood film was a groundbreaking moment for the 1940s.
Plucked from obscurity by Wyler, Harold repeatedly rejected the role. He had no aspirations as a professional actor and was convinced that his lack of experience would show on the screen. Harold’s stubborn humility wasn’t an act. He’d always felt like a failure, even before the film turned his life upside down.
“The Best Years of Our Lives” also launched Harold’s legacy as an advocate for the disabled. By 1961, Harold served on the President’s Committee for the Employment of the Handicapped, a post appointed by John F. Kennedy. It was in that unique role that I came to know Harold Russell.
Working as a producer on a television show in 1999, I was able to spend a week with Harold when he came to Los Angeles to appear on our program, “Hollywood Salutes Easter Seals.” Serving as both fixer and tour guide, I took Harold and his family around as he came back to Hollywood for what would be his final visit.
“Hollywood Salutes Easter Seals” was a celebration of the disabled community in the world of entertainment. Filmed as a live stage show at UCLA’s Freud Theater, the humanitarian effort attracted some of Hollywood’s finest talent. Since Harold was both a legendary actor and disabled veteran, I thought he was an ideal representative for the movie industry. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Harold was so moved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech that he joined the Army the next day. His training as a paratrooper and an explosives expert provided a new sense of purpose.
At the age of 30, the young sergeant’s Army career came to a crashing halt on June 6 th , 1944, “D-Day.” Working as a parachute corps instructor with the U. S.13 th Airborne Division in North Carolina, Harold was horrified when a defective fuse ignited an explosive charge of TNT in his bare hands. The severity of his injuries required the amputation of both arms below the elbow.
The shock of the dreadful event sent Harold reeling into a deep depression for months. When he finally came out of his stupor, Army doctors at Walter Reed Hospital suggested that Harold replace his limbs with a visually pleasing pair of plastic hands. Harold refused, saying, “I don’t need to be beautiful.”
Harold mastered the manipulation of the prosthetics in just six weeks. His expertise so impressed his Army superiors that they cast him in a training film called “Diary of a Sergeant.” His joy and gleeful approach proved captivating, transforming a potentially tough topic into an enjoyable ride for viewers.
Harold’s notable bit part eventually grabbed the attention of film director Wyler, who saw it during early casting sessions for “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Wyler later told Harold he simply couldn’t forget his likability factor or his “true depth of feeling.” Harold’s “incredible prowess” with his “miraculous hooks” was just the “icing on the cake,” Wyler said. The director was sure that he’d found his Homer.
Over 50 years later, as we planned Harold’s visit to Los Angeles, he continually talked to me about Wyler’s enormous influence on his life. In fact, the first thing Harold wanted to do in L. A. was see “Mr. Wyler’s” star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And that was only the beginning. I would come to find out that Harold had a number of unusual requests.
Above all, Harold wanted me to watch “The Best Years of Our Lives” once again. Though I’d already seen the movie, the levels of its complexity had been eclipsed by my inexperience. Harold realized another glimpse would give me a new sense of appreciation for the film’s contemporary themes. He was right about that.
The scenario of “Best Years” is incredibly relevant even today. As three veterans of World War II readjust to civilian life, they soon face a changed and intolerant society. Realizing nothing will ever be the same, the soldiers valiantly struggle to mend broken relationships as they try to recapture a semblance of normalcy. The drama continues to strike a familiar chord.
2016-12-10 10:00 Mark Montgomery www.latimes.com
50 /100 0.0 Doctors call for anathema on diesel engines in London A new debate led by medical professionals is job for all diesel cars to be criminialized from London.
Doctors Against Diesel explain 9,400 Londoners a year die prematurely from respirating in poisonous smoke from diesel engines.
Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens have committed to a anathema on diesel vehicles by 2025.
Opponents to a debate have called a proposals “impractical” and warned a sweeping anathema could “backfire”.
Doctors Against Diesel – comprising doctors, nurses and health professionals – are job for Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, to dedicate to phasing out diesel vehicles from London.
Mr Khan has already pronounced he wants to get absolved of diesel buses by 2018 .
According to a campaign, scarcely 40% of all Nitrogen Oxides emissions and PM10 pollution, that is related to decreased lung function, within London comes from diesel vehicles.
A orator for a Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) pronounced a attention is investing “billions” to revoke emissions and a latest diesel cars are a “cleanest in history”.
Figures expelled by SMMT explain emissions of nitrogen oxides have reduced by 84% given 2000 while new “high tech” filters constraint 99% of all slag particles and empty after-treatments from diesel engines.
The orator said: “Diesel creates a critical grant to a bland lives fuelling some 99% of a UK’s blurb vehicles, that ride essential products and a puncture services. ‘Serious about pollution’
Professor Jonathan Grigg from Doctors Against Diesel told a BBC: “Deaths from paediatric asthma are disproportionately most aloft in London than a rest of Europe.
“Air wickedness levels in London surpass authorised boundary and impact people’s health during each theatre of life.
“If we wish to be critical about atmosphere wickedness we need to be critical about diesel.”
But Edmund King, boss of a AA, called a offer “fairly impractical”.
He said: “We all wish to purify adult atmosphere peculiarity though you’ve got to give time, you’ve got to give incentives.
“Yes get absolved of a misfortune offenders though we consider a sweeping anathema would only backfire.”
Transport for London is now consulting on proposals to urge atmosphere quality in a capital.
2016-12-10 00:00 admin headlinenewstoday.net
51 /100 0.8 Australia's hottest export admits to stalking Victoria's Secret models on Instagram... before asking talent scout Ed Razek to hire her She's one of Australia's hottest exports, known for flaunting her incredible bikini body in on Instagram. And despite already making a name for herself in Los Angeles recently, Elyse Knowles, 24, revealed this week that her biggest modelling triumph would be becoming a Victoria's Secret Angel. After admitting she stalks the lingerie brand's hottest model duo Taylor Hill and Romee Strijd, Elyse urged the company's talent scout Ed Razek to hire her immediately. Scroll down for video Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, the blonde beauty was asked who she would invite if she could have anyone over for dinner. 'All of the Victoria's Secret Angels with Ed Razek, the director,' she replied without hesitation - adding the hashtag, 'pleasetakemeon.' The 24-year-old then went on to admit that her favourite people to stalk on Instagram at the moment were none other than VS BFFs Taylor and Romee. Often pictured together on Instagram, Taylor and Romee encapsulate the perfect friendship - both often seen hanging out and modelling with one another. Whether Elyse hopes to make their friendship duo into a trio is yet to be confirmed but her dreams of becoming a household name are well and truly on their way. Elyse has modelled for brands such as Australian swimwear brands Billabong and recently shot the latest Jo Mercer campaign in LA. Seen beaming in pictures on her Instagram wall, Elyse is often seen flaunting her svelte figure in an assortment of bikini's. But Elyse admits that it isn't just modelling for the rising star, she also enjoys a range of sports including, wakeboarding, skiing, snowboarding, skating and surfing. The blonde beauty describes herself as a 'chilled, very down to earth kind of chick' and said: 'I loves my job and appreciate everything that has come my way! 'It hasn't been given to me though, it's been earned the hard way!' she added in a bio on her website. In her most recent pictures to Instagram, Elyse was seen pretending to barrel a spray painted wave while posing with fellow model Malia Murphey. A boomerang posted to her Instagram shows the girls smiling as they cut casual figures in beach wear. Elyse was seen wearing a navy blue and white playsuit, while Malia opted for a knee length peach coloured dress.
2016-12-10 09:50 Aneeta Bhole www.dailymail.co.uk
52 /100 4.5 Give your bedroom a Scandinavian makeover Get the Color Palette Right
The first step is to choose a neutral color to use on your walls and ceiling. It is vital that you achieve a crisp and clean finish. Therefore, before you start it is important to run your hand over every part of your walls and ceilings and use a pencil to circle any imperfections. If there are a lot of them, you may want to consider having the entire room skimmed by a professional plaster, or opt to do the work yourself. Starting with a clean canvas is the best way to get a nice crisp finish.
Invest in Good Quality Bedding
You should also look for high quality bedding sets. Again, consider using neutral colours. It is important to get the fit right, and buy something that is easy to iron, and keep looking good.
If you want to transform your bedroom into an oasis of calm and Scandinavian chic, we are here to show you how.
Tip: If you can afford to do so, invest in some luxury bedding. It will look and feel great, and, it will last far longer. Provided you shop during the sale days, you can usually afford to buy some nice luxury bedding to achieve the look you are after.
When buying bedding, thread count matters, but is only part of the story. You need to look for sheets that have a close weave and feature longer fibres. Pure cotton is nice, but sometimes it is better to buy something made from a mix of natural and manmade fibres. This type of fabric will be far easier to keep looking pristine.
Opt for Wooden Flooring
Flooring makes up a high percentage of any room, so it is particularly important to get this element right. Wooden flooring is usually the best option for a Scandinavian style room. If you are worried about it being cold underfoot, you need not be because real wood does not get too cold. Have Lots of Lighting
Let as much natural light into your bedroom as possible. You can do this by opting for blinds instead of curtains that will inevitably partially obscure your windows. You just need to make sure that when the blinds are down, that all of the light is kept out, so that you can fall asleep OK, and not be woken too early.
If the windows are not very big, it is worth considering installing a frosted skylight window above your bedroom door. You can also install an opaque glass door between your bedroom and your en-suite bathroom. Letting natural light in means that you will enjoy staying in bed late, to read and eat breakfast, and so much more!
The post Giving Your Bedroom a Scandinavian Makeover appeared first on BetterDecoratingBible.
More from Better Decorating Bible : This online store is loaded with home decorating products Make your radiator blend in with your décor Tips to choose the best hardwood flooring for your home
2016-12-10 09:41 AOL Staff www.aol.com
53 /100 0.0 Rwanda confirms August 2017 presidential election date Rwanda will stage presidential elections next August, according to a government statement issued Saturday. Rwandans abroad will cast their votes on August 3, and those resident in Rwanda will follow suit on August 4, a communique in the local Kinyarwanda language said. A constitutional amendment passed this year means that President Paul Kagame -- in charge since taking power at the head of a rebel army in 1994 -- is able to stand for re- election for another seven- year term.
2016-12-10 09:20 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk
54 /100 2.9 What time, channel are Sunday's Critics' Choice Awards on? The 22 nd annual Critics' Choice Awards air live Sunday night (Dec. 11), giving movie fans their first major televised awards show of Hollywood's 2016-2017 Oscar season. In the process, the CCAs -- which have traditionally been a fairly reliable Oscar bellwether -- stand to answer any number of award-season questions.
Chief among them: Can any other film challenge "La La Land" and " Moonlight " for Oscar front-runner status? And who should be considered the lead dogs in what are shaping up to be competitive acting races?
Live coverage of the Critics' Choice Awards begins Sunday at 7 p.m. CT on A&E , with red carpet coverage starting at 6 p.m. Comedian T. J. Miller will return to host the typically loose show, which will take place at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar.
Presenters will include Justin Timberlake, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Nicole Kidman, Lily Collins, Ty Burrell, Anthony Anderson, Constance Wu, Kevin Hart, Leslie Mann, James Marsden, Jim Parsons, Norman Reedus and Steven Yeun.
We'll also have a complete list of winners as they are announced here at NOLA.com .
The Critics' Choice Awards are presented annually by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
2016-12-10 09:19 Mike Scott www.nola.com
55 /100 2.7 Her runway! Melanie Griffith steps out in faux fur leopard print coat and shades as she works airport glamour at LAX airport In 2014 she spent over £5k on faux fur after vowing to stop wearing the real thing. And Melanie Grifith appeared to be sticking to her animal-friendly promise as she arrived at LAX airport in a faux fur leopard- print coat on Friday. The actress, 59, worked jet- set glamour in dark shades as she arrived for her flight. Scroll down for video Teaming the ensemble with fitted black leggings and a matching top, she accentuated her frame with spikey-heel ankle boots. And accessorising with a multi-chain and large diamond earrings, she looked every inch the Hollywood star. With her hair scraped up into a half ponytail and a slick of lipgloss, the actress pulled a Louis Vuitton bag behind her as she made her way to the terminal. It's been 18 months since she separated from husband Antonio Banderas after 18 years of marriage. While he has moved on with Dutch investment consultant Nicole Kimpel, 35, who he's been dating for a little over a year, she was recently seen dining with a mystery mum. Meanwhile Melanie's daughter Dakota Johnson from her relationship with Don Johnson, also an actress, has been going from strength to strength in her career. Earlier this year Dakota revealed there is nothing sexy about filming simulated sex scenes for seven hours straight with her hunky co-star, Jamie Dornan, 33. The Social Network star told Interview Magazine: 'It's not... comfortable. It's pretty tedious. 'Well, we're not having actual sex. But I've been simulating sex for seven hours straight right now, and I'm over it. ' While the How To Be Single star may have grown a little blase about the films that saw her be on Hollywood's radar for more than just who her parents are, Dakota is not blase when it comes to understanding that these days fame can be fleeting. The 26-year-old said: 'It is a bizarre time right now, though. It seems like the world is so fast to move its interest to someone else. 'And now I feel like there's such a weird pressure to find the new face. I don't get it at all. I want to see women evolve. I want to see a body of work. I want to see all of it.
