The Electoral College was set up by the US founding fathers as a compromise between allowing Congress and the people to elect the president.
Technically, Americans cast votes on Election Day for electors, not the candidates themselves.
The electors are mostly elected officials or party functionaries whose names are not on the ballot. They are generally unknown to the public apart from one or two exceptions such as former President Bill Clinton, who was a New York elector in 2016.
There are 538 electors in all, one for each member of Congress. A candidate needs to take at least 270 electoral votes – half of the total plus one – to win the White House.
In 2016, Donald Trump won 306 electors from 30 states.
If no candidate reaches 270 in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives must vote on the next president.
On December 19, the Electoral College is expected to certify Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, despite a last-minute effort to thwart the Republican.
The 538 electors will vote at state capitols nationwide.
A handful of Democratic electors have been organizing a long shot bid to persuade their Republican counterparts to cast ballots against Donald Trump.
The process is usually a formality, but takes place this year amid claims Russian hackers tried to sway the vote.
The Electoral College was set up by the founding fathers as a compromise between allowing Congress and the people to elect the president.
Technically, Americans cast votes on Election Day for electors, not the candidates themselves.
The electors are mostly elected officials or party functionaries whose names are not on the ballot. They are generally unknown to the public apart from one or two exceptions such as former President Bill Clinton, who is a New York elector this year.
There are 538 electors in all, one for each member of Congress. A candidate needs to take at least 270 electoral votes – half of the total plus one – to win the White House.
In November’s presidential election, Donald Trump won 306 electors from 30 states.
Under federal law, electors must gather on December 19, with each elector casting two votes – one for president and one for vice-president.
Their so-called Certificates of Vote must be transmitted by December 28 to Congress and the National Archives in Washington.
On January 6, Vice-President Joe Biden will preside as Congress officially tallies the electoral votes.
Once the votes are counted, the results are final, and Donald Trump would be all set for his noon inauguration on January 20.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a margin of nearly 3 million, but only gained 232 electors because she lost crucial swing states. This has fuelled renewed calls for the Electoral College to be scrapped, with critics arguing it is undemocratic and unfair.
Furthermore, US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia hacked the emails of the DNC – leaking embarrassing messages about Hillary Clinton’s paid speeches to Wall Street and party infighting – in an attempt to put its thumb on the electoral scales for Donald Trump.
Ten electors – nine Democrats and one Republican – asked unsuccessfully for an intelligence briefing about Moscow’s alleged role.
On December 18, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta upped the ante by suggesting the Trump team could even have colluded with Russia on the cyber-attack, which the Republican’s camp denies.
Millions of Americans who consider Donald Trump unfit to occupy the Oval Office have signed an online petition calling for Republican electors not to vote as directed by their state’s popular ballot.
Some have posted electors copies of founding father Alexander Hamilton’s writings in his Federalist Papers, which state that the meeting of the Electoral College “affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications”.
A handful of Democratic electors are so desperate to stop Donald Trump that they have even offered to vote against Hillary Clinton and unite with the other electors behind a consensus Republican candidate.
Nothing in the US constitution or in federal law requires electors to vote one way or another.
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia bind their electors by law, though so-called “faithless electors” who defy the popular vote generally just face a fine.
History shows it is extremely unusual for an elector to defy the expressed will of his or her state’s voters.
It is highly unlikely the Electoral College will take the unprecedented step of changing the election’s outcome.
Only one Republican elector, Chris Suprun of Texas, has come forward to say he will not cast his electoral vote for Donald Trump. But 38 Republican electors would have to defect to deny Donald Trump.
Even that would probably only delay the inevitable.
If no candidate reaches 270 in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives must vote on the next president, and the Republican-controlled chamber would most likely choose Donald Trump anyway.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has been found guilty of negligence in Bernard Tapie case.
However, France’s Court of Justice did not hand down any punishment.
As finance minister in 2008, Christine Lagarde approved an award of €404 million ($429 million) to businessman Bernard Tapie for the disputed sale of a company.
Christine Lagarde, who always denied wrongdoing, was not present in court, having left France for Washington.
The IMF board is to meet “shortly” to consider the latest developments.
On December 16, Christine Lagarde told the trial she had always acted in good faith.
Photo Getty Images
Verdicts of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) are not subject to appeal, French media say.
Nonetheless, Christine Lagarde’s lawyer said his team would consider appealing, Reuters reports.
She replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as IMF managing director in 2011.
DSK – also a former French finance minister – resigned following his arrest in New York on charges of sexual assault that were later dropped.
Another former IMF head, Rodrigo Rato of Spain, is currently standing trial on charges of misusing funds when he was head of Spanish lender Bankia.
Christine Lagarde, 60, was tried on charges of “negligence by a person in position of public authority”.
Accused of allowing the misuse of public funds, rather than actual corruption, she could potentially have been sentenced to a year in prison.
The CJR is composed mostly of politicians rather than judges, and handles allegations of crimes committed by cabinet ministers in office.
The Bernard Tapie case originates in the early 1990s, when he was a majority shareholder in sports goods company Adidas.
After launching a political career and becoming a cabinet minister in Francois Mitterrand’s Socialist government in 1992, Bernard Tapie had to sell the company.
In 1993, Bernard Tapie sued Credit Lyonnais, a state-owned bank that handled the sale, alleging that the bank had defrauded him by deliberately undervaluing the company.
By 2007, the long-running case was referred to binding arbitration by Christine Lagarde, who at that time was finance minister under conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A three-member panel awarded the compensation a year later, causing a public outcry.
In 2015, after eight more years of legal wrangling, a French court ruled that Bernard Tapie had not been entitled to compensation and should repay the €404 million.
At the centre of every thriving business is a dynamic and well-greased HR department. And thanks to changes in the modern economy, the HR department is more important than ever. Never before have people been more important or more integral to business success. It’s people, not capital, that is now the driving force behind most modern companies and what makes them valuable.
