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Oil prices fall further after IEA 2015 forecast

Clyde K. Valle
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Oil prices fall further after IEA 2015 forecast

Oil prices have fallen further after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast weaker demand in 2015.

The IEA, a consultancy to 29 countries, said supply and demand would take “some time” to respond to sharp falls in oil prices.

It said it was too early to expect low oil prices to start constricting a US supply boom.

On December, Brent crude fell to below $63 a barrel, its lowest price since July 2009.

The price of Brent fell to $62.50 a barrel at one point before recovering slightly to $62.67. US crude was trading below $59 a barrel.

The IEA cut its forecast for global oil demand growth next year by 230,000 barrels per day to 900,000 barrels per day on the expectation of lower fuel consumption in Russia and other oil-exporting countries.

Photo Getty Images
Photo Getty Images

Oil prices have been in steep decline since June due to slow demand growth and a US shale oil boom which has increased supply.

Prices “continued to plunge in November and into early December”, the IEA said, adding that, “it may well take some time for supply and demand to respond to the price rout”.

The root cause of the fall in prices was “a surge in non‐OPEC supply to its highest growth ever and contraction in demand growth to five‐year lows”.

It predicted that non-OPEC supply gains would add to a global glut of oil.

The US boom should push non-OPEC production to a record 1.9 million barrels per day this year, IEA said, but this figure should fall to 1.3 million barrels per day in 2015.

In Russia, the IEA said lower global oil prices combined with the effect of sanctions and a “collapsing currency” were likely to have an adverse effect on production.

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Joan Fontaine estate pulls Oscar statuette sale after lawsuit threat

Sonia Pantiss
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Joan Fontaine estate pulls Oscar statuette sale after lawsuit threat

Joan Fontaine’s estate will not sell her best actress Oscar as planned because they say the Academy Awards organizers have threatened to sue them.

Actress Joan Fontaine won the statuette in 1942 for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion. She died in 2013 at the age of 96.

It had been expected to raise between $200,000-$300,000 for the SPCA animal charity at auction.

Joan Fontaine’s estate said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had pledged to take legal action.

The Academy has banned people who have won Oscars since 1950 and their families from selling their statuettes without first offering it to them for $1.

A spokesperson for Joan Fontaine’s estate pointed out her win came before the rule was introduced.Joan Fontaine Oscar statuette

In a statement to the Reuters news agency, the estate said: “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was unmoved in the pleadings of all involved, and announced they would file suit if the sale continued.

“We feel that to fight this promised legal suit against the estate (and SPCA), everyone except the lawyers would lose.”

A statement from the Academy said: “The Academy, its members and the many film artists and craftspeople who’ve won Academy Awards believe strongly that Oscars should be won, not purchased.”

The Academy added it did not “have the legal means of stopping the sale of certain statuettes, including this one”.

In response, Noel Beutel, a senior trustee for Joan Fontaine’s estate, told Reuters: “[The Academy] told us they will sue us if we sell it.”

The dispute comes after the Academy sued the family of art director Joseph Wright, who sold his Oscar for 1942’s My Gal Sal.

Paintings, jewellery and other possessions owned by Joan Fontaine are still being sold by the Christie’s auction house to raise funds for the SPCA in Monterey, California.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens character names unveiled

Sonia Pantiss
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens character names unveiled

Director JJ Abrams has unveiled the names of characters played by John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

JJ Abrams confirmed the names via some old school trading cards, in a humorous nod to when the films were first released in the 1970s.

John Boyega’s card showed his character to be called Finn, with Daisy Ridley’s named Rey and Oscar Isaac’s known as Poe Dameron.

The football-like droid, seen in the recent trailer, was revealed as BB:8.

The trading cards, which were revealed to Entertainment Weekly, also feature a Sith warrior named Kylo Ren.Star Wars The Force Awakens character names

The seventh installment of the sci-fi saga is set about 30 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which reunites original stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, is scheduled to be released in cinemas on December 18, 2015.

Two more films are planned as part of the latest Star Wars chapter.

The original Star Wars trilogy, released between 1977 and 1983, was envisioned by director George Lucas as the central chunk of a nine-movie cycle.

Disney is behind the forthcoming trilogy in the franchise following a deal which saw them buy Lucasfilm for more than $4 billion.

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EU food allergy laws force restaurants to inform customers on 14 everyday allergens

Kathryn R. Bown
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EU food allergy laws force restaurants to inform customers on 14 everyday allergens

According to the new EU legislation, restaurants and takeaways across Europe will be required by law to tell customers if their food contains ingredients known to trigger allergies.

Staff must provide information on 14 everyday allergens including nuts, milk, celery, gluten, soya and wheat.