2016-12-10 09:16 Jessica Rach www.dailymail.co.uk
56 /100 1.0 NY State opens snowmobile trails in Moose River Plains OLD FORGE, N. Y. (AP) - The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has opened the gates on the seasonal roads designated as snowmobile trails in the Moose River Plains Wild Forest.
The gates on designated trails in the Perkins Clearing-Speculator Tree Farm Conservation Easement Lands opened Friday night, compliments of recent lake-effect snow in the western Adirondack Mountains. More snow is expected.
Accumulations of eight to 12 inches are predicted across Northern Herkimer County, with the highest amounts from Old Forge northward.
Forecasters expect about three to five inches on the ground across the southeastern and eastern Adirondacks, and six to 10 inches at lower elevations in the central Adirondacks.
2016-12-10 09:14 By www.washingtontimes.com
57 /100 1.9 Anne Hathaway opts for understated elegance in a figure-hugging Bardot dress as she attends festive winter bash She's currently filming Ocean's Eight. And Anne Hathaway enjoyed some well-deserved downtime as she attended the Winter Wonderland Ball in New York on Friday. The actress, 34, opted for classic glamour in a classic black cocktail dress. Scroll down for video Wearing her glossy brunette tresses to one side, she showed off her pretty bone structure with minimal make- up. And flaunting her toned physique in a figure hugging Bardot dress, she accentuated her stature in studded platform sandals. Completing her outfit she accessorised with a simple choker and glitzy clutch as she stood in front of the festive backdrop. Hathaway is currently starring alongside Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling and rapper Awkwafina in Ocean's Eight, as they take over the roles previously played by the likes of George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Although the plot has been kept under wraps, it has been reported that the film will see the girl gang plot a heist at the Met Gala. It is Anne's first film since she welcomed her first child, Jonathan, into the world in March with husband of four years Adam Schulman. She headed back to the gym around September and was enjoying getting back to 'feeling strong'. She told People magazine at the time: 'I've started to work out - I love that feeling, I love feeling strong. I find that my workouts are really different now because I gave birth. 'Some things I guess are the same as they were, and other things are a little bit different. I'm just so proud of what the changes signify. So, there's no rush to do anything. I'm so happy being here. 'I find that my workout is really different now because I gave birth. I feel like doing burpees now after having a baby is zero big deal.' And Anne also insisted she had no 'shame' in gaining weight throughout her pregnancy. She wrote recently: 'There is no shame in gaining weight during pregnancy (or ever). There is no shame if it takes longer than you think it will to lose the weight (if you want to lose it at all). There is no shame in finally breaking down and making your own jean shorts because last summer's are just too dang short for this summer's thighs. Bodies change. Bodies grow. Bodies shrink. It's all love (don't let anyone tell you otherwise.) Peace xx #noshame #lovewhatyouhavebeengiven' 2016-12-10 09:14 Jessica Rach www.dailymail.co.uk
58 /100 2.1 Botox Toronto Your Approach to Look Younger Kristin Cavallari has revealed that most of her close friends have been using Botox but she has been trying to avoid it as much as she can. Cavallari explains that Botox...
TORONTO -- The Blue Jays went to a contingency plan when they decided to move on from slugger Edwin Encarnacion. Expect a similar move now that the club has missed out on...
The 2016 MLS season reaches its climax on Saturday evening, as Toronto FC host the Settle Sounders in what should be a thrilling cup final. Both clubs come into the match...
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber believes his league is in transition when it comes to star players. It's a youth movement slowly taking hold as teams shift from...
(Source: MLB - Major League Baseball ) • Hot Stove Tracker Encarnacion still hasn't signed, but when he declined a four-year offer last month, the club moved quickly to ...
The pain of dancing in heels over Christmas has an increasing number of women turning to Botox. Australia's Dr Jeremy Hunt said Botox in the feet helps ease swelling and pain of wearing heels. ...
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber believes his league is in transition when it comes to star players. It's a youth movement slowly taking hold as teams shift from older designated players to younger options to fill the premier roles. "Without doubt the target is younger players who are coming at the prime of their career or even as they're beginning to establish their...
CHELTENHAM: 12.05 Defi Du Seuil, 12.40 Different Gravey, 1.15 Parsnip Pete, 1.50 MODULE (NAP), 2.25 No Hassle Hoff, 3.00 My Tent Or Yours, 3.35 Dalmatia. DONCASTER: 11.50 Mercers Court, 12.20 Passmore, 12.55 Blakemount, 1.30 All Set To Go 2.05 Give Me A Copper, 2.40 O Seven, 3.15 Cliffs Of Dover. LINGFIELD: 11.55 Hatcher, 12.30 Tara Bridge, 1.05 Riot Act, 1.40 Wood Yer, 2.15 ...
Two-year-olds Eva and Erika Sandoval shared most of their lower bodies - a digestive system, a uterus, a liver, a bladder, and a third leg with a seven-toed foot. ...
The Californian girls shared a digestive system, a uterus, a liver, a bladder,a pelvis, and a third leg with a seven-toed foot. But now both are recovering well. Their team explains how. ... 2016-12-10 09:11 jameshopes article.wn.com
59 /100 2.7 Christina Milian dresses in mismatched ensemble as she recovers from GQ Awards She spent Thursday night partying alongside the likes of Karrueche Tran, Sophia Richie and Paris Hilton at Galore magazine's private party after attending the GQ Man of The Year Awards. And Christina Milian looked as though she was in recovery mode on Friday as she stepped out in a casual ensemble. The AM to PM singer, 35, showed off her natural beauty going bare- faced as she ran errands in Studio City, California. Scroll down for video Teaming leopard print leggings with sheepskin boots, the mother-of-one covered her killer curves in an oversized sweater. And perhaps feeling a tad chilly, she added a faux fur stole and acceessorised with transparent shades. Smiling at cameras as she headed for a spot of lunch at Sugar Fish Sushi, the stunner looked in good spirits as she stopped to fill up her tank before continuing with her day. The previous night she partied alongside BFF Karrueche, Paris and Sofia. Paris, 35, and 18-year-old Sophia both attended Galore magazine's private party at 1OAK nightclub in Los Angeles on Thurday night. The two blonde stars were there to celebrate their covers of the monthly including famous pals including Karrueche Tran, Christina Milian and Jaden Smith. Both were featured in social media posts from the monthly publication throughout the night as they proudly showed off their latest magazine fronts. Sofia showed off her flat stomach in a black crop top with red and white striped trousers. Her straight blonde locks were worn down in a middle-part as she let her natural looks show with complimentary make-up on her face topped off with a swipe of pink lip. Paris shined in a sheer nude number with a shimmering silver beaded detailing all over it. She accessorised with a pair of cat ears and large white designer shades. Paris was not only one of the featured guests but also the entertainment as she was pictured with her DJ headphones on. Paris does have quite the history with Sofia's older sister Nicole as they famously starred together in reality series The Simple Life from 2003-2007. In the pages of the publication, Sofia said she was known as just being a member of the Lionel family - which started to change once she finally tapped into her own interests. 'I went through it for a really long time, just feeling really in their shadow, but I grew out of it,' she told the publication. 'I tried to separate myself as much as possible, figure out what I liked to do and how to get it done my own way instead of having them consistently helping me out. It’s a work in progress, but I’m trying.'
2016-12-10 09:09 Jessica Rach www.dailymail.co.uk
60 /100 1.3 2017 Carponizer Carp Calendar shows naked and scantily-clad women holding huge fish A bizarre erotic calendar that is a 'true "must have" for any passionate angler' shows scantily- clad and topless women holding huge, slimy fish. The 2017 Carponizer Carp Calendar's 12 pages are filled with 'enchanting human models' posing with a slippery carp and each photo is designed to make 'men's hearts beat faster'. According to the calendar's author Hendrik Pöhler, nothing goes better together than beautiful women and fish, and he wanted to combine his two loves. Scroll down for video Pöhler created the unusual calendar for Carponizer, a German carp gear online retailer. He told Maxim : 'I remember the day when I was fishing with my friend and at the spot next to us were two hot girls fishing. 'This was the moment I decided to make this fabulous calendar.' To create the spiral-bound oddity, two handlers are used oversee the treatment of the live freshwater fish. Carponizer is offering the calendar on Amazon for £16.90. The product description says the company has 'managed to courageously make every month of the year that little bit more special' and the 'high-quality images call for an elegant frame'. Each month features a model posing seductively with a giant carp and the setting of the photo changes between being in the water or on a sandy shore.
2016-12-10 09:07 Cheyenne Roundtree www.dailymail.co.uk
61 /100 0.0 Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' sequel to premiere at Sundance HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Paramount Pictures says it will release in theaters next year the follow-up to An Inconvenient Truth , former Vice President Al Gore 's Oscar-winning documentary about the global climate crisis.
Directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, the sequel to the 2006 documentary follows Gore as he continues his fight to build a more sustainable future for the planet. The film will premiere on the opening night of the Sundance Film Festival.
"Now more than ever we must rededicate ourselves to solving the climate crisis," Gore said in a statement Friday. "But we have reason to be hopeful; the solutions to the crisis are at hand. I'm deeply honored and grateful that Paramount Pictures and Participant Media have once again taken on the task of bringing the critical story of the climate crisis to the world. " "We are honored to be working again with Al, Jeff Skoll and everyone at Participant on a film whose message is as urgent as ever," added Paramount Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brad Grey. "Al's tireless efforts to bring about change continues to inspire all of us as we fight for the health of our world for future generations. "
2016-12-10 09:06 Karen Butler www.upi.com
62 /100 1.7 Klopp won't pile pressure on returning Matip Centre-back Joel Matip's return is set to bring a calming influence to Liverpool's defence but manager Jurgen Klopp has tried to deflect attention away from the 25-year-old.
The statistics show the Reds have much better results when the summer free transfer from Schalke is in the team.
He missed last weekend's shock 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth, notable for the panic which spread through the ranks when the home side began to apply pressure, but is ready to return from an ankle injury.
In the three Premier League matches in which Matip has been absent Liverpool have conceded nine goals, won one and lost two. In the 11 games he has featured in, the side have let in just nine.
Klopp, however, was keen to emphasise defending was not the sole responsibility of one player - or even the back four and goalkeeper - but the whole team.
"Obviously he has had a good influence. He is a good player and adapted soon to what we need but it is not fair (to place the burden on Matip)," said the Reds boss.
"The centre-halves (at Bournemouth) were not perfect around the goals. That is pretty likely most of the time when you concede goals, the centre-halves are around and could have done better.
"At Burnley, the other game we lost, we should have defended the goals much earlier than in the centre-half region.
"We made similar mistakes again, and again a team used it.
"It was clear a lot of people will say a lot of things about what we did wrong, and they are all right, but it is one match.
"We had a few similar problems in other matches which the opponent did use and so we were aware of it but this (Bournemouth) match helped us a lot to understand really what the problem is with our protection sometimes. "Joel is a wonderful player but Lucas and Dejan (Lovren) and Ragnar (Klavan) and Joe Gomez in the future - they are really good football players and will do a wonderful job for Liverpool.
"They have done already, but in one game (they did) not. If you want to judge these players, do it. "
Having, according to Klopp, learned a valuable lesson on the south coast last weekend, the manager expects his players to put it to good use when West Ham visit on Sunday.
Liverpool have not lost at Anfield since May 1, dropping just two points in six matches at home this season, and the Reds boss expects that to continue.
"Is there any influence on the next game? No idea," he added.
"What we will be, more than maybe we were before Bournemouth, we will be angry again - angry about ourselves, that's important.
"In sports, always when you are at the highest level there are not a lot of things that can make the difference.
"Sometimes it's the quality, but not very often. Most of the time it's the attitude because the other team is really well prepared too.
"A few details make the difference. As I've said a lot of times, being aggressive means in my understanding, being ready to hurt yourself, not the other player.
"That's the kind of angry we need. To be angry doesn't mean they are responsible for what happened in the last few weeks but they want to have the points at Anfield, and that makes me angry already when I speak about it. That's all you need.
"At the highest level, have you ever seen a race where the winner was not this kind of angry in the last few yards?