Managing those people, however, is getting harder. Members of your team have higher expectations than they did in the past and they want companies not only to pay them but provide them with an additional level of service, including things like training. Recruitment is also getting more difficult, thanks to the fact that job roles are becoming increasingly specialised and niche.
Here we’re going to look at some of the biggest HR nightmares you face as a modern employer, and how to fix them.
Low Productivity
Keeping up with your competitors is a top priority for your business. But that’s hard to do if you have to employ twice the labour to get the same job done. It’s the job of the human resources team to make sure that productivity remains high and that the entire business is operating efficiently.
If your productivity is low compared to other companies in your industry, it’s not because you’re unlucky; it’s because you’re doing something wrong. The first thing to do is a Time and Motion study to find out exactly what is going wrong in your processes. Often HR consultancy services can help on this matter since they have experience with where businesses most often make mistakes.
Once the data are gathered, the next stage is to start comparing performance over time. Often you’ll be able to correlate events in your business, like a change in offices, with drops or peaks in performance levels. Knowing when productivity was high and what conditions led to higher output per person helps you to recreate those conditions and get more out of your workforce in the future.
Failing To Adequately Train Employees
As we discussed in the introduction, employee expectations of the workplace are changing fast. In the past, it was perfectly acceptable for companies to offer workers a wage in exchange for their labour. But now companies have to do a lot more to attract the best talent.
Employees don’t just want to be paid today; they want to be trained for the future. Today’s modern workforce has aspirations, and if they feel that your organisation is holding them back, they’ll leave.
The good news is that putting training in place is actually relatively easy in most industries. That’s because there are already other companies in the sector with links to training organisations. Often it’s just a case of finding out who the trainers are and what courses are being offered by your competitors.
In some workplaces, there’s a need to provide employee training for compliance reasons. It’s a good idea, therefore, for companies to keep a record of employee training so that they can track which members of staff have been on which training programme. Maintain records both when training is performed in-house, as well as when it is given by an outside organisation.
Expensive Recruitment
The statistics on the cost of recruitment are shocking. For high-level positions, the cost of finding the right person can actually exceed the cost of hiring them in the first year. As a result, businesses are keen to keep costs as low as possible when it comes to recruiting.
The responsibility for this falls on HR departments, but getting recruitment right is difficult. Often there’s a lot of paperwork involved, as well as a bunch of other issues, like where to advertise. Most businesses use some type of HR recruiting software. This gives them the ability to process dozens of applications and CVs, as well as store candidate’s’ personal details. The good thing about these applications is that they allow you to keep in contact with people who are interested in working for your organisation for years to come. Perhaps there isn’t a position available that matches their skills today, but in the future, once you’ve expanded, there might be a chance for you to review their application and contact them in the future. Again, this helps to keep the cost of recruitment down, since you’ve already got a mailing list of people who are willing to work with your organisation.
Poor Disciplinary Processes
The least popular topic in any HR department is how to deal with employees who haven’t been behaving themselves. Companies with bad disciplinary policies make worker misbehaviour into a personal issue, with managers getting into shouting matches with employees.
It’s the job of the HR department to be as objective as possible and stay on the right side of the law. Doing this is easier said than done, of course, but most employers manage it by having their disciplinary policies written down in their company handbook. HR departments need to follow these procedures to the letter and avoid giving problem employees any material that they could take to an employment tribunal.
When disciplinary actions do get underway, it’s critical to keep a record of all correspondence. This means keeping copies of letters sent to employees, minutes of meetings, communications with trade union officials and other activities related to the case. Having a public record of events helps to keep everybody on the same page as the dispute develops.
Just as with recruiting, there is now software that allows HR departments to store and retrieve all relevant documents relating to a disciplinary case. Having these systems in place helps to reduce the legwork for all people involved and the amount of time disciplinary action takes to resolve.
Out-Of-Control Outsourcing
Finally, HR departments are often responsible for outsourcing within the company. The problem is that many outsourcers don’t often fulfil the internal requirements of the company. It’s important, therefore, that HR departments make sure that they undergo the same training, are members of the right industry bodies, and have gone through any necessary induction training.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has defended his decision to scrap the nation’s most-used banknote, 100 bolivares.
The 100-bolivar note withdrawal has prompted protests and looting in several states as the supply of ready cash rapidly ran out.
However, Nicolas Maduro said taking millions of notes out of circulation had smashed the black market.
He also decided to postpone the withdrawal until January 2.
Nevertheless, some businesses were reportedly still refusing to accept the 100-bolivar notes, even though they remain legal tender until the New Year.
There were more reports of rioting on December 18. In the western state of Tachira people raided warehouses in search of food.
Many said they were afraid of what would happen next, despite the postponement of the withdrawal.
At the Colombian border there were scuffles as people scrambled to buy food and medicine, which are scarce in Venezuela.
Nicolas Maduro said that Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil would remain closed until the 100-bolivar note ceased to be legal tender in January, in order to prevent black market trading.
Venezuelans are only allowed to cross the border on foot for family visits.
In a TV address, Nicolas Maduro said that 300 alleged looters had been arrested.
Addressing opposition parties, the president said: “Don’t come and tell me they are political prisoners.”
Nicolas Maduro accused the riot leaders of taking instructions from President Barack Obama, alleging they wanted to engineer a coup against Venezuela’s left-wing government.
State TV showed a plane arriving on December 18 carrying the first batch of replacement notes, the 500-bolivar.
Hollywood icon Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at the age of 99 after suffering a heart attack, her husband, Frederic von Anhalt, has confirmed.
He told the AFP his wife had passed away at home, surrounded by her friends and family.
“Everybody was there. She didn’t die alone,” Frederic von Anhalt said.
Born in Hungary, Zsa Zsa Gabor emigrated to the United States during World War Two and made her Hollywood debut in 1952. She was married nine times.