The new measures, which come into force on December 13, cover meals served in bakeries, cafes, care homes and packaged produce sold by supermarkets.

There may be fines for repeat offenders.

Experts say the majority of these deaths and visits to hospital are avoidable, and some are a result of people being given incorrect information about ingredients.EU food allergy laws in restaurants

Businesses can choose how they give the information on allergens contained in their food – for example through conversations with customers, leaflets, food labeling or by highlighting ingredients on menus.

If allergy advice is not clearly given, the Food Standards Agency says there need to be clear signs about where it can be obtained.

Pre-packaged food bought in supermarkets must also have clear allergen information on the labels.

Under the new legislation (EU FIC Food Information for Consumers Regulation), customers must be told if their food contains any of the following:

  • celery – including any found in stock cubes and soup
  • cereals containing gluten – including spelt, wheat, rye, barley
  • crustaceans – e.g. crabs, lobster, prawns and shrimp paste
  • eggs – including food glazed with egg
  • fish
  • lupin – can be found in some types of bread, pastries, pasta
  • milk
  • molluscs – mussels, land snails, squid, also found in oyster sauce
  • mustard
  • nuts – for example almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamia
  • peanuts – also found in groundnut oil
  • sesame seeds – found in some bread, humus, tahini
  • soya – found in beancurd, edamame beans, tofu
  • sulphur dioxide – used as a preservative in dried fruit, meat products, soft drinks, vegetables, alcohol.

Heather Cho apologizes for Korean Air nut rage

Clyde K. Valle
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Heather Cho apologizes for Korean Air nut rage

Former Korean Air Vice President Heather Cho has apologized for delaying a company’s aircraft over a serving of nuts, in her first public appearance since the incident.

Heather Cho’s father, Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho, also apologized at a news conference, amid a simmering backlash in South Korea.

Cho Yang-ho said his daughter, who has resigned from the airline, would be stripped of roles in affiliated companies.

The South Korean government is probing the incident, which has dominated headlines.

Heather Cho, also known as Cho Hyun-ah was onboard a Korean Airlines plane departing from New York for Incheon last week when she demanded a crew member to be removed, after she was served nuts in a bag, instead of on a plate.

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

Korean Air initially defended Heather Cho’s behavior, noting that as vice-president overseeing flight service, she was responsible for making sure service standards were upheld. The airliner later apologized.

On December 12, Heather Cho bowed in apology when she spoke to reporters outside a government building, where she was due to meet transport officials.

“I sincerely apologize,” she said, adding that she planned to say sorry personally to affected crew members.

Hours earlier Cho Yang-ho called a press conference and said he was apologizing “as a father and head of Korean Air”.

Cho Yang-ho called his daughter’s conduct “foolish”, and added: “I beg the people to blame me for the current situation, because everything is my fault… I failed to properly educate my daughter.”

He also announced that his daughter would step down from all her posts in companies under the Cho family-owned Hanjin Group, which also owns Korean Air.

Heather Cho was the chief executive of KAL Hotel Network, Wangsan Leisure Development, and Hanjin Travel Service, and also a board director of Korean Air, according to Yonhap news agency.

The Hanjin Group is one of South Korea’s top family conglomerates, called chaebol.

Some South Koreans resent the chaebols for dominating the economy. Some of the families running these businesses have been accused of acting with impunity, and running companies with a lack of transparency or poor corporate governance.

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What would you do with a $215,238 Christmas present from Bank of America?

Clyde K. Valle
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What would you do with a $215,238 Christmas present from Bank of America?

A Bank of America’s client claims that he got full access to someone else’s account because they had the same user name.

After the bank mistakenly granted him with $215,238.22, the California man says he decided to leave banks entirely for Bitcoin.

“This is the exposure of a fundamental problem of a bank not able to operate under the tenets of a bank,” he wrote in a post on reddit.com.

“I’ve moved everything out of the banking system but what is necessary to be able to operate conveniently in the fiat economy. After what just happened I realize I have to go full bitcoin,” he added.