"Maybe Usain Bolt can do it, he enjoys it after 80 metres probably, but most of the other sportsmen in life have to fight until the end and that's what we have to do each week. "
2016-12-10 09:06 Press Association www.independent.ie
63 /100 0.0 Guns N' Roses sells 1M concert tickets in 24 hours LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Reunited rock band Guns N' Roses has sold more than 1 million tickets in 24 hours, Live Nation announced.
The fast-selling tickets were for the upcoming 2017 U. K., European and Canadian legs of the group's Not in This Lifetime concert tour.
Tickets for the 2017 U. S. shows go on sale Saturday via Ticketmaster.
Axl Rose and former members Slash and Duff McKagan will regroup for the eagerly awaited concerts. The reunion was announced in March. Lead guitarist Slash left the band in 1996. Front man Rose has since continued to perform with other musicians under the GNR banner, however, the group has never been as popular as it was in the 1980s and early '90s when both Slash and Rose shared the stage.
2016-12-10 09:05 Karen Butler www.upi.com
64 /100 10.0 Bristol Palin is pregnant with her third child LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Reality television personality Bristol Palin is pregnant with her third child. Palin's publicist confirmed the pregnancy to E! News Friday.
"We are so excited to announce that our family is expanding! " Palin and her husband Dakota Meyer -- who married in June -- said in a joint statement to Entertainment Tonight. "God has blessed us so much; we are thankful for His grace and new beginnings. A springtime baby in the Meyer home and we can't wait! "
The child's gender has not been revealed yet.
Palin, 26, is a writer, former Dancing with the Stars contestant and the daughter of 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin .
Palin and Meyer are already the parents of daughter Sailor Grace, who will celebrate her first birthday this month.
Palin also has a 7-year-old son named Tripp with her ex-boyfriend Levi Johnston .
2016-12-10 09:04 Karen Butler www.upi.com
65 /100 1.3 Can YOU guess the iconic Christmas movie by an anagram of its name? From Home Alone to Bad Santa and Love Actually, how well do you know your Christmas movies? The holiday season is a time when families come together on the sofa and bond over a cup of tea, a mince pie and a movie. There is a new quiz, created by Playbuzz that will put your puzzle solving skills to the test. The Christmas holiday gives people an opportunity to sit down with one another and spend time laughing - and crying - as they watch Christmas miracles take place on screen. This quiz will put all of those years of film-watching to good use. The more films you've watched, the better you'll be at spotting the titles in the anagrams. So, put your heads together and see if you can spot your favourite Christmas film. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
2016-12-10 09:04 Esra Gurkan www.dailymail.co.uk
66 /100 3.0 Md. incinerator plant fire continues to burn after 48 hours WASHINGTON — Hundreds of firefighters have been rotating at the scene of a fire that broke out at a Maryland incinerator plant Thursday evening, and was still burning early Saturday, officials said.
Firefighters arrived at the Resource Recovery Facility incinerator plant on 21204 Martinsburg Road in Dickerson, Maryland to find an 85-foot-high pile of trash on fire, Montgomery County Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said. The fire was spreading to the building, he said.
Piringer said firefighters quickly controlled the blaze, taking down several walls of the facility.
Some firefighters have been at the site of the fire for more than 48 hours, and others are expected to stay there all day Saturday.
No firefighters have been injured. comments
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2016-12-10 09:04 Hanna Choi wtop.com
67 /100 2.1 Niall Horan, Shawn Mendes, Emeli Sande to perform on 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' special NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Niall Horan , Lukas Graham, Shawn Mendes, Emeli Sande and Fifth Harmony are to perform on Dick Clark 's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest .
The artists will appear via satellite from the Billboard Hollywood party. Fergie will host the West Coast portion of the ABC holiday special and will also sing two songs.
The 45th annual New Year's celebration is to begin live at 8 p.m. EST on Dec. 31 from New York's Times Square with Seacrest presiding over the festivities for the 11th time. Jenny McCarthy will once again provide commentary.
Booked to perform in Manhattan are Mariah Carey , DNCE and Thomas Rhett. Gloria Estefan will take the stage with the cast of her Broadway musical On Your Feet!
Additional performers will be announced soon, the network said.
2016-12-10 09:03 Karen Butler www.upi.com
68 /100 0.3 Mel Greig flaunts trim pins in chic blue frock before boozy Wave FM Christmas party She's the outspoken radio star known for flaunting her ample bust on social media. But Mel Greig opted for a change of pace on Saturday, instead showing off her slender pins in a chic blue frock which finished well above the knees. The Wave FM host posed for a mirror selfie before she headed out for the station's annual Christmas party. Scroll down for video 'Did someone say staff Christmas party?' she captioned the snap she shared with her 6,000 Instagram followers. The 34-year-old blonde added several hashtags including 'Saturday night fun', 'laughs', 'drinks' and 'soon to be drunk'. Just hours earlier, Mel posted a variety of sexy selfies to social media. The 34-year-old co-host of the Mel & Trav breakfast show turned up the heat with photos showcasing her busty physique. She updated her Facebook profile picture on Friday with a fresh shot of her piercing blue eyes staring directly at the camera and her perky breasts on full display. Her wavy blonde locks cascaded over her shoulders as she threw up the peace sign with a coquettish smile. That same day she posted another peace sign snap, as she prepared to host Carols by Candelight for Shellharbour City Council. Wearing reindeer antler ears to get in the holiday spirit, her hair was straightened and her unbuttoned denim shirt revealed a glimpse of her bust. She added the humorous hashtags: '#justlikeshrek' and 'willsitonsantaslap.' The former 2DayFM star recently said her 'happy place doesn't include a man' after her split from ex-husband Steve Pollock earlier this year. She told the Daily Mail Australia at MAXIM's Hot 100 party in Sydney last month: 'I'm not dating anyone at the moment and I'm not really interested. 'I know that sounds ridiculous, but I'm just at that stage where I'm completely happy with myself.' The fun-loving host writes candidly about her personal life for YahooBe .
2016-12-10 09:03 Max Margan www.dailymail.co.uk
69 /100 2.9 Pranksters in Switzerland rearrange a nativity scene into a compromising position There's something not right about this nativity scene. Supposed to be one of the holiest scenes in Christianity, sick pranksters have rearranged a nativity setup to make it look like Joseph is getting a Christmas treat from his wife. The set up's creator was far from impressed after onlookers got to see more than they expected. Figures were rearranged into sexually explicit positions in the Swiss city of Lucerne, which attracts thousands of festive visitors every year. Mary appears to be neglecting the baby Jesus in order to see to Joseph's less family-friendly needs in the jaw- dropping scene. Franz Schumacher, who created the initially wholesome nativity spectacle, said the disrespectful vandals had made him angry. He said it is not funny that his work has been 'desecrated'. He said: 'That hurts me very much. They do not know that it offends others. But their brains cannot think that far ahead as they have probably drowned them in alcohol.' While it provoked some awkward smiles, the majority of viewers did not enjoy the change, labelling it a 'shame'. One passer-by said: 'They are really stupid people who did this. I mean, even children have had a look at this.' The Catholic Church has also spoken out to condemn the 'unacceptable' vandalism. The local spokesman for the church, Urban Schwegler said: 'It is unacceptable to destroy the property of others. And it is also intolerable that someone violates the religious feelings of others.' Authorities rushed to the old town centre of Lucerne after the vandalism was reported and put the nativity scene back to its original state.
2016-12-10 09:01 Dave Burke www.dailymail.co.uk
70 /100 1.4 Jeep Renegade: rugged-cute design, legit off-road chops T he sub-compact class of SUVs often gets a bad rap for being too cute and more wanna-be than actual off-road capable. In general, that is the norm — but not when it comes to the 2017 Jeep Renegade.
The Renegade really looks like it could dive off the pavement and make easy work of a dusty trail or off-road whim. Perhaps being in a Jeep makes you think you can — but getting the off-road equipment package on the Renegade really does deliver the goods. No other subcompact SUV comes close to matching the Renegade’s off-road abilities.
I recently tested the base Sport model, starting at $17,995, though there are additional trim levels that will take the price north of $28,400. The base model doesn’t come with many standard features. The base 2017 Renegade Sport starts with front-wheel drive, cloth upholstery, a 60/40 split-folding rear seat, a four-speaker audio system, a USB port and push- button start. Some of the nice add-ons include heated mirrors, a heated steering wheel and unique “My Sky” dual removable sunroofs (the forward one being available with a power-sliding feature).
The Renegade exterior style is Jeep-ish, with the signature vertical-slat grille and round headlamps set wide out at the edges. There’s plenty of wheel well clearance for off-road activity, but that’s the extent of off-road attitude my tester featured. Higher trims can add skid plates and other features to provide more of an aggressive vibe.
Inside the quirky cabin, you will find a surprisingly upscale level of materials and build quality. Sight lines are excellent for the driver, and firm seating is comfortable and easily adjustable.
Seating in the Renegade provides easy headroom in both rows of seats, with leg room in front very good and slightly tighter in the rear. The back is wide enough to fit three people, though it’s probably better to stick with two for comfort.
The Renegade embraces its Jeep DNA with highly functional treatments for audio and climate controls; large knobs are appreciated, and the 6.5-inch Uconnect infotainment system is very easy to use.
The Renegade offers 50.8 cubic feet of space. The 60/40 split-folding rear seat provides versatility; step up to higher trims, and a 40/20/40 split-folding rear seat offers more flexibility. The seat back sits flat, making it easy to load materials. A folding front-passenger seat gives you a nice accommodation for long objects.
The base engine is a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder producing 160 horsepower. It is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. If you want an automatic, you will get a 180-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder with a nine-speed automatic.
My tester performed admirably with quick acceleration and adequate shifts to step up to highway speeds. Look for 24 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway when equipped with the base engine and manual transmission.
The Renegade stands out in the fast-growing category of tiny SUVs by offering Jeep styling and potential off-road capabilities. Understanding that the base model doesn’t even come with air conditioning or cruise control should temper expectations for excessive comfort, but it will help keep prices down.
2016-12-10 09:00 John Stein chicago.suntimes.com
71 /100 3.7 New hiking route connects Los Angeles to 67 miles of backcountry bliss One of the newest backcountry trails in the West skirts the busiest city in the country.
The thoroughfare, dubbed the Backbone Trail , stretches about 67 miles through the Santa Monica Mountains that ring Los Angeles, and opened in June after more than 50 years in the making.
The trail, which connects Point Mugu State Park in Malibu to Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades, has evolved slowly over the years. Non-government volunteers worked with state and federal park employees to fund and build the path, and to acquire the land necessary to connect the pieces.
The final links fell into place in a flurry in the spring, when over just a few weeks, the Park Service closed escrow on four land parcels, including donations by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and fitness pioneer Betty Weider. Those properties were among 180 individual tracts that have been purchased since the 1960s — land with a total value of more than $100 million.
In June, the Backbone was designated a National Recreation Trail , one of 1,200 in the country specially acknowledged by the American Trails organization for its ability to promote conservation, recreation and health.
Howard Cohen, president of the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, says the distinction ultimately should make the Backbone eligible for more funding from state and local governments.
“To see so much hard work come to fruition is a victory for everyone in conservation in the West,” says Cohen, who is also co-director for the Coyote Backbone Trail Ultra race next March. “When you consider the views of the ocean and the proximity to such a major urban center, there’s nothing like this trail anywhere else in Southern California.”
What makes the Backbone unique? For starters, the trail traverses one of the region’s largest remaining tracts of undeveloped landscape, a well-preserved mix of chaparral-covered hillsides, oak woodlands and rocky outcrop spires.
The wildlife is pretty spectacular, too: On any given day, hikers might spot rattlesnakes, coyotes, bobcats and other critters.
The views aren’t too shabby, either. From the apex at the top of Sandstone Peak you can see the Channel Islands to the south and the Tehachapi Range to the north. Also, if you’re hiking from east to west, the last 6 or so quad-burning miles back down into Malibu — a section known as the Ray Miller Trail — offer sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.
Still, the trail is not to be taken lightly. Hiked from end to end, the Backbone consists of many rolling hills, starting with a big climb from Will Rogers State Park as it ascends to the ridgeline with views of the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica Bay and, once more, the Pacific Ocean. It’s so steep in some sections that runners may be reduced to a walk. And the roller-coaster terrain keeps coming. If you hike or run the whole trail, these hills will chip away at your strength, so be well trained for the challenge. In addition, water and overnight camping options are minimal, which means visitors have to lug extra water or hike the trail in sections; overnight thru- hiking is not yet possible. Fire of any kind is not permitted. And despite the recent designation as a National Recreation Trail, signage at some intersections is simply nonexistent.
Ultra-runner Josh Spector has run the trail a handful of times, and describes it as one of the most difficult routes he’s faced.