The actress appeared in more than 70 movies, but was more famous for her celebrity lifestyle.
Zsa Zsa Gabor, born Sari Gabor on February 6, 1917, first married at the age of 20 and for the last (and longest) time when she was nearly 70 to the man who outlived her.
Image source Wikimedia
By her own reckoning the actress was only married eight-and-a-half times – she said she didn’t really count a Spanish duke in 1982.
Though she had initially wanted to be a vet, her mother had other ideas – and her beauty soon saw show business beckon.
Zsa Zsa Gabor was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936, but was later disqualified for lying about her age to enter the pageant.
Her credits include a long list of roles in such hit movies as Moulin Rouge (1952), Lili (1953) and Queen of Outer Space (1958). More recently, Zsa Zsa Gabor featured in the Nightmare on Elm Street series and in the Naked Gun spoofs.
In her heyday, Zsa Zsa Gabor embodied Hollywood’s platinum blonde ideal and was famous for wearing lame gowns.
Her only child was Constance Francesca Hilton, her daughter with hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, who was born in 1947.
Zsa Zsa Gabor was arguably among the first women to be “famous for being famous” – a quality often attributed to her famous great-granddaughter by marriage, Paris Hilton.
She was affectionately mocked for her strong Hungarian accent, in which she called everybody “darling” – or “dahlink” as she pronounced it.
“I call everyone <<dahlink>> because I can’t remember their names,” she once said.
Her mother had reportedly told her: “You don’t have to marry every man you sleep with.”
Zsa Zsa Gabor said she did it because she “never stopped being a Catholic at heart”.
In her 1993 autobiography “One Lifetime is Not Enough”, Zsa Zsa Gabor claimed to have lost her virginity to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, when she was 15.
The tell-all account also referred to romances with screen legends Sean Connery and Frank Sinatra, quite apart from her roster of husbands. She claimed to have turned down John F. Kennedy and Elvis Presley.
Though she spent her life delivering others’ lines, Zsa Zsa Gabor could turn a memorable phrase herself.
Pondering her good relations with her many ex-husbands, she said: “I never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.”
She also commented: “I am a marvelous housekeeper: Every time I leave a man I keep his house.”
Zsa Zsa Gabor was plagued by ill-health in her later years, and was left wheelchair-bound after a 2002 car accident in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.
She survived strokes in 2005 and 2007, and was left heavily dependent on her husband.
In 2011, Zsa Zsa Gabor suffered an infection that saw her right leg amputated above the knee to save her life.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story soared to top of box office with $290.5 million globally on its opening weekend.
It is the second-biggest weekend December debut in history.
The US accounted for about half of the first Star Wars spinoff’s total, making $155 million, according to box office analyst Exhibitor Relations.
However, the tally is less than the record $248 million taken in 2015 by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Rogue One is yet to open in China and South Korea.
The biggest movie of all time title is still held by Avatar, which made almost $2.8 billion in 2009, followed by Titanic on close to $2.2 billion in 1997. The Force Awakens has made about $2.07 billion.
Produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Briton Gareth Edwards, Rogue One stars Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed, alongside Forest Whitaker and Diego Luna.
The first standalone chapter in Rogue One is set shortly before the events of the original 1977 movie and tells the story of Rebel Alliance fighters trying to steal plans for the Empire’s feared Death Star.
The next movie in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, known as Episode VIII, is scheduled to be released in December 2017.
One of Indonesia’s air force Hercules C-130 planes has crashed in remote Papua province in the east of the country, killing all 13 people on board.
According to officials, three pilots and 10 other military personnel were on board.
Air force chief of staff Agus Supriatna told MetroTV that bad weather was suspected to have caused the crash.
Image source Getty Images
The plane was carrying food supplies from Timika to Wamena when it came down in mountainous terrain near to its destination on December 18.
The wreckage has been located and the bodies of the dead are being brought to Wamena, Ivan Ahmad Riski Titus, operational director of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, told Reuters.
The flight had left Timika at 05:35 local time and was expected to land in Wamena at 06:13.
Personnel from the air force base in Jayapura, the regional capital, were on standby to assist the team at the crash site.
Indonesia has a poor air safety record.
In June 2015, the same type of plane belonging to Indonesia’s air force crashed near a residential neighborhood shortly after taking off from Medan. All 12 crew and 109 passengers on board were killed, along with 22 people on the ground.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has announced the withdrawal of the 100-bolivar banknote will be delayed until January 2, 2017.
The sudden change of policy comes after days of economic chaos.
In a TV address, President Maduro claimed Venezuela had been the victim of international sabotage, which had prevented new 500-bolivar currency notes arriving in time.
Many Venezuelans have spent several days in long queues trying to hand in or swap the old notes.
Thousands of stores have closed because of a cash shortage, and the public have been forced to rely on credit cards or bank transfers. Many were left unable to buy food.
Anger over the move led to skirmishes in six cities on December 16, the Associated Press reported. It said 32 people were taken into custody and one person was injured.
In the capital, Caracas, people waved their 100-bolivar bills in the air and chanted “they’re useless!” – then turned and ran as police in riot gear fired tear gas.
Nicolas Maduro’s government had said the scrapping of the 100-bolivar note was necessary to prevent smuggling.
The president said the aim was to tackle gangs which hoard Venezuelan currency abroad, a move he has previously described as part of the “economic war” being waged against his government.
Nicolas Maduro has said the gangs hold more than 300 billion bolivares worth of currency, most of it in 100-bolivar notes.
He said there were “entire warehouses full of 100-bolivar notes in [the Colombian cities of] Cucuta, Cartagena, Maicao and Buaramanga”.
Nicolas Maduro said one reason for withdrawing the banknotes was to block any of the 100-bolivar notes from being taken back into Venezuela so the gangs would be unable to exchange their hoarded bills, making them worthless.
Venezuela’s central bank data suggests there are more than six billion 100-bolivar notes in circulation, making up almost half of the country’s currency.
Economic experts fear scrapping the 100-bolivar note will have little positive effect on Venezuela’s chronic economic and political problems.
Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented the maneuver used to help victims of choking, has died at the age of 96.
He died at a hospital in Cincinnati on December 17 following complications from a heart attack he suffered on December 12, his family says.
Dr. Henry Heimlich invented the lifesaving technique, which uses abdominal thrusts to clear a person’s airway, in 1974.
In May he used the technique himself to save a woman at his retirement home.
Dr. Henry Heimlich was director of surgery at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati when he devised the technique.
Image source Getty Images
In a statement released to the media, Dr. Henry Heimlich’s family said he had been “a hero to many people around the world”.
It said: “From the time Dad began his medical career in New York City, to the time he practiced as a thoracic surgeon in Cincinnati, he was committed to coming up with simple, effective ideas that helped save lives and significantly improved people’s quality of life.”
The anti-choking maneuver was not Dr. Henry Heimlich’s only success. In 1962 he developed the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve which was credited with saving many soldiers’ lives in the Vietnam War and is still used for patients undergoing chest surgery.
Since Heimlich technique was introduced in 1974 it is believed to have saved the lives of more than 100,000 people in the US alone.
They include former President Ronald Reagan, Cher, former New York Mayor Edward Koch, Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau, Carrie Fisher, Jack Lemmon and Marlene Dietrich.
In 2014, Clint Eastwood was credited with saving the life of a golf tournament director in California who was choking on a piece of cheese.
Thousands of demonstrators in the Polish capital Warsaw have renewed their protest against government plans to restrict journalists’ access to parliament.
On December 17, crowds gathered outside the presidential palace and then marched to parliament.
Yesterday protesters blockaded the parliament building, leading to a late-night stand-off with police.
Poland’s populist right-wing government wants to limit the number of reporters allowed to cover parliament.
However, opposition lawmakers accuse it of trying to stifle press freedom.
Image source CBC
Amid a heavy police presence, a crowd of about 2,000 people gathered outside the presidential palace chanting “freedom, equality, democracy”. Some held up copies of the constitution.
The crowd later marched to the parliament building where opposition lawmakers are staging a sit-in.
On December 17, European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, urged the government to respect the constitution.
Addressing reporters in the western city of Wroclaw, Donald Tusk criticized the government’s plans, saying that without media access “democracy becomes dictatorship”.
In extraordinary scenes last night, opposition lawmakers blockaded the parliamentary plenary chamber, forcing fellow lawmakers from the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party into another room to vote on 2017 budget.
It was the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1989 that such a vote was held outside the main chamber of parliament.
Outside parliament, thousands of protesters gathered overnight. Police had to forcefully remove people to allow lawmakers to leave the building.
Leader of the opposition Nowoczesna party, Ryszard Petru, accused the government of usurping parliament’s authority.
Governing PiS has been accused of restricting press freedom since coming to power in 2015.
In 2017 only a few reporters will be allowed into parliament, with five selected TV stations permitted to make recordings of parliamentary sessions.
PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on December 16 that the proposals were no different to the media access in many other European nations.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused protesters of hooliganism and threatened them with unspecified “consequences”.
Thirteen soldiers have been killed and other 56 wounded in a car bomb attack in the city of Kayseri, Turkey.
The explosion destroyed a bus carrying soldiers visiting a local market in the city. An army spokesman said civilians may also have been injured.
No group has admitted carrying out the attack, but Turkish officials say it bears the hallmarks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The new attack comes a week after 44 people were killed in a PKK attack in Istanbul.
Image source EPA
Regional governor Suleyman Kamci said the explosion in Kayseri, a usually calm industrial hub in Central Anatolia, was carried out by a suicide bomber parked next to the bus near the entrance to Erciyes University. The soldiers were said to be on leave from a nearby military base.
Seven people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Images from the scene showed the bus reduced to a smoldering wreck with a massive hole punched in one side.
Turkey’s Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmu said the materials used were similar to those used in Istanbul.
“All indications at present point to the PKK,” he said.
President Tayyip Erdogan said that Kurdish militants were attempting to “trip up Turkey, cut its strength and have it focus its energy and forces elsewhere”.
The country has suffered a series of fatal bombings in 2016 at the hands of both the Kurdish militants and jihadists.
Following the car bomb attack, a crowd stormed the Kayseri offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), parliament’s second-largest opposition party.
The HDP condemned Kayseri blast and called for an end to “the politics, tone and language that creates tension, polarization, hostility, chaos and conflict”.
The government imposed a temporary black-out on media coverage in the wake of the Kayseri blast.
According to the Associated Press, an instruction from the prime minister’s office urged the media to refrain from publishing anything that may cause “fear in the public, panic and disorder and which may serve the aims of terrorist organizations”.
Hudson police broke into a vehicle to rescue an apparently frozen woman, only to find it was a mannequin, local media report.
A caller described as “upset” called police on December 16 to report a woman “frozen to death” in a parked car.
Hudson Police say they received a call saying an elderly woman was found “frozen to death” inside a car along City Hall Place, CBS affiliate WRGB reports.
When officers arrived, they discovered an elderly woman seated in the passenger seat wearing an oxygen mask. She was not moving and was unresponsive.
The vehicle owner is a sales manager for a company that manufactures medical training aides.
Photo Hudson Police Department
The realistic mannequin appears to be a CPR training device, that is extremely detailed to include actual clothing, glasses, teeth, shoes, skin blemishes, etc. The mannequin’s owner stated that he transports the device in his car in that manner, to include the wearing of a seat belt.
Police said the car was covered in snow, suggesting it had been left overnight in temperatures of about -13C.
They later tracked down the owner, who complained about the police action.