“It’s an incredibly challenging course with lots of hills,” says Spector, who has lived in Los Angeles since 2009. “You’ve also got to be careful about when you run it — there’s very little shade on the trail, and in summer, when temperatures can get up over 100 and you’ve only got so much water, it can be rough.”
For this reason, Cohen says he was “cautiously optimistic” about the impact of the National Recreation Trail distinction and the attention the trail has gotten since the last few pieces were procured.
On one hand, he says, especially after all those years of waiting, the Backbone deserves the spotlight. On the other, however, certain sections aren’t large or sturdy enough to service the crowds that might be coming, and some visitors might come not knowing entirely what to expect. His advice: Plan ahead, and bring lots of water.
“So long as you exercise caution, it’s a great way to experience an L. A. few ever get to see,” he says.
2016-12-10 09:00 Matt Villano rssfeeds.usatoday.com
72 /100 1.4 125-year-old Heritage Hill mansion getting new life as recovery center for men GRAND RAPIDS, MI - For such a big house on Heritage Hill, the 125-year-old Hazeltine Mansion has been hidden in plain sight during much of the historic neighborhood's revival.
Tucked away on a side street near Lafayette Avenue NE, the brown shake-style home with massive river rock foundations was familiar only to local musicians after it served as a repair shop specializing in string instruments for the past 25 years.
Originally built for Dr. Charles M. Hazeltine in 1891, the 3-story home has served several functions in its long history.
Hazeltine, a successful business owner and banker, made the house overlooking downtown Grand Rapids a center of social activity. As U. S. Consul to Milan in the 1890s, he hosted dances in the third floor ball room. He threw a lavish fairy tale wedding on the lawn when his daughter, Fannie, married a German count in 1908.
In the 1920s, it became the Elmcrest Home for Working Women, a project sponsored by Federation of Women's Adult Bible Classes. For 44 years, up to 31 young women lived in the home, created as an alternative housing solution for low-paid working women, according to local history records.
In the 1970s, the house served as a shelter for runaway teenagers. In 1980, the property was sold to Steven Reiley, who lived in the house, operated his instrument repair business, Guarnari House, in the basement and rented several apartments.
Now come David and Rae Green, who operate Sanford House, a residential outpatient drug and alcohol treatment center for women in a 126-year-old mansion they have restored on Cherry Street SE.
RELATED STORY: 168-year-old Sanford House restored for new life as women's treatment center
The couple was looking for a place in which to offer similar services to men when they came across the Hazeltine Mansion at 221 John Street NE. With its rich woodwork still mostly intact, Rae Green said they fell in love with the house because of its masculine character.
After buying the house for $433,500 and winning approval from the city to operate a treatment center for up to 20 men, the Greens have begun converting the house back to its original splendor.
That includes rebuilding all of the home's 88 windows, restoring the interior woodwork, installing new restrooms, replacing the roof and restoring the shake sidings on the exterior. The project also will include new landscaping.
Despite the institutional uses the home has seen over the years, much of the original millwork and flooring in the home is intact and restorable, according to Alec Green, the project's operations manager. When completed, the home will have nine bedrooms and 71/2 bathrooms.
Visitors who enter the wide oak door from the stone front porch walk into a grand entrance hall with carved oak beams, leaded glass accent windows, a broad fireplace - one of seven in the house - and a grand staircase that leads to the second level.
A small flowered wall-paper panel next to the dining room entrance features a view of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Alec Green said they believe the wall paper is original to the house and will be preserved.
The formal parlors adjacent to the entrance hall feature curved plaster ceilings, walnut and mahogany millwork and fireplaces with glazed and mosaic tiles that are headed for restoration. David Green said the parlors will be used as group meeting rooms for residents while the library will be converted into an office for the home's manager.
The original subway tile and brick hearth will be restored in the kitchen while the rest of the equipment will be replaced to modern standards. The Greens also will install an accessible bathroom in the area that once served as a butler's pantry.
On the second level, the Greens are installing five bedrooms and treatment room with a triple- locked room for medications.
On the third level, which originally housed the servants' quarters and a ball room, the Greens are installing four bedrooms. The ball room, which has paneled pine bead board, will serve as a lounge for residents.
The basement, which most recently housed repair shops for musical instruments, will be converted into offices for the homes caseworkers and a workout room for clients.
This is one of several articles we have published about historic homes in West Michigan. Here are similar articles we have published recently:
• 130-year-old Victorian farmhouse stays up-to-date in upscale suburb
• Vacant for 22 years after fatal fire, Heritage Hill home finally brought back to life
• 101-year-old farmhouse is restored, avoids date with wrecking ball
• For $2M, 102-year-old Leonard House has 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms
• $2M Heritage Hill mansion filled with history and opportunity
• This beauty on Heritage Hill Tour of Homes retains its Queen Anne grace
• For $1.275M, historic Kindel mansion still has original nooks and crannies
2016-12-10 09:00 Jim Harger realestate.mlive.com
73 /100 0.8 How to protect citrus trees from freezes Cold weather is on its way, and many people are concerned about their citrus trees. One of the most common questions I get from gardeners is, "How much cold can citrus trees tolerate? " Because there are a number of variables, it's difficult to pin point a "threshold" temperature at which it becomes necessary to protect your trees.
There are three basic factors in determining freeze susceptibility of citrus trees. The type and age of the citrus: Satsumas are the most cold hardy of the commonly grown citrus species in Louisiana. Kumquats follow with just a slightly less amount of cold hardiness. The order from most cold hardy to least cold hardy are: satsuma, kumquat, orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime. A citrus tree increases in hardiness as it gets older. Older trees with larger, denser canopies deal with the cold better as they trap more heat than smaller trees or unhealthy trees with thin canopies.
How cold it gets: Threshold temperatures are approximately 20 degrees for satsumas and kumquats and about 25 degrees for all other citrus trees. Trees will be damaged or killed by temperatures in the teens.
The duration of the sub-freezing temperature: If the temperature is below freezing for 24 hours or more, you should expect damage. All ripe fruit should be harvested from trees prior to a significant freeze. Temperatures cold enough to damage the tree also will ruin the fruit. It takes temperatures in the mid- to low 20s for five to 10 hours to freeze the fruit. The most cold hardy parts of the tree are the mature wood of major branches and the trunk.
If a citrus tree is gradually exposed to cooler temperatures, a process called hardening occurs, and trees become more tolerant to freezes. Chilly but above-freezing nights (in the 30s and 40s) that occur during the fall and early winter make the trees better able to handle freezes.
Severe freezes taking place when only mild weather has occurred previously are more likely to cause significant damage. This has been a relatively warm fall so our citrus trees are not well hardened at this point. Still, the temperatures this weekend should not produce severe damage.
The best way to lessen cold damage to citrus is to maintain healthy trees. Cultural practices that tend to induce and maintain dormancy in winter should be used. These methods include avoiding late summer or fall fertilization or pruning. Vigorous trees may recover from cold injury. Weak trees that are showing disease, insect damage or nutritional deficiencies are the ones most severely damaged and are the slowest to recover after freezes.
Steps to reduce freeze damage
To protect a single smaller tree, construct a simple frame and encase the tree with one or two layers of translucent plastic. This is most practical for smaller trees. In southeast Louisiana, such an extreme practice would be needed only on a few severely cold nights.
Before covering, the tree could be generously wrapped with small, outdoor incandescent Christmas lights to provide additional warmth and increase the level of protection. Incandescent Christmas lights will not damage the tree even if they come into contact with it.
The frame and cover could stay in place indefinitely, but will need to be vented. Air temperatures within should not be allowed to go above 85 to 90 degrees. Venting should be provided on sunny warm days to prevent overheating and to maintain a supply of fresh air.
For trees too large to cover, banking the lower trunks of trees with soil or using tree wraps of bubble wrap, foam rubber or Styrofoam will help prevent cold damage to the trunk. This must be done before the first killing freeze and can be left on through the winter. Trunks should be treated with a copper fungicide before wrapping to prevent disease. Or the coverings could be applied during freezes and removed during mild weather.
Although tree tops may still be lost during freezes, a tree can recover if its trunk and root system are intact. Banking or wraps should be removed in the spring.
If the weather has been dry for a week or more in advance of a cold front, water your citrus trees. Trees that are drought stressed may experience more cold damage. This should be done a day or two before the freeze is expected.
Do not prune in the late summer or fall. Late pruning stimulates new growth that may not mature before winter, making it more prone to cold damage. In addition, pruning reduces the size of the canopy going into the winter, and this also reduces cold tolerance.
If pruning is needed, it should be done in early spring. Cuts should be made at branch crotches leaving no stubs. Prune to maintain a full, dense canopy. Trees need good leaf canopies to cut wind speed through the canopy and reduce the rate of cooling.
Leaves radiate heat to each other. Outer leaves may be lost to a freeze, but complete loss of inner leaves is averted by a thick canopy.
Fertilizer should be applied to citrus trees in late January or early February. A general-purpose fertilizer or citrus fertilizer may be used following label directions. Spread the fertilizer around the edge of the branches in the area of the feeder roots. Late summer or fall applications of fertilizer should be avoided as they can reduce the cold hardiness.
Avoid using oil sprays to control insects during the fall and winter. Horticultural oil sprays may decrease cold tolerance.
We potentially have a lot of cold weather yet to come this winter. Cover smaller trees as needed to protect them, and protect the trunks of larger trees if practical.
Keep things in perspective. We generally do not see significant damage if temperatures stay in the mid- to upper 20s and only stay below freezing for a few hours.
Dan Gill is a horticulturist with the LSU AgCenter.
2016-12-10 09:00 Dan Gill www.nola.com
74 /100 2.1 Notting Hill pub The Churchill Arms is decorated with 21,000 lights and 90 Christmas trees With the festive season well and truly under way, the competition for this year's best Christmas displays is hotting up. A strong contender is The Churchill Arms in Notting Hill, west London, which has been decked out with a record 21,000 lights and 90 trees. Landlord Gerry O'Brien has made the pub famous for its festive display, adorning the pub with lavish decorations for over 30 years. He said the pub had managed to outdo itself again this year, with the impressive display - which includes reindeer lights and stars on the roof - taking a week and a half to put up. Mr O'Brien said: 'We want to make the lights look better every year and it really does make a striking impression. 'This year we've got a lovely reindeer outside the door in front of the Queen's picture, so it looks like she's taking a ride to Buckingham Palace on the sleigh. 'We're still finishing off inside, but we've got the 18ft tree outside, five inside, and then all the others, with 21,000 lights.' The Churchill Arms spends over £30,000 a year on decorations, including £25,000 spent on the flowers adorning the pub in the summer. He added: 'We do it for our area - it's lovely to see people's reactions, and Christmas is such a special time of year. 'It's only once a year and we should make the most of it and enjoy it. It's good for business too, people come from all over to look at the lights.'
2016-12-10 08:58 Emily Chan www.dailymail.co.uk
75 /100 1.7 SANCO shocked at non-vetting of SABC executives “Implementing access control and security checkpoints at the National Key Point (NKP) but allowing strategic positions to be occupied by executives and senior managers who do not have security clearance is in itself a contravention of the National Key Point Act‚ " said SANCO national spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu.
Mahlangu said that interaction between the SABC Board chairperson‚ Mbulaheni Maguvhe‚ and the parliamentary ad hoc committee conducting an inquiry into the SABC Board as well as Maguvhe's walkout together with other SABC executives his week had confirmed that the public broadcaster was “not only on auto-pilot but have underscored the urgency need for the formal dissolution of its dysfunctional Board”.
"Every single day that passes without a proper governance structure‚ executive management to oversee daily operations and implementation of critical as well as strategic decisions erodes public confidence and jeopardises the interests of the national asset‚" Mahlangu stressed.
He said that the “circus surrounding the SABC” should come to an end. “Stability has to be established for many good men and women in the corporation to continue with their patriotic duty of serving the nation without the current distraction‚” Mahlangu added.
2016-12-10 08:57 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za
76 /100 3.7 Pinckney High School opens Cyber Training Institute for students, pros PINCKNEY, MI - Pinckney Community High School celebrated the grand opening of a new high- tech space on Wednesday, Dec. 7, that will provide cyber security training for students as well as regional business and IT professionals.
The new Pinckney Cyber Training Institute and Sentinel Center was unveiled Wednesday evening, starting with a VIP reception that drew more than 200 people, said Pinckney Community High School Principal Jim Darga. The event included keynote speakers, tours and demonstrations of the technology.
"It's really so wide ranging because not only do our high school students get a great cyber security experience, but we're going to be able to provide support for the business community of southeast Michigan," Darga said.
The Pinckney cyber hub is the newest Michigan Cyber Range, part of an initiative spearheaded by Gov. Rick Snyder and supported by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. that aims to provide a wide range of cyber security education. About 5,000-square-feet in Pinckney Community High School was repurposed to create the hub, Darga said.