Police chief L Edward Moore said in a statement: “It is my understanding that the owner was incredulous that we took action in this matter.
“He apparently was quite vocal and vulgar to my sergeant.”
Chief L Edward Moore had this message for mannequin owners: “Just to clear the record, all citizens of Hudson should be put on notice that if you park your locked vehicle on the street on a sub-zero night with a life-size realistic mannequin seated in it… we will break your window.”
Poland’s parliament has been blocked by protesters in support for opposition lawmakers unhappy about new rules restricting press reporting.
The opposition objects to government plans to limit the number of journalists allowed to cover parliamentary proceedings.
The lawmakers’ protest delayed a budget vote, which was later held away from the main parliament chamber.
Hundreds of police surrounded protesters in a late-night stand-off.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), earlier denounced the protest as “hooliganism”.
“We will not allow ourselves to be terrorized,” he said.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski left parliament with the PiS PM Beata Szydlo at about 03:00AM local time.
Opposition lawmaker Jerzy Meysztowicz told the TVN24 news channel that police used tear gas to clear a passage through protesters for their official vehicle.
The opposition accused the government of passing 2017 budget unlawfully on December 16 by transferring the key vote to a smaller hall and excluding the press.
It was the first since the restoration of democracy in 1989 that such a vote was held outside the main chamber of parliament.
Image source Getty Images
Enough lawmakers were present for the budget vote to be valid, according to Jaroslaw Kaczynski and other PiS members, but the opposition demanded a rerun of the vote in the main parliament chamber next week.
“There is no proof that a quorum of lawmakers was present. We suspect that people who were not allowed to vote took part,” said leader of the opposition Nowoczesna party Ryszard Petru.
The ruling party has been accused of restricting press freedom since coming to power in 2015.
In 2017 only a few reporters will be allowed into parliament.
Only five selected Polish TV stations will be permitted to make recordings of parliamentary sessions.
The government argues that it does not believe the measures are restrictive.
Supporters of the move argue it will stop lawmakers from being accosted by journalists inside the parliamentary building.
Last night’s demonstration began when an opposition lawmaker held aloft a placard reading “free media”.
He was told by Speaker Marek Kuchcinski, who is a PiS member, that he would no longer be allowed to attend parliamentary proceedings.
However, by then other opposition lawmakers converged on the podium to demand press freedom and an end to censorship.
It is believed to be the first protest of its kind in the Polish parliament for 10 years.
The proposed new rules – due to be enforced in 2017 – ban all recording of parliamentary sessions except by the five selected television stations. They also restrict the number of reporters permitted to enter the building.
Human rights campaigners have also condemned the plans, with former dissident Seweryn Blumsztajn condemning them as a “return to communist-era practices”.
President Barack Obama has revealed he ordered Russian President Vladimir Putin to “cut it out” in a conversation about email hacking ahead of the US election.
Implying that Vladimir Putin knew about the hacks, Barack Obama said: “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.”
Barack Obama said he had warned the Russian president of serious consequences at a summit in September.
A month later, the United States accused Russia of meddling in its democratic process.
Barack Obama has promised a “proportional” response to the hacking of the Democratic Party and of emails belonging to defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
The president appeared to suggest that the US could go on the offensive with its own cyber muscle, stating: “Whatever they do to us, we can potentially do to them.”
Barack Obama’s comments came during his last news conference of the year.
However, he did not criticize his successor, Republican Donald Trump, by name, but said some Republicans were failing to acknowledge the seriousness of Russia’s involvement in the US election.
Barack Obama also expressed bewilderment over GOP supporters who say they approve of Vladimir Putin, declaring: “Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave.”
The president urged Donald Trump to back a bipartisan investigation into Russian cyber intrusions.
Earlier this week, the president-elect poured scorn on US intelligence claims that Russian hackers helped swing the election in his favor, calling them ridiculous and politically-motivated.
Donald Trump tweeted: “Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!”
CIA Director John Brennan told employees on December 16 that the FBI agrees with the CIA’s conclusion that Russia’s goal was to help Donald Trump win.
The Kremlin denies US claims that Russia hacked official emails, and has called them “indecent”.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said: “They need to either stop talking about this or finally present some sort of proof.”
Russia’s response came as Hillary Clinton attributed her election defeat to Russian hacking for the first time.
Hillary Clinton told party donors that Vladimir Putin had a “personal beef” against her for describing Russia’s parliamentary elections five years ago as rigged.
The Democratic candidate also cited the release of a letter by FBI director James Comey as having lost her close races in key states.
James Comey made headlines when he announced a new inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s email server 11 days before the presidential election. The matter was dropped two days before Americans voted.
The FBI had previously concluded that Hillary Clinton had been “extremely careless” over her use of a private email server while secretary of state, but there were no grounds for any charges.
LinkedIn is a booming social media channel with the highest potential. From its pool of over 460 million professional members worldwide, you certainly have a good chance of meeting the right people and probably your future business partners.
LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to increase your influence and visibility online. While Facebook still holds the most number of users worldwide, it will be difficult for you to get the message across the right people due to the diversity and vastness of its audience’s niche.
SEO optimization companies and leaders encourage businesses to be visible and active on LinkedIn as the opportunities for growing traffic and readership are relatively high with it. Harnessing the power of LinkedIn for your business can be very experimental, and there’s a chance you might go wrong, but here are a few of the reasons you should try.
LinkedIn Lets You Publish Content For Free
During the first few years that LinkedIn started, they had contacted several people to become “LinkedInfluencers,” and only those who had been called and qualified to be one are allowed to have a presence in LinkedIn when it comes to publishing content.
Of course, as you can very well tell, these Influencers have grown their networks and connections, resulting in higher traffic in their sites and conversion rates on all of their marketing efforts. Until now, Influencers are added based on an invitation basis, and although it is not on an application basis, LinkedIn still allows its members and readers to publish long- form posts for free.
If your post gains enough readership from your connections and their connections, and if LinkedIn sees it fit for its global daily publication Pulse, you will have higher chances of getting more connections and readership in your posts. Search engine optimization firms have seen a tremendous amount of opportunities coming out from LinkedIn traffic referral, especially that the traffic is purely business owners and professionals.
LinkedIn do not require original content to be published, you can republish the content you have already posted on your blog, that’s why LinkedIn referrals can give a good amount of traffic going to your site.
Although there’s a good tendency for them not to come back to LinkedIn after getting rerouted to your site, LinkedIn still allows its influencers and its community as a whole to publish already published content.
Do take note that LinkedIn allows long form posts in several languages, so if you are on a local-specific marketing game, it would be a great way to narrow down your audience.
Having Targeted Readers
https://stocksnap.io/photo/L495ZQH5KK
Aside from being able to publish posts for free, with LinkedIn you have the opportunity to choose which groups you would like your posts to be read by. It is recommended you join the right groups according to your profession, but if you are hoping to meet people from a different niche or industry, then you can choose to join diverse groups.
Since you are going to customize each tag you can then tag the right groups and the right readers you wish your content to reach. LinkedIn also has a particular algorithm set so that the right content reach the right professionals. And just like Google’s algorithm, LinkedIn will also evaluate your content’s relevance and quality before it gets into anyone else’s newsfeed.
So in the end, what matters most will be the quality and relevance of your content to the people whom you intend to read.
In addition to what’s said, you need to be specific when you write your long form posts. It should be addressed to one particular group of people for you to have higher chances of readership. This strategy works best in LinkedIn’s algorithm and most especially its users. This is because tagging your long-form posts to channels is not yet available on LinkedIn and it’s algorithm itself, as mentioned, will be the one to evaluate with channel your post belong to and who should be able to read it.
Although LinkedIn is still in its experimental stage when it comes to customizing user feeds right now, the opportunity that it offers is undoubtedly significant to improve your marketing strategies. Most of the web optimization companies who consider social media marketing have constantly been on the look-out for each LinkedIn algorithm update to leverage their strategies and to measure its results.
Profile Views Feature
Unlike Facebook where you can only detect likes, comments, and shares, LinkedIn allows you to know who viewed your profile. This gives the opportunity to know who to connect with and become aware of their particular interests. These profile views are also a window for you to know that you might have a common interest shared or that they may be companies or people- potential business partners.
Given this fact, it is important that you update your profile with pictures and content regularly. Uploading videos and other compelling content will also help you have a consistent amount of pageviews and potential connections. LinkedIn allows you to see every opportunity that knocks on your door.
Hand-in-hand With Google Analytics
https://stocksnap.io/photo/RCFX768X06
As you experiment and try different marketing channels and strategies, there is a need to accurately measure the results in which case you will need the help of the infamous Google Analytics which had been used by every search engine optimization company.
Google Analytics, is in fact, a free tool that helps advertisers and marketers tell which among their efforts paid off well and which flopped. Google Analytics best measures the productivity of your LinkedIn content marketing tactics, as it can tell where the traffic from your site came from, whether it is a referral from sites like LinkedIn, or a product of a search result.
In short, Google Analytics will tell you what’s working and will help you to improve them further. It will tell you pretty much how your website had been found by readers worldwide which is pretty amazing.
Google Analytics usually takes 4 to 24 hours of updating to give you an up-to-date report on your site’s performance. Aside from what’s already mentioned, the report will also include the end-user’s information, like the make and model of the device they used, the language they used to search and find you and how long they stayed on your site.
That’s just half of what Google Analytics can do. There a lot more features that are left unmentioned, but it will take another blog post to do just that.
LinkedIn offers a tremendous amount of opportunity for its users, with the right timing, readers, channels, and content, you will be able to fully harness the potential of LinkedIn marketing for your business’ growth. Together with Google Analytics, you can accurately measure the results of all your marketing efforts.
In her last TV interview before the family leaves the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama said America’s outlook had changed since Donald Trump won November’s election.
Speaking on Oprah Winfrey’s show, Michelle Obama said: “Now we’re feeling what not having hope feels like.”
President Barack Obama repeatedly used messages of hope in his presidential campaigns and during his time in office.
Michelle Obama played an unusually prominent role in the 2016 election cycle, throwing her support behind Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and trading barbs with Donald Trump.
The first lady called on women to rise up against Donald Trump over his groping comments and denounced his campaign’s “hateful language”.
Photo Getty Images
In turn, Donald Trump accused Michelle Obama of spending too much time campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
Michelle Obama does not mention the president-elect by name in the preview clip of the Oprah Winfrey interview, to be aired by the CBS network on December 19.
However, she repeats previous assertions that the US needs “an adult” in the White House, saying the country’s president should provide stability and inspiration.
Michelle Obama says: “Having a grown-up in the White House who can say to you in times of crisis, <<Hey it’s going to be ok, let’s remember the good things we have, let’s look at the future, let’s look at all the things that we’re building>>…
“All of this is important for our kids to stay focused and to feel like their work isn’t in vain, that their lives aren’t in vain. What do we do if we don’t have hope?”
The first lady says she believes the American public will come to appreciate President Barack Obama’s impact with time.
Michelle Obama is an unusually popular figure in America’s political landscape, with a favorability rating, measured by Gallup at 64%, that is significantly higher than that of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama.
Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2007 but failed to do so publicly in 2012.
In November, Oprah Winfrey urged voters to choose Hillary Clinton in November’s poll, saying: “You don’t have to like her… Do you like democracy or do you want a demagogue?”
Right-winger David Friedman is Donald Trump’s choice as the next US ambassador to Israel.
David Friedman is strongly critical of the long-held US goal of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The 57-year-old lawyer also supports Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank, which the Obama administration considers an “obstacle to peace”.