"The development of the Pinckney Cyber Training Institute is just one way we're dedicating resources to educating people in cyber defense and subsequently protecting our citizens, infrastructure and economy," said Steve Arwood, CEO of the MEDC, in a press release. "From smart phones to connected and automated vehicles, our world is relying more and more on advanced technologies and these initiatives are developing the talent and skills needed to prevent cyber attacks. "
Cybersecurity 'training hub' to open at Pinckney high school
Students in high school and college plus IT professionals can complete hands-on cybersecurity coursework, exercises and labs through the Pinckney Cyber Training Institute, which is the state's only cyber rage hub connected to a high school. The programs will lead to 22 different government-recognized and required certifications in order to increase the supply of qualified security talent in Michigan. This high school cyber program is the first of its kind in the nation, according to a press release on the grand opening. High school students can earn 12 to 18 college credits toward a cyber security degree through the institute, Darga said, and PCHS has credit transfer agreements with Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University. PCHS also is working with Cleary University to have classes for the university's new information security and assurance degree program taught at the cyber hub, Darga said.
The cyber hub will hold monthly community events on topics like credit card security and preventing identity theft. Another perk is that the hub is connected directly to Merit Network Internet, Darga said. Merit Network is a nonprofit that creates and manages the Michigan Cyber Range locations.
"That enables us to conduct training exercises in a secure environment," he added. "It also allows businesses to come in and use our Internet for software testing and product testing. "
For more information on the Pinckney Cyber Training Institute and upcoming events, visit pinckneycti.org
2016-12-10 08:55 Lauren Slagter www.mlive.com
77 /100 2.4 Made In Chelsea's Georgia Toffolo flashes her flat stomach in glamorous gown She's been enjoying a more prominent role in recent episodes of Made In Chelsea. And Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo was certainly taking centre stage at the Teens Unite The Advent Tale fundraising gala in London on Friday night, mingling with a host of her reality star pals. The 22-year- old beauty flashed just a hint of skin in her stomach-baring dress, which featured a sheer panel at the waist. Scroll down for video Toff's floral embellished, strapless top showcased her gym-honed upper body and made the most of her petite figure. The politics student stunned in the glamorous, floor-skimming gown, although she appeared to be struggling with her train on the red carpet. The star slung a sparkling bag with chain strap detailing over one shoulder as she made her grand arrival. Toff wore her blonde hair down loose and highlighted her features thanks to a slick of bright pink lipstick. The reality star recently opened up about her love life following her heartbreak when Francis Boulle picked co-star Olivia Bentley over her. Georgia told OK! Online that she 'struggled' because of the drama and found it hard to watch back. 'It was really hard actually, I really struggled', she said. 'It was like the worst series I’ve ever had, it was emotionally very hard.' The posh beauty was recently spotted on a night out with a mystery man, but she remained coy when quizzed about her date. She confessed: 'I've met someone that I really like and I’m so happy.' 2016-12-10 08:54 Kate Thomas www.dailymail.co.uk
78 /100 0.9 Greek ferry workers end 9-day strike ATHENS, Greece — Greek ferry workers have ended a nine-day strike, saying they did not wish to disrupt the holiday season, but promised to resume action if the government did not back off tax hikes for ferry workers. ...
2016-12-10 08:54 system article.wn.com
79 /100 2.1 Top 5 Marketing Plans for new brands Four Dunkin' Donuts franchisee groups plan to build up to 65 locations in an area of North Texas that was previously planned for development by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry...
After reporting a growth of 51 percent in the first three quarters of this fiscal year, Apple met Commerce Minister again regarding its plans to open single-brand retail ...
NEW YORK - Starbucks said on Wednesday that its fast-growing China market could one day eclipse that in the US. The company unveiled its five-year strategic plan at its...
Nokia is planning to fight its way back to the top of the mobile phone industry after years of lagging behind several of its competitors. Nokia was once the world’s...
Apple officials had met Commerce Ministry top brass amid its plans to open stores in India without initially having to source components locally. In the meeting, chaired by...
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recent private-label food and beverage market in the US report. This research report also lists 21 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here:...
BENGALURU: Flipkart is starting its first private label, Smartbuy, on Thursday. This will be used in the electronics & accessories, and personal care electronics spaces. A second private label is expected to be rolled out in March in categories such as furniture, home furnishing and decor. Adarsh Menon, head of private brands for Flipkart, said the products will be sourced from...
Data from Fiksu.com confirm that Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) is in no danger of losing its position as the most popular Android smartphone brand. Samsung models dominate the list of the top Android phones with 16 models comprising 43% of Android all active Android phones. Click to enlarge Source: Fiksu.com With an installed base of over 2.2 billion as of July 2016, those 16 Samsung ...
(Source: ASHI - American Society of Home Inspectors ) Originallty posted at The Huffington Post Blog John Rampton Entrepreneur, online marketing guru and startup addict Both startup founders and employees should be familiar with overcoming adversity. The startup life is a never-ending battle of establishing yourself as a new player in a market. The battle starts with being able...
The Lava Metal 24 is touted as the first feature phone to come with metal body. Even as smartphones are growing in popularity in the country, there’s still a big market for feature phones in the country. Though, the price gap between entry-level smartphones and feature phones has continued to narrow. While brands are focusing on the budget and entry-level smartphone segments,...
2016-12-10 08:49 hosierjennas article.wn.com
80 /100 1.0 Trump: Companies That Leave U. S. Will Have a ‘Very, Very Substantial Tariff or Tax to Pay’ Friday at a rally for Louisiana Senate candidate Republican John Kennedy in Baton Rouge, President-elect Donald Trump restated his proposal to impose a “substantial tariff or tax,” on the imports of companies that move production out of the United States.
Trump said, “We don’t want companies to leave our country, go to another country, and sell their product and then sell the product where they left. Now we have all unemployed people. They had jobs for 32 years. I mean Carrier is a great example, and Carrier— we did a great job with Carrier, but, you know, they announced it a year and a half ago, they already have a plant built. Think what you could do if they haven’t started or haven’t said anything yet. They’re not going to leave because we’re going to put up a very high tax, and if they want to build their plant out of this country, that’s fine, but if they think they’re going to sell their product back into the country and have no tax, that’s not going to happen anymore folks, not going to happen, and therefore they’re not going to leave. They may leave a state and go to a different state. Maybe they’re having a hard time with their employees.”
“That’s possible, and they may leave, but they’re going to leave for another state,” he continued. “They’re not leaving for another country very easily, and if they do, they’re going to have a very, very substantial tariff or tax to pay. That’s it. And you know what’s going to happen? They’re going to say, we like Louisiana very much, right? We’re not leaving. All right. i don’t say 100 percent of the time, but I’ll tell you what, pretty close to that number. We lost 70,000 factories in this country. We have so many companies right now, although I think probably if I would have said a couple months ago we have so many companies negotiating to leave, I don’t think they’re negotiating so fast right now. I have heard that. And you see what’s happening with the stock market and a lot of things, because they understand we know what we’re doing. We’re not going to let this happen. We can’t let it happen. Our country is being drained, drained of its jobs, and its good jobs, and they’re going to other countries, and just not going to happen.”
2016-12-10 08:47 - www.infowars.com
81 /100 3.0 Marrakech Festival Pays Tribute to Isabelle Adjani MARRAKECH, Morocco — On its penultimate night, the 16th Marrakech Film Festival paid tribute to acclaimed French actress Isabelle Adjani , the only person to have ever one five best actress prizes at France’s Cesar Awards. She has also been nominated for an Academy Award on two occasions, for François Truffaut’s “The Story of Adele H.” and Bruno Nuytten’s “Camille Claudel,” and twice won best actress at Cannes – for “Possession” and “Quartet.”
Adjani was visibly moved by the tribute, in particular by a medley of scenes from her most famous films, including “Camille Claudel” and “Queen Margot.”
As she walked up the red carpet to enter the Palais de Congres, she was asked whether she leaves a bit of her soul in each film, to which she replied: “Of course, we give a bit of our soul in each part we play. But we hope to renew it with each new film.”
The tribute was presented by three directors, none of whom have worked directly with her – French director, Christophe Honoré, Romanian director Christian Mungiu and Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako.
Mungiu served as jury member at Marrakech in 2014 and Sissako was president of the festival’s Cinecoles short film competition in the same year.
Honoré said that he is one of the main unfortunate directors who have never made a film with Adjani. “I started my career at exactly the same moment when you said you were less interested in acting.”
He said that he understood that once you have acted the same gestures on hundreds of occasions, it begins to make less sense, adding that some people, through their absence, are more present.
“You have always been watching over our films,” he concluded.
Mungiu explained that while growing up one day he saw a picture of Adjani that for him was the most beautiful image he had ever seen. He glued it in his room and later discovered who it was. “Your beauty is not just a question of a beautiful face,” he said. “You have unbelievable grace, class, talent, energy and subtlety. You are beautiful inside.”
He then explained that when he first had the opportunity to be presented to Adjani he declined the offer because he didn’t know what to say, and that the tribute ceremony was a second chance for him.
Sissako said that after he studied at the VGIK film school in Moscow, Adjani was one of the first people he met when he returned to Paris. He described her as a rare actress who has marked our existence, is charming with hidden aspects to her personality that are never accessible.
“You constantly reinvent yourself. You don’t chase after fame and recognition. You are the opposite of materialism,” Sissako proclaimed.
Adjani then took the stage and began by saying that “festivals, like films, are graceful monuments, poems that are fixed in our memories, built with living stones that we all are, as artists.”
Adjani emphasized her delight in being able to attend Marrakech as a crossroads of culture, “this place nourishes human encounters,” she said. “Many facets and forms of humanity meet here.”
She stated that she believes that in today’s world – with many forces of division and separation and a closing of boundaries, in terms of geography and sensibilities – Marrakech can play a special role because of its location and geography.
“This is a capital of the spirit and the heart, of free encounters and transmission, that can overcome the boundaries between North and South, between man and woman,” Adjani said.
Speaking about the montage of clips from her films she said that the montage moved her deeply, reminding her of the inspiration of working with so many directors and the chance to cross centuries and play culprit and victim, bitter and sweet, innocent and triumphant, “and so many times madly in love.”
“Even if I don’t like looking back, I carry these women inside me, these lives I’ve inside me, a major part of my life,” at which point she seemed on the verge of tears.
“Extreme sensitivity can be dangerous. It can destroy us. But that’s the price we have to pay. A great director is like an astronomer who finds a unique and secret light hidden in an actor’s face. He captures its hidden emotion, revealed in silence, shows intimacy while preserving the unique mystery of the character.”
Her speech was followed by a video testimony by French actress/director Maiwenn, who played alongside Adjani in Jean Becker’s “One Deadly Summer,” and who said that Adjani had inspired her to see the world in a different way and provided a “spiritual oasis” for her.
The tribute ended with a screening of Adjani’s most recent film “Carole Matthieu” by Louis-Julien Petit, which was released theatrically this week in France.
2016-12-10 08:42 Martin Dale variety.com
82 /100 2.1 Karanka hails Middlesbrough recruitment chief Orta over summer deals Aitor Karanka has hailed the influence of recruitment chief Victor Orta on Middlesbrough's fortunes and thinks he was "crazy" to do the job himself.
Orta, who previously worked behind the scenes in his native Spain with Elche and Sevilla, has struck up a close bond with the manager in his year on Teesside.
In that time the club have won promotion to the Premier League and taken 15 points from their first 14 games back in the top flight.
Over the summer seasoned Spanish internationals Alvaro Negredo and Victor Valdes were drafted in, while deals for Gaston Ramirez and Adama Traore also look good business.
Yet Karanka may well see the signing of Orta as his best piece of business yet, with the appointment freeing him up to focus on the day to day job of management.
"To start with, it was a surprise he was available to sign," said the former Real Madrid assistant.
"His reputation in Spain is big, he wasn't the sporting director at Sevilla but his job there was amazing, and he did a great job at Elche also.
"So when the club told me he was available to sign, I didn't have any doubts.
"I think it's a position that you should have a lot of confidence in.
Karanka has five more games to prepare for between now and the new year, starting with Sunday's trip to Southampton, but Orta is already running the rule over January targets.
"I can focus on the games and I know when I have our first meeting in one week or two weeks he will bring me (recommendations) of the best players possible," said the manager.
"When you have a good relationship and you know how good he is at his job, I can go home relaxed knowing we will get the best players in the following market.
"We're confident that we have each other, our relationship is amazing, and if I remember now my first two years here when I had to do everything - I was crazy. "
Boro are hoping for good news on the fitness front, with doubts over key men Negredo and Ramirez. The pair have been responsible for four of the team's last six goals but sustained minor hamstring and foot problems in last week's 1-0 win over Hull.
They have not trained with the squad during the week but will be given the chance to prove their fitness, particularly with back-up striker Jordan Rhodes also nursing a groin complaint.
Cristhian Stuani is on standby to fill in up front if Negredo is unfit.
2016-12-10 08:41 Press Association www.independent.ie
83 /100 2.9 Facebook finds beautiful missing photo for girlfriend of Oakland fire victim Social media might be your go-to place to argue with your cousins and post silly cat GIFS, but sometimes, it can be really beautiful.
On Dec. 4, Saya Tomioka posted a plea to Facebook to help her find a picture of her kissing her boyfriend, Griffin Maddens, a victim of the Oakland warehouse fire in hopes of a "facebook miracle," and social media delivered.
"Maybe some facebook miracle could happen," the bereaving girlfriend wrote. "This morning I remembered the first time I went to Times Square, June 16 of 2015. "
"Griffin and I just finished watching The Book of Mormon on Broadway," she continued, "I remember tears swelling my eyes because the city was so beautiful and amidst all the lights, I got to look at the brightest light of all, my sweetie. I cried, and we kissed. Some random photographer captured this very moment, this very kiss. "
"I never got his name," Tomioka revealed of the photographer, "He...simply showed us the single beautiful snap shot. "
"I've always longed to find this particular photograph and thank the photographer," she wrote, "Friends, possibly with your help, I can be reunited with this photograph," she continued, asking the post's viewers to please share.
After receiving over 300 shares, the post was sent to New York-based photographer, Arken Avan , who decided to thoroughly search his archive.
He found the picture Tomioka was looking for, and posted the beautiful image to Instagram. Griffin was one of 36 who died in the fire earlier this month.
"For a memory of Griffin Madden," the photographer wrote in the caption. "I decided to pull out my archive, and wasn't sure if that [photographer] was me, and if i actually have this photograph, cause it was more than year ago and it's more that 200,000 pictures in my street archive," he continued.
"Luckily, I found their beautiful image and was so happy I found it and photographed their beautiful moment," Avan said. "I hope this beautiful moment in a photo will stay forever in your memory Saya, for a memory of you[r] love,. "
Once in her possession, Tomioka made the photo her Facebook profile picture , dedicating the caption to a beautiful letter to her departed love. "I've finally found you," she wrote to Griffin, "I sobbed when I saw this photo. "
Tomioka continued the tribute, writing the photo helped bring "a glimpse of [Griffin's] light back into my life. "
We're so glad this picture could bring her some peace. No, you're crying.
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2016-12-10 08:38 AOL Staff www.aol.com
84 /100 0.0 Parthiv Patel was quick to criticise the quality of England's spinners... but India wicketkeeper has a point When Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel spoke on Friday evening about the lack of quality in England’s spin attack, he was probably being a bit too honest for his own good. Test cricketers tend not to bag each other mid-series, let alone mid-match – and England’s fielders visibly bristled when Patel made his way out to bat not long after drinks on the third afternoon of this fourth Test. When Patel was caught behind for a skittish 15 off Joe Root, of all people, believers in karma allowed themselves a quiet grin. But, well, the truth can hurt – and there was no disputing the gist of his jibe. Put simply, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are better spinners than Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. Gut instinct, the evidence of your own eyes, the statistics, even Parthiv Patel – they all tell you this. And while the masterful batting of Virat Kohli has been one major difference between India and England over the past few weeks, so too has been the crushing superiority of the home spinners. By the end of the third day, the numbers confirmed the reality. Even after taking three for 230 in the first Test at Rajkot, Ashwin has picked up 21 at 27 in this series, conceding just 2.68 runs an over. Jadeja has 14 at 32, and an economy rate of 2.29. Rashid has bowled better out here than many thought him capable, taking more wickets in a Test series than any English leg-spinner since Tich Freeman’s haul of 22 against South Africa in 1929. But while Rashid’s 20 wickets have cost a respectable 33, he has gone for 3.49 an over, depriving Alastair Cook of the control that any captain needs in a country where a game can quickly assume the chaos of life beyond the boundary. Moeen, meanwhile, has nine wickets at 47 – scarcely better than a part-timer. And it said much for England’s questionable selections that Root’s little-used off-breaks instantly looked more threatening than either Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty, both of whom have come and gone. When England won at Mumbai in 2005-06, it was Shaun Udal’s veteran off-spin that applied the icing. In 2012-13, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar did with the ball what Cook and Kevin Pietersen managed with the bat. With the best will in the world, it’s hard to see who can spin England to victory this time. This is not the fault of Moeen or Rashid, who are trying their hardest against some of the best players of slow bowling in the world. But the success four years ago of Swann and Panesar in particular masked English cricket’s failure to prepare for the future, blithely tolerating a county game full of pitches designed to make medium-pacers look like world beaters. For want of anyone else, Moeen has been thrust into a role that – even by his own admission – does not come naturally. His 97 Test wickets have cost 40 each. The cruel joke as this game has progressed is to ask why the pitch turned so much more appreciably for India’s spinners on the first day and a bit than it did for England’s thereafter. But the truth contained within it has been undeniable. Just ask Parthiv Patel.
2016-12-10 08:34 Lawrence Booth www.dailymail.co.uk
85 /100 0.9 Granier bakery forced to close after rats crawled over food in Madrid A Spanish bakery with stores in London has been forced to shut after these two hungry rodents were filmed nibbling on ham sandwiches at one of its outlets in Madrid. Shocked passers-by got their mobiles out and took video of the night- time animal feast before calling police who ordered the temporary closure of the business until town hall chiefs carry out a detailed inspection. The rats got stuck in at a food display at Granier Bakery's Pueblo Nuevo branch in Madrid, one of more than 350 Spain's leading bakery operates around the world including Woolwich and Wood Green in London. The company confirmed the closure in a press release in which it claimed it was trying to get to the bottom of this 'isolated incident.' A spokesman said: 'Granier confirms the Pueblo Nuevo establishment in Madrid has been closed and sealed off. 'The company has made itself available to the relevant authorities and opened an internal investigation. 'Granier confirms that the establishment has strictly complied with food safety standards.' A company statement added: 'Granier confirms this is an isolated incident that is being investigated internally to detect the origin. 'All the more than 350 Granier establishments in Spain and around the world comply strictly with all food safety norms.' A fumigations firm reportedly recommended structural improvements to the shop including repairs to a broken front door and holes in plasterboard ceilings when it made a recent site visit. The bakery and cafe group opened its second premises in the UK on the Woolwich Arsenal estate in south east London at the end of last year as part of an expansion programme. It has opened another three stores in London since then and also operates out of Miami. The company, which operates a franchise system, boasts on its website: 'In Granier Bakery, we're loyal to artisanal recipes and we elaborate our products daily with traditional methods and with the best ingredients, in order to offer more than 65 speciality breads to our demanding customers. 'All our franchise bakeries offer a cafeteria pleasant atmosphere, with highest quality of bakery products.'
2016-12-10 08:15 Gerard Couzens www.dailymail.co.uk
86 /100 2.1 'Nocturnal Animals' review: Amy Adams headlines jumbled arthouse-noir thriller Tom Ford's "Nocturnal Animals " wants to make a statement about life, love and art, but I walked away from it only reassured that, yes, I absolutely could watch Michael Shannon eat breakfast beneath a half-pushbroom mustache for as long as it takes to fill his belly twice, probably more. The actor, a true eccentric of cinema and heroic scene thief, radiates enough heat and intensity in his many supporting roles to inspire a new conspiracy theory about global warming. He's great. As usual.
This is the long way around to the proclamation that "Nocturnal Animals" is a mixed bag. It has many lofty ambitions not innately tied to Shannon's performance, which is perhaps a shame, but admirable nonetheless, even when they're not quite fulfilled. Adapting Austin Wright's novel "Tony and Susan," Ford's film is a tale of two disparate narratives - one excellent and the other lousy - that never tangle in a fulfilling or meaningful manner. It's a beautifully photographed slice of quasi-profundity, and above and beyond that, a quest for tonal consistency never consummated. It's satire, it's noir, it's melodrama; it's all of the above, but also not quite any of the above.
In the primary narrative, Amy Adams plays Susan Morrow, an upper-upper-crust art gallery proprietor living an immaculately lit, emotionally empty life beneath a few inches of blue eye shadow. There's trouble in her cold, hard, showy, maudlin, polished paradise of servant staffs, runway fashion and dinners of groomed sprigs and micro-filets. Her house is more of a museum than a home - if there's a rounded corner anywhere in it, it surely will be reconstituted as a sharp angle. Her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer) is handsome and distant, skipping Susan's big opening with work-related excuses. I kept expecting him to make a haughty speech about how the Hamptons has gotten too bourgeois.
Hutton jets off for an extramarital affair disguised as a business trip, leaving Susan alone with a manuscript, titled "Nocturnal Animals," written by her previous husband. Uh oh. It's not made clear until later in the movie, after a few flashbacks to her time with Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), that she feels she at least owes it to the guy to read his novel during her dark and lonely insomniac nights.
Review: 'Manchester by the Sea' is Casey Affleck's serious shot at an Oscar
It's a gripper. Ford, who similarly overdirected Colin Firth's Oscar showcase "A Single Man," cuts up Susan's blase despair with a story within the story, casting Gyllenhaal in a second role, Tony Hastings, the protagonist of Edward's novel. It's pretty clear he's working out some stuff by writing it. Tony and his wife (Isla Fisher) and teenage daughter (Ellie Bamber) are road-tripping after dark across rural Texas, outside the reach of a cell phone signal, when they're run off the road by midnight joyriders, three predatory redneck creeps led by Ray, played by a wily Aaron Taylor-Johnson with a screw or three loose, several two-by-fours short of a trailer stoop or a wheel-and-a-half short of a bicycle, take your pick.
This sequence of great and terrifying harassment is drawn-out, upsetting and thoroughly unpleasant, and therefore engaging and suspenseful. If you felt nothing for Adams' character earlier - and why would you not feel nothing for a riche snob whose friends comment on her existential despair by saying, "Our world is a lot less painful than the real world"? - you will feel much more for Tony, emasculated by men who are bigger and stronger than him, and who make off with his family in the dead of night. Ford's work here is arresting filmmaking, in the sense that you feel cuffed and thrown in a paddywagon, where you're physically and psychically jostled, captive to the situation, deeply in touch with Tony's sense of fear and frustration.
And so arrives Shannon, playing a cowboy-hatted detective, Bobby Andes, taking Tony's case. Initially, Bobby doesn't strike the most reassuring tone, which is one of Shannon's superpowers. The guy never plays a stable character, even when it might be stable on the page. He's sneaky that way. Anyway,
Bobby and Tony go out for breakfast, and as Shannon eats a forkful of hash, we learn that neither man really has anything to lose, and unorthodox methods may be necessary for justice to be served.
I feel like I've gone off the reservation in my description of "Nocturnal Animals," so at odds are its tones. It's a genre film wrapped in an art film, fine in concept, but in execution here, as discordant as a bacon-wrapped birthday cake. Ford shifts from vibrant and raw to dull and somber, grinding gears as he cuts back and forth from Tony's visceral experience to Susan's contemplative staring, from colorful characters to cardboard cutouts. The editing generates suspense building to resolutions of both narratives, but the film often feels less like a fully formed body, more like guts splayed on one end of the table and a brain dropped on the other, with only a light trail of blood connecting them.
Movie review: 'Moana' is not quite yet another wonderful Disney princess fable
'Allied' review: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard flounder a bit in elegant WWII melodrama
Movie review: A must-see, 'Moonlight' is a beautiful, heart-wrenching drama
2016-12-10 08:00 John Serba www.mlive.com
87 /100 87 /100 2.3 Scientists Find Million-Year-Old Superbug In New Mexican Cave : Goats and Soda : NPR Michaeleen Doucleff
The bacteria were discovered in New Mexico's Lechuguilla Cave — a part of Carlsbad Caverns and the deepest cave in the continental U. S.
Courtesy of Max Wisshak hide caption
Bacteria are way smarter than we give them credit for.
No, I'm not talking about "brain smarts. " Bacteria don't have neurons.
I'm referring to "chemical smarts:" the ability to make, break down or gobble up whatever compound they want. Even if they've never been exposed to it before.
Scientists have found a superbug — hidden 1,000 feet underground in a cave — which is resistant to 70 percent of antibiotics and can totally inactivate many of them.
But here's the kicker. This bacterium has been isolated from people, society — and drugs — for 4 million years, scientists report Thursday in the journal Nature Communications.
That means it hasn't been exposed to human drugs in a clinic or on a farm that uses them. But it has the machinery to knock out these drugs. And that machinery has been around for millions of years.