A liberal Jewish group opposed David Friedman’s nomination. Conservatives welcomed it.
David Friedman said he looked forward to working “from the US Embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem”, a statement that will anger Palestinians.
The UN does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the US embassy has been located in Tel Aviv for decades.
Image source timesofisrael.com
However, Donald Trump had promised during the presidential campaign to move it to Jerusalem, one of several overtures he made to Israel.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and considers the entire city its indivisible capital; Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
David Friedman advised the president-elect on US-Israel issues during the election campaign.
He has made clear his support for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which he refers to using the biblical names of Judea and Samaria, and East Jerusalem.
About 570,000 Israelis live in more than 130 settlements built in these areas since 1967.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group based in Washington, said it was “vehemently” opposed to the nomination of David Friedman, explaining: “As someone who has been a leading American friend of the settlement movement, who lacks any diplomatic or policy credentials and who has attacked liberal Jews who support two states as <<worse than kapos>>, Friedman should be beyond the pale for senators considering who should represent the United States in Israel.”
Kapos were Jewish prisoners in Nazi camps in World War II who the SS put in charge of other inmates. They have been viewed by some as complicit in the brutal treatment of other prisoners.
Conservative pro-Israel group The Zionist Organization for America welcomed the nomination, saying David Friedman had “the potential to be the greatest US ambassador to Israel ever”.
In the same time, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not enjoyed warm relations with President Barack Obama, has welcomed Donald Trump’s election.
Nurofen maker, Reckitt Benckiser, has been hit with an increased fine of A$6 million ($4.4 million) for misleading customers in Australia.
In 2015, Australia’s Federal Court ruled that products marketed as targeting specific pains, such as migraines, were actually identical.
The British company was fined A$1.7 million in April 2016, but Australia’s consumer watchdog argued the sum was too low.
On December 16, the court agreed to increase the penalty, saying: “The objective of any penalty in this case must be to ensure that Reckitt Benckiser and other <<would-be wrongdoers>> think twice and decide not to act against the strong public interest.”
Reckitt Benckiser was also ordered to pay the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) legal costs.
The ACCC said the pharmaceutical giant had profited substantially from misleading customers on products including Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said: “This is the highest corporate penalty awarded for misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law.
“The ACCC welcomes this decision, having originally submitted that a penalty of $6 million or higher was appropriate given the longstanding and widespread nature of the conduct, and the substantial sales and profit that was made.”
In April, the court ruled that Reckitt Benckiser had contravened Australian consumer law by saying its Nurofen Specific Pain products were each formulated to treat a specific type of pain.
Each product contained the same active ingredient, ibuprofen lysine 342mg.
Reckitt Benckiser said: “Nurofen did not intend to mislead consumers, however we recognise that we could have done more to assist our consumers in navigating the Nurofen Specific Pain Range.”
Earlier this year, the company removed a TV advert for one of its products – Nurofen Express. The advert had implied that the capsules directly targeted muscles in the head.
Reckitt Benckiser has said it will not re-broadcast it, following complaints that the ad was misleading.
World boxing champion Terence “Bud” Crawford has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for two misdemeanors in connection with an April disturbance at an Omaha body shop.
Bud Crawford, 29, has been also ordered to serve two years probation and do 120 hours of community service.
He was found guilty of disorderly conduct and damage to property for his actions at the body shop where his 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo was painted.
Image source Omaha.com
Bud Crawford, who had paid half of the fee for the work, refused to pay the rest, saying he was dissatisfied with the service.
That triggered the confrontation, during which Bud Crawford managed to forcefully remove his car which was placed on a hydraulic lift.
Shop owner Michael Nelson said the boxer was able to push a 600lb engine left underneath the lift so that the vehicle could be lowered to the floor.
The boxer then tied a rope to the car and towed it away, Michael Nelson said.
Bud Crawford’s sentencing comes five days after he defeated John Molina to retain his WBC and WBO world super-lightweight titles.
During December 15 sentencing, Judge Marcena Hendrix told the boxing champ: “You’ve continued to act as if you are above the law, and you are not.”
Bud Crawford is expected to serve about 50 days under Nebraska’s sentencing guidelines.
There is no destination greater for adventure lovers than the United States. This beautiful country is like a natural playground with stunning mountain ranges, epic lakes, thick forests, vast desert, swampland and plenty more. It boasts some of the greatest natural wonders on the planet and is also home to amazing wildlife. Here are a few of the best and most overlooked places to visit and things to do whilst on a stateside adventure.
Route 66
One of the most legendary and fabled roads in the entire world, there is no greater way to see the heart and soul of America than with a road trip along “America’s Main Street”. Taking you from Chicago all the way to the West Coast, Route 66 allows you to see the beautiful and varied terrain and you can also stop off at various national highlights, including the Grand Canyon. This journey is famous for self-discovery, freedom and adventure – perfect.
Niagara Falls
The epic Niagara Falls are something that everybody should see in their lifetime and it is sure to take your breath away. An adventure holiday here could consist of getting up close on a catamaran, but you will also want to explore the surrounding area. This should include viewing the stunning Finger Lakes, walking the Freedom Trail in Boston and perhaps going over the border and exploring beautiful areas of Canada, like Quebec and Montreal.
Image source Flickr
Deep South
America’s Deep South is often overlooked by adventure seekers, but this is a fascinating part of the country with a unique cultural landscape and turbulent history. It is also where you can trace the roots of American music to and this makes it a must for music lovers. Expect a colourful music scene, wonderful hospitality and delicious finger licking cuisine. To see the greatest places in the Deep South, you will want to book an adventure tour with a reputable company, such as Grand American Tours.
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Canyon National Park may be the obvious choice (and another must-visit), but Yellowstone National Park is an astonishing part of the world with outstanding natural beauty and it is the world’s oldest National Park. Here you will find epic canyons, thick forests, hot springs, winding rivers, gushing geysers and a whole host of amazing wildlife.
The USA is a fantastic destination for an adventure holiday due to its diverse, rugged and beautiful natural scenery. The above are just a few of the great things to do and places to visit for those seeking a once in a lifetime adventure.
A 13-year-old boy who was playing in a huge snow mound has died after it collapsed and buried him under tones of snow.
Joshua Demarest died but his friend Tyler Day was found alive after being submerged for hours in New York.
A snow plough might have triggered the collapse as it dumped cleared snow on top of the mound, and Tyler told police he heard bleeps before “it went black”.
Seven tones of snow were removed in the hours-long rescue in the upstate town of Greenwich.
Investigators were first called by Tyler Day’s sister after he had not returned home by 17:00 local time.
Police, assisted by search dogs, followed the boys’ tracks from their home and found their sled beside the mound of snow.
Greenwich Police Chief George Bell said at a news conference: “I bet they moved seven tones of snow easily out of that pile by hand, shovels and snow rakes.”
Joshua Demarest was found by rescuers, but he was unresponsive and rushed to hospital, where he was declared dead at 22:00 local time. An hour later, the second boy was found alive in a pocket of air.
Chief George Bell said: “You can actually see the little pocket in that huge bank that he survived in and it is nothing short of a miracle.”
It was “a true accident,” he added.
“That’s all I can tell you. A tragedy all the way around. There was no way that anybody could have seen the kids burrowed in back there.”
Department of Public Works Superintendent Leo Flynn says it would have been impossible for his workers to have seen the teens beneath the snow.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has claimed his campaign email account was hacked by Russians.
Sen. Lindsey Graham also told CNN that he believed “the Russians” hacked into the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and accused them of trying to “destabilize democracy all over the world”.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied hacking accusations.
Donald Trump rejected a CIA report that Russian hackers tried to sway the election in his favor.
Also this week, NBC News reported that US intelligence officials now believe with “a high level of confidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in a covert Russian campaign to interfere in November’s presidential election.
The attack targeted emails of the Democratic Party and of Hillary Clinton’s aide, John Podesta. The contents, passed to WikiLeaks and posted online, were embarrassing to the Democrats and shook up the presidential campaign.
The NBC report, quoting two unnamed senior officials, says that new intelligence shows how the hacked material was leaked and used.
According to the NBC report, the operation began as a “vendetta” against Hillary Clinton before becoming “an effort to show corruption in American politics and split off key American allies”.
Photo Wikipedia
Lindsey Graham, a member of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CNN that “we were told by the FBI in August that we were hacked in June”.
He said: “I do believe the Russians hacked into the [DNC]. I do believe they hacked into [John] Podesta’s email account. They hacked into my campaign account.”
Lindsey Graham also said that he believed that “all the information released publicly hurt Clinton and didn’t hurt Trump.”
However, he stressed that the outcome of the election was not in doubt.
“I think Hillary Clinton lost because she wasn’t an agent of change and she tried to disqualify Trump and she wasn’t able to do it.”
He added that this was not “a Republican or Democratic issue” and must be tackled on a bipartisan basis.
Lindsey Graham accused Russia of attempting to destabilize democracy: “We should tell the Russians that on no uncertain terms, you interfere in our elections, we don’t care why, we’re going to hit you and hit you hard, we’re going to introduce sanctions.”
Joshua Samuel Aaron, who was charged with the largest financial cyber-attack in America’s history, has been arrested at New York’s JFK airport.
The 32-year-old American will appear in court on December 15.
Joshua Samuel Aaron is one of three men accused of illegally accessing the personal information of 100 million people between 2012 and 2015.
Twelve major financial institutions were victims of the hacking, including JPMorgan.
Joshua Samuel Aaron had been a fugitive living in Moscow, but flew to the US voluntarily to face the charges, his lawyer said.
Image source FBI
In a statement released on December 14, US Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Joshua Samuel Aaron allegedly worked to hack into the networks of dozens of American companies, ultimately leading to the largest theft of personal information from US financial institutions ever.”
The other two suspects are Israeli men: Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein. They were arrested in Israel in July 2015, and extradited to the US in June 2016.
All three men were charged in November 2015.
Joshua Samuel Aaron, Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein allegedly manipulated stock prices by selling shares of companies to individuals whose contact information they had stolen.
The three men were also charged with running an illegal payment processing business that they used to collect $18 million in fees.
Prosecutors claim the men hacked into competitors’ systems to spy on them and then hacked into a credit card company investigating their payment processing business in order to avoid detection.
The company hit hardest by the breach was JPMorgan. More than 83 million of the bank’s customers had data stolen in the breach.
More than one billion Yahoo accounts may have been affected in a hacking attack dating back to 2013, the internet giant reveals.
Yahoo said it appears separate from a breach disclosed in September, when it revealed some 500 million accounts were accessed in 2014.
The company said names, phone numbers, passwords and email addresses were stolen, but not bank and payment data.
Yahoo, which is being taken over by Verizon, said it is working closely with the police and authorities.
When Yahoo disclosed in September the 2014 data breach, the internet giant said information had been “stolen by what we believe is a state-sponsored actor”. Yahoo did not say which country it held responsible.
The 2014 breach included swathes of personal information, including names and emails, as well as “unencrypted security questions and answers”.
Yahoo has come under pressure to disclose why it took so long for the breach to be made public.
The new breach raises fresh questions about Verizon’s $4.8 billion proposed acquisition of Yahoo, and whether the US mobile carrier will try to modify or abandon its bid.
If the hacks cause a user backlash against Yahoo, the company’s services would not be as valuable to Verizon.
In a statement, Verizon said that it would evaluate the situation as Yahoo investigates and would review the “new development before reaching any final conclusions”.
On December 14, Yahoo said that users should change their passwords and security questions.