" People are like, 'Oh no! It's a superbug!' says Hazel Barton , a microbiologist at the University of Akron, who helped find the bacteria. "But I prefer to call it a hero bug. "
Because, Barton says, the bacterium is helping scientists understand where antibiotic resistance comes from and, hopefully, new ways to stop it. And the bacterium — called Paenibacillus (pronounced "penny-bacillus") — isn't pathogenic. It won't hurt you. It's just capable of evading many, many antibiotics.
Barton and her colleagues found the ancient super/herobug inside Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico. It's the deepest cave in the continental U. S. — 1,632 feet at its lowest point.
And it's one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. The cave never sees the sun. "It takes about 10,000 years for water from the surface to get into the cave," Barton says.
So how on Earth did this underground bacteria become resistance to human antibiotics? Don't bacteria develop resistance after being exposed to the drugs in people and animals? "That's kind of the old model," Barton says. "When we originally went into this cave in 2012, we found that the microbes there were resistant to every natural antibiotic that we use in hospitals.
"It changed our understanding because it means antibiotic resistance didn't evolve in the clinic through our use. The resistance is hardwired," she says.
Now there's one big caveat. This "hardwired" resistance is true only for natural antibiotics.
" About 99.9 percent of all the antibiotics that we use come from microorganisms, from bacteria and fungi," Barton says. "They are constantly lobbing these chemical missiles at each other. And so if you're going to live in that environment you have to have a good defense. " The goal of all this lobbing is survival: There are very few nutrients in the cave. So the microorganisms are constantly trying to kill each other and take each others' food.
But some antibiotics are manmade. "The bacteria in the cave have never been exposed to these antibiotics," Barton says. "So they're still sensitive them. "
2016-12-10 08:00 Michaeleen Doucleff www.npr.org
88 /100 0.0 Mad for plaid Old Navy Plaid Skirt | Old Navy scarf | Ted & Muffy Boots c/o
Today's post is short & sweet because I'm all the way in California this weekend! Make sure to follow along on social media to see our trip in action. It is so pretty here! I just wanted to share this awesome plaid skirt today because it's so cute & inexpensive! Grab it Old Navy here.
Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Friday! xo
The post Mad for plaid appeared first on Tiffany Style Blog
2016-12-10 08:00 AOL Staff www.aol.com
89 /100 0.2 Tropical plants, spring-flowering bulbs, Get It Growing and flowers to sow: This week's gardening tips Tropical container plants moved indoors for the winter generally do not need any fertilizer since growth is slow at best. Most problems are associated with reduced light and dry air. Fertilizing plants struggling with these conditions will not help them. Provide as much light as possible, and locate plants where hot air vents do not blow directly on them. Although they should have been planted by now, you can still plant spring-flowering bulbs like leucojum, Ipheion, anemones, narcissus, zephyranthes, ranunculus, ornithogalum, daffodils and Spanish bluebells and expect good results. But don't delay.
The LSU AgCenter's 2017 'Get It Growing' calendar is available atlsuagcenter.com and at some local nurseries. Featuring monthly gardening tips by Times- Picayune columnist Dan Gill, beautiful photographs by Louisiana gardeners, and lots of useful gardening information, it's a great gift for your gardener friends. The calendar costs $11.95 and proceeds support horticulture scholarships and research.
Flower seeds that may be sown this month include alyssum, candytuft, forget-me-not, poppies, snapdragon, calendula, sweet pea, larkspur, cornflower and annual phlox. Transplants of these purchased from area nurseries also could be planted now.
2016-12-10 08:00 Dan Gill www.nola.com
90 /100 1.2 How South Korea's politics could get even more confusing The scandal that toppled her is the stuff of B-movie plots. President Park Geun- hye, daughter of the strongman who presided over much of South Korea's economic miracle, had formed a close bond with Choi Soon-sil , the daughter of one of Korea's most senior shamans The friendship began apparently at a moment of stress soon after Park's father's assassination in 1979.
Breaking many security rules, she shared state secrets with Choi , who seems to have had a hand in writing some of President Park's speeches.
The news shocked Koreans who demonstrated in the millions for President Park's resignation. But, aloof as ever, she held on to her office, offering only to resign if the national assembly so decided.
In the end, parliamentarians instead decided to impeach her. The vote count of 234 in favor of her impeachment -- well over the 200 votes required -- means that many in her own party must have voted against her. At this point, this bizarre story takes an even stranger turn. The impeachment strips President Park of her powers, but not of her office. This can only be taken from her if the Constitutional Court upholds parliament's decision. In the meantime, her Prime Minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn, exercises the powers of the presidency.
As part of this political storm, President Park tried to replace Hwang last month only to be forced to reinstate him after her proposed replacement was vetoed by the national assembly, an incident that is unlikely to have endeared her to him.
So for the time being, President Park is still formally in office but with no decision-making powers, with the country run by a caretaker. Unless she voluntarily resigns (there is no sign that she will, not least because if she does so, she loses her immunity from prosecution) this situation may last for up to six months while the Constitutional Court deliberates on the impeachment.
It gets stranger. Nine judges sit in the Constitutional Court and the constitution requires that six of them uphold the impeachment for President Park finally to be forced out of office. But the terms of two of the judges will soon end (one in January, one in March) and in the current confusion, it is unlikely that they will be replaced quickly. So the judgment will in fact be handed down not by nine judges, but by seven. This means that, as the requirement for six votes in favor of impeachment is not changed by the judges' departure, unless all but one of the remaining judges support the impeachment (unlikely given their conservatism) President Park will be reinstated, probably some time in May.
After all that has happened it is unlikely that she would at that point be taken seriously as president, whatever the letter of the constitution. This would mean that from May until the end of President Park's term in February 2018 South Korea would be ruled not so much by a lame duck as a dead one.
Given the challenges the country faces (including provocations from North Korea) this would be most unfortunate.
If, on the other hand, the Constitutional Court does uphold the impeachment, the constitution requires fresh elections. The South Korean opposition is in disarray and it is quite possible that a candidate from President Park's own party would be elected president to succeed her, which would probably mean a continuation of her policies, but without shamanistic guidance.
For many of the Koreans who have demonstrated for her fall, this would be an enormous disappointment.
2016-12-10 07:46 John Everard rss.cnn.com
91 /100 4.3 SA photographers' Tutu exhibition on show in New York Cape Town - A photographic exhibition focusing on 30 years of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s life has opened in New York.
The work of South African photographers Sumaya Hisham and Eric Miller features snaps from his apartheid activism to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and his peace and justice work since his retirement six years ago.
The exhibition, titled Tutu: Then and Now , is a project by the US-based Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, in partnership with Trinity Church Wall Street.
Brian Rusch, executive director of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, said Hisham’s work "perfectly captures all of the qualities of the Archbishop as I know him".
"As we began planning the exhibit, we realised the need for historical context. Sumaya had a colleague, Eric Miller, who had photographed the Archbishop during much of the 1980s and 90s, so we invited him to collaborate with us on this project," he said in a statement.
"Through the beauty and history captured in these photos, it is my hope that people are inspired to go out into the world and do what they can to make it a better place. "
Hisham, a freelance photojournalist based in Cape Town, has been published internationally in print and electronic media.
Her work has featured in the Washington Post, LA Times, Times UK, Irish Times, Guardian, The Mirror UK, BBC, and Newsweek.
Two years ago, she hosted her first solo photographic exhibition, #Tutu at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
It has since been exhibited in Leytonstone, London and in Cupertino, California.
Miller is a documentary photographer who has worked across the globe, and started his career as a photojournalist during the 1980s.
His main work zooms in on social and human rights issues, from HIV/Aids and TB, to general health, working and living conditions on farms, labour, migrant and gender issues.
The exhibition, which features 40 photographs, opened at St Paul’s Chapel in Manhattan on December 1 and runs until December 18.
This will be followed by a North American tour that includes Washington DC, Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco.
A special celebratory reception is planned for Friday.
2016-12-10 07:42 www.news24.com
92 /100 2.8 ‘La La Land’ expected to lead Golden Globe nominations LOS ANGELES—Nominations for the Golden Globes will be unveiled Monday with critics expecting musical “La La Land” to lead the pack ahead of “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Lion.”
In a departure from last year’s awards calendar, the announcements come before the influential Screen Actors Guild nominations, making them the first major bellwether of momentum going into the Oscars race.
The Globe nominations, set to be made at the crack of dawn in Beverly Hills, are decided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a group of entertainment journalists who are wined and dined by publicists.
There has been controversy in the past over the category placement of films, with last year’s inclusion of “The Martian” and “Joy” in comedy/musical raising eyebrows.
But awards prediction site Gold Derby has Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land”—uncontroversially both a musical and a romantic comedy—comfortably in the lead in several races.
“Normally the Globe voters like to spread the wealth among a lot of different films, but I could honestly see it winning the film award and for Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone,” managing director Chris Beachum told AFP.
“It’s got a very good shot at ‘directing’ and maybe the score or song categories—it could do really well.”
Experts say Kenneth Lonergan’s unflinching “Manchester by the Sea,” which has won acclaim for its central performance by Casey Affleck, has been getting the most recent attention on the drama side.
Another frontrunner is Barry Jenkins’s coming-of-age story “Moonlight,” with cast members Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali in with a shout for acting nominations.
Tolerance of scandal
“Lion,” Garth Davis’s drama about a teenager adopted by an Australian family who searches for his long-lost blood relatives using Google Earth, is also expected to earn several nominations, including in acting for Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman.
The Globes will be the year’s first big test of Hollywood’s tolerance of scandal, with Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” seen as firm awards material until news emerged of a historical acquittal over rape allegations by a woman who ended up committing suicide.
“Will they separate the art from the artist? Will the film be able to stand on its own or will the very mixed reviews of it sink its chances?” writes Eric Anderson of the AwardsWatch.com blog.
Denzel Washington, nominated on seven occasions, looks a good bet to earn a first directing nomination for “Fences” but faces competition from “Silence” director Martin Scorsese who won in 2012 for “Hugo.”
Emily Blunt could get a sixth acting nomination for “The Girl on the Train” while French screen siren Isabelle Huppert has turned heads with her commanding lead in Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle.”
Viola Davis (“Fences”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”) and Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) are all strong contenders for this category, however.
Among the television prizes, FX’s “Atlanta,” about two cousins trying to make it big in hip hop, looks a good bet for best musical/comedy after earning acclaim for its ten-episode debut season in the fall.
HBO black comedy “Divorce,” should also be in the running, as should its star Sarah Jessica Parker, who already has four Golden Globes for “Sex in the City.”
The 74th Golden Globe Awards will air on NBC live coast-to-coast from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Sunday, Jan. 8 from 5-8 p.m. PT (0100-0400 GMT Monday), with talk show host Jimmy Fallon presenting.
2016-12-10 00:00 Agence France entertainment.inquirer.net
93 /100 2.6 Cesarean births are changing how we evolve Amsterdam - Cesarean sections (or C-sections) save the lives of mothers and babies, and they are also a ‘lifestyle’ choice for some expectant mothers. This area has been examined by researchers to see what the impact is upon human evolution. According to Dr. Philipp Mitteroecker, from the University of Vienna, Austria, the process is a form of evolutionary selection. In that, according to the evolutionary biologist, the procedure does not take place ‘naturally’ (in that it requires a medical intervention.) One global estimate puts the annual number of cesareans at 1.3 million and it accounts for over 30 percent of births. Where the evolutionary aspect comes in the rise in cesareans means that the genes associated with birth complications, such as those that influence the baby’s head size and the mother’s pelvis size, are then carried onto future generations. Interviewed by Laboratory Roots, To predict what might happen in the future, Dr. Mitteroecker One interesting outcome is that bigger babies, born via caesareans, tend to be healthier and have higher chances for survival. Such events are likely to rise given a tendency for women to have narrower pelvises. It could be that, one day in the future, the majority of children will have to be born by cesarean sections. The research is The C- section procedure enables a baby to be delivered through incisions made to the mother’s lower abdomen. This is undertaken, for medical reasons, when the baby is too large to pass through the mother’s birth canal. There are also other medical reasons why this procedure may be undertaken. According to Dr. Philipp Mitteroecker, from the University of Vienna, Austria, the process is a form of evolutionary selection. In that, according to the evolutionary biologist, the procedure does not take place ‘naturally’ (in that it requires a medical intervention.) One global estimate puts the annual number of cesareans at 1.3 million and it accounts for over 30 percent of births. Where the evolutionary aspect comes in the rise in cesareans means that the genes associated with birth complications, such as those that influence the baby’s head size and the mother’s pelvis size, are then carried onto future generations. Interviewed by Laboratory Roots, Dr. Mitteroecker adds : "women with a very narrow pelvis would not have survived birth 100 years ago. They do now and pass on their genes encoding for a narrow pelvis to their daughters.”To predict what might happen in the future, Dr. Mitteroecker constructed a computer model. Data was drawn from the World Health Organization and other large birth studies. This model looked back and shows how the proportion of cesareans has increased from 30 percent in 1960 to 36 percent today, and how that is likely to increase in the future due to genetic shifts. In doing so, Dr. Mitteroecker stated that his aim was not to pass comment on cesareans but rather to measure how an evolutionary effect is taking place. One interesting outcome is that bigger babies, born via caesareans, tend to be healthier and have higher chances for survival. Such events are likely to rise given a tendency for women to have narrower pelvises. It could be that, one day in the future, the majority of children will have to be born by cesarean sections. The research is published in the journal PNAS, in a paper titled “Cliff-edge model of obstetric selection in humans.”
2016-12-10 07:16 www.digitaljournal.com
94 /100 1.4 Ultraviolet light can control inflammation With a potential medical breakthrough scientists have come up with d a chemical tool to control inflammation, one that is activated by ultraviolet light. Discussing the concept in a research briefing, the principal researcher Because of this, she adds: “we are pushing the forefront of developing new technologies to control inflammation and the immune system.” The reason why medics are keen to control inflammation is due to the on- going damaging effects. With the study, Cornell University scientists created a probe that can inhibit a reaction controlled by enzymes called histone deacetylases. These enzymes regulate genes that turn on when the immune system is challenged by a pathogen. Switching this off stops the immune response. However, turning off the response for the entire body would be dangerous, whereas a targeted switching off would be of benefit and bring localized inflammation under control. This is where the ultraviolet light activator comes into play. The research has shown, in animal models, how specific pathways can be turned on and off. This would, if replicated in a human, allow a medic to regulate chronic inflammation. Such a process would be termed a ‘photodynamic therapy.’ A further advantage of the method is it minimizes any side effects on healthy tissues. The research has been The new process uses so-called ‘black light’ (a form of ultraviolet light) that allows medical researchers to study inflammation and the immune system. It is hoped that the method can prove to be effective as a targeted therapy for inflammatory diseases. With the method, the researchers designed a small molecule which can control an immune response once it is exposed to light at a wavelength on the ultraviolet spectrum. Discussing the concept in a research briefing, the principal researcher Professor Pamela Chang explains there are not a “lot of tools that are able to manipulate the immune system in a spatio-temporal fashion.”Because of this, she adds: “we are pushing the forefront of developing new technologies to control inflammation and the immune system.”The reason why medics are keen to control inflammation is due to the on-going damaging effects. Inflammation is a response by the body to fight infections. However, when inflammation becomes chronic it can lead to various diseases like asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. For this reason medics would like to be able to switch inflammation off. With the study, Cornell University scientists created a probe that can inhibit a reaction controlled by enzymes called histone deacetylases. These enzymes regulate genes that turn on when the immune system is challenged by a pathogen. Switching this off stops the immune response. However, turning off the response for the entire body would be dangerous, whereas a targeted switching off would be of benefit and bring localized inflammation under control. This is where the ultraviolet light activator comes into play. The research has shown, in animal models, how specific pathways can be turned on and off. This would, if replicated in a human, allow a medic to regulate chronic inflammation. Such a process would be termed a ‘photodynamic therapy.’A further advantage of the method is it minimizes any side effects on healthy tissues. The research has been reported to the journal Chemical Science. The paper is titled “Chemical optogenetic modulation of inflammation and immunity.”
2016-12-10 07:12 www.digitaljournal.com
95 /100 0.8 Ikea bizarrely renames furniture to help with relationship problems at home (VIDEO) — RT Viral The Swedish furniture giant created a ‘retail therapy’ sister website that displays certain items under different names than the ones that appear on the main Ikea site. For example, the ‘Bjorksta’ world map becomes, ‘Find a way back to each other.’
READ MORE: Ikea taken to court over 'incredibly bad' odor at flagship store in Sweden
The campaign was inspired by people in the “real world” who take to Google in search of answers to “life’s everyday dilemmas.” So, in theory, the ‘Hemnes’ Ikea daybed would pop up in your search engine after typing ‘My partner snores,’ and so on.
The new product names were derived from the most common Google searches about relationship problems in Sweden, and will appear in the ‘retail therapy’ version of the site that looks identical to the main Ikea website. READ MORE: Extreme IKEA: Sweden’s plan to flat-pack town and move it down the road
A spokesperson for Ikea told Newsbeat they’re hoping the products will “improve” relationships around the home.
Between the ‘The attraction is gone’ magnets , the ‘Dating three at once’ wireless charger or the ‘Why men can’t open up’ corkscrew , Ikea promises to offer a solution to “any other relationship problem you have... Or at least put a smile on your face while you keep Googling for an answer.”
2016-12-10 07:03 www.rt.com
96 /100 5.3 Just Cool Cars: 1961 Panhard is no tiger, but it's fun SEASIDE, Calif. -- You wouldn't normally consider a car powered by two cylinders to be much of a tiger, but the French have always had their own unique approach to automobiles.
Ken Nelson and Cindy Costell of Palo Alto, Calif., swear their 1961 Panhard PL17 Tigre convertible -- "tiger" in French, get it? -- can be driven at speeds up to 80 miles per hour despite its compact engine.
And Nelson says there's a good reason. Drivers wanted "an economy car that was high performance because the French drive like hell," he explained over the summer at the Concours d'Lemons car show. Panhard Tigres had from 40 to 60 horsepower, depending on the version, which is pretty impressive for a two- cylinder engine.
While Panhard may be an obscure name today, it was a pioneering brand when cars first surfaced at the end of the 19th century, Nelson says. But things didn't turn out well for the brand. It was bought by rival French automaker Citroen and was killed off in 1967.
Nelson, dressed like a true Parisian and sharing cups of French liquor to lucky passersby, says he became intrigued by French cars after his father bought a 1958 Citroen. "The Citroen piqued my curiosity," he says. "It's been downhill ever since. "
2016-12-10 07:03 Chris Woodyard rssfeeds.usatoday.com
97 /100 5.0 Rep. Upton delivers GOP weekly address Washington — U. S. Rep. Fred Upton delivered the Republican weekly address Saturday, highlighting his $6.3 billion medical innovation bill that President Barack Obama is expected to sign next week.
“The holiday season is one of joy, but, it’s often a time for families to come together and reflect on loved ones lost — taken much too soon by disease. We’ve all said too many early good-byes to folks that we hold dear,” said Upton, a Republican from southwest Michigan.
“Three years ago, we had an idea. That we could do better. That we needed to do something and transform our health and research system to effectively fight disease in the 21st century.”
He partnered with Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colorado, and the result was the bipartisan legislation known as 21st Century Cures, which passed the House and Senate by wide margins in the last week. It was a huge win for Upton, who is winding down his six years as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this month.
On the House floor last week, Upton mentioned the two Michigan girls who inspired him — sisters Brielle and Brooke Kennedy of Mattawan, who have a rare, genetic muscle-wasting condition called type II spinal muscular atrophy, for which there is no known cure or treatment.
“We break down regulatory barriers and expedite the approvals for safe drugs and devices coupled with billions for more research, including the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot,” he said.
“We also provide critical funding to the FDA so that they have all the tools they need to ensure the safety of these news drugs and devices.”
Critics wanted the legislation to include controls for drug pricing and worried that hastening the drug and device approval process could compromise patient safety.
The package also includes $1 billion in state grants over two years to prevent and treat abuse of opioids and other addictive drugs like heroin, and reshapes federal mental health programs. The legislation would commit to infuse the National Institutes of Health with $4.8 billion over 10 years, dependent on future Congresses appropriating the funds.
“We are on the cusp of something special. A once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform how we treat disease. President Obama will sign this legislation into law next week and his help was critical in getting this new law enacted — so, we say thank you Mr. President.
“A new day for medical research is on the horizon. A new day of hope for patients and their loved ones. We needed to do better. And with 21st Century Cures, we will. Thank you and have a blessed holiday season.”
2016-12-10 07:02 Melissa Nann rssfeeds.detroitnews.com
98 /100 2.1 Strange slimming effect of sweet potato waste Obviously eating sweet potatoes is not going to make you slim, especially when accompanied by other starchy food. However, a study on mice suggests the water left over from cooking sweet potatoes may have slimming effects. The study into the potato waste was conducted by Dr. Koji Ishiguro (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Japan.) With the study, the scientists fed three sets of mice high fat diets. One group was given sweet potato peptide at a high concentration; one was given the same protein digest at a lower concentration; and a final group was not given any additional substance. This ran for 28 days, after which time the mice were assessed for liver mass and fatty tissue deposits, as well as for cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Further analysis was made of the hormones leptin (which controls hunger) and adiponectin (which regulates metabolic syndrome.) All mice given the sweet potato peptide had lower body weight and liver mass compared with the control group, leading to the finding that sweet potato peptide helps to suppress appetite and control the metabolism of fats. While the effect has been observed in mice, reared under laboratory conditions, it is not known whether the same weight loss would occur with people. This is likely to form part of a future research project. Moreover, finding a use for potato water could help to lessen the environmental impact. The research has been The study has used mice fed a high fat diet (to simulate the effects of obesity in a person.) One group of mice were fed sweet potato peptide. This peptide is produce following the enzymatic digestion of the potato proteins in the water, released during the cooking (by boiling) process. Sweet potatoes are one of the world’s most popular crops and 15 percent of the global supply is used in the manufacture of processed foods and alcoholic beverages in Japan. The wastewater from the cooking process tends to be discarded and adds to the environmental burden of the disposal of waste. The study into the potato waste was conducted by Dr. Koji Ishiguro (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Japan.) Here the scientist explains : "We hypothesized that these [potato waters] could affect body weight, fat tissue and other factors. " explained Dr. Ishiguro. "Finding alternative uses for the sweet potato proteins in wastewater could be good for the environment and industry, and also potentially for health. "With the study, the scientists fed three sets of mice high fat diets. One group was given sweet potato peptide at a high concentration; one was given the same protein digest at a lower concentration; and a final group was not given any additional substance. This ran for 28 days, after which time the mice were assessed for liver mass and fatty tissue deposits, as well as for cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Further analysis was made of the hormones leptin (which controls hunger) and adiponectin (which regulates metabolic syndrome.)All mice given the sweet potato peptide had lower body weight and liver mass compared with the control group, leading to the finding that sweet potato peptide helps to suppress appetite and control the metabolism of fats. While the effect has been observed in mice, reared under laboratory conditions, it is not known whether the same weight loss would occur with people. This is likely to form part of a future research project. Moreover, finding a use for potato water could help to lessen the environmental impact. The research has been published in the journal Heliyon, and the research paper is titled “Effects of a sweetpotato protein digest on lipid metabolism in mice administered a high-fat diet.”
2016-12-10 07:01 www.digitaljournal.com
99 /100 3.7 18 of the best tech products under $100 Give the gift of tech this holiday! From a chic smart watch to a mini movie projector to sleek noise canceling headphones, these tech products are sure to make your loved ones smile this holiday -- and you'll be smiling at the price tag! Read on to check out 17 of our favorite tech products that are all under $100 on Amazon right now.
More gift guides: 8 techie bracelets and watches that make great gifts 11 appropriate gifts for your boss The best-selling products on Amazon of 2016
2016-12-10 07:00 AOL Staff www.aol.com
100 /100 1.6 Winter fashion in the city BRRR!! It is so cold!! Hi loves, I hope you week has gone well! Mine has for sure, I just finished with my last class of the semester today Though I am feeling a bit under the weather, I wanted to get a post out for you all. That aside, it is now time to relax and think about the holiday season. I never thought we would see the cold with all the unseasonal warmth we had, however it is finally a cold city in Denver!
For this look, Paige and I took some beautiful photos around Union Station. If you all haven't ventured down there yet, you must. Its not just a place where trains come and go, but a social atmosphere filled with food, shopping, and tons of fun. A must for any Denverite.
With these freezing temps, I wanted to give y'all a cozy look that doesn't disappoint. The standout piece from this look is of course the Topman Jacket. By the way the jacket is now on sale for $100 down from $160. Texture was a big part of this look. I love mixing different textures together. I mixed the fur collar jacket with a thick turtleneck , paired with my trusty Celine calf hair shoes.
Probably the most amount of chic these shoes have ever looked! haha!
Being outside union station is great, but so is being inside! That space has the coolest set up. Plus it was warm. As you could probably tell, my nose was red from the cold. I hope you all enjoyed this post! Have a great weekend.
The post Cold City appeared first on The Savoie Daily .
More from The Savoie Daily : Vail adventure Fig and Yarrow Aveda holiday 2016-12-10 07:00 AOL Staff www.aol.com
Total 100 articles.
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Created at 2016-12-10 18:08