The man then explained how Bank of America made him “almost a quarter million dollars” richer:

  1. I logged into Bank of America and immediately noticed that I had almost a quarter million dollars more than I did the day before. My account is there, and so are some other accounts.
  2. I looked through the transactional details of the unfamiliar account and online statements. It definitely wasn’t an old account of mine that someone had generously funded without telling me. This is someone else’s account and I have full access to it and all information associated with it. I do a test and get as close as I can to transferring money out it without clicking the final button. It’s obvious I can transfer money out of it.
  3. I realize that calling online banking support will put the issue in the hands of an attendant who views this as a technical problem that is solved by merely moving the accounts out of my login without realizing how fundamentally significant this is. Open ticket, close ticket, nothing to see here.Bank of America breached policy
  4. I drive to the local branch and request the manager. I tell him that if he has a few moments I have something interesting to show him. I provide my debit card and ask him to pull up my account. He does. I ask him how much is available for immediate withdrawal. He says approximately $220,000. I tell him it isn’t my money and the bulk of that money is in an account that isn’t mine. We stare at each other for a long time.
  5. After he gathered his wits about him he starts making phone calls to escalate the matter. After two hours they still have no explanation and are having difficulty removing the well funded account from my login. Apparently the account belongs to a company with the same user name that I have. Which is impossible in their system. The only way they can get the money out of my reach is to destroy my online profile and recreate it with a new user name. I’m led to believe that my account and information has been made accessible to the other company as well.
  6. He starts to fill out lots of forms. He says “This form has a check box I need to ask you about. Based on what I know about you, I assume you are going to the media. Have you done so already or will you?” I say “No I haven’t and yes I will. In addition, when I leave your office my next phone call is to the owner of this account. I assume if I don’t tell him what happened with his money and information, no one else will. I’m going to tell him his bank balance and ask him if he has a good lawyer. I also want you to include in your notes that I’m demanding an affidavit from Bank of America stating that during the time I was granted access to these funds I didn’t take any.”
  7. I was given a case number and informed that I would be contacted by a “special internal group” that has “questions” about the screen shots I took to document the matter. I suppose “questions” is another way of saying “demands that I destroy evidence of the bank’s wrong doings”. So far I’ve heard nothing.
  8. I leave the branch and call the owner of the business whose account I’d been granted access to. Apparently there’s no diplomatic way to start a conversation like this and I’m hung up on twice. The third time I got the owner and blurted out his account balance before he could hang up. Now he’s listening. I explained everything and, long story short, he didn’t seem to be concerned at all about what happened. He has too much faith in the banking system to believe there could be risk.

The Bank of America customer says he wanted to share the story to let people “to determine the quantity and degree of ways Bank of America breached policy, contract, fiduciary responsibility, protection of privacy and the extent to which the software that manages trillions of dollars may be flawed”.

BelleNews.com has contacted both Bank of America and its customer for comments. We will keep you updated.

More info to come soon…

US spending bill 2015: House passes $1.1 trillion budget hours before shutdown

Diane A. Wade
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US spending bill 2015: House passes $1.1 trillion budget hours before shutdown

Hours before government was due to shut down at midnight on Thursday, December 11, the House has passed the US $1.1 trillion budget.

The Republican measure was passed by 219 votes to 206 after President Barack Obama had urged Democrats to support the budget.

The new budget will fund most of the government until September 2015, but some areas will only receive short-term funding.

Republicans won control of both House and Senate in elections in November.

A relieved John Boehner, the Republicans’ House leader, said: “Thank you and Merry Christmas.”

Fifty-seven Democrats voted for the bill, but others were angry about Barack Obama’s call for support of the Republican bill, with Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi saying she was “enormously disappointed” at the president’s position.

The Republicans strongly oppose Barack Obama’s immigration reforms and so the bill only funds the Department of Homeland Security until February.

Republicans hope that when the new Congress meets at the start of next year, they can force changes to the president’s immigration plans.2015 US spending bill vote

The budget bill must now be passed by the Senate and sent to the president to sign into law.

A two-day extension of government funding was approved by the Senate on Thursday to give it time to pass the main budget.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said that his chamber would begin looking at the legislation on December 12.

The bill funds the government at the same levels that were negotiated last December.

It also adds emergency funding requested by Barack Obama, including funds to fight Ebola in West Africa and money for US air strikes against militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

A number of Democrats were unhappy at what they saw as unnecessary concessions made to Republicans in order to pass the bill.

“We don’t like lobbying that is being done by the president or anybody else that allows us to… give a big gift to Wall Street,” Democrat congresswoman Maxine Waters said.

For their part, several Republicans argued that the deal did not go far enough in putting curbs on President Barack Obama’s plan to grant work visas to millions of workers who had entered the US illegally.

The US government entered a partial shutdown during October 2013, after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget.

That shutdown left more than 700,000 employees on unpaid leave and closed national parks, tourist sites and government websites.

The 1,600-page bill also includes a number of provisions intended to gain votes from both parties:

  • increasing the amount an individual person can contribute to a national political party from $32,400 to $324,000
  • blocking the District of Columbia from using its own funds to set up regulatory systems for marijuana legalization
  • measures that would significantly weaken financial regulations in the Dodd-Frank law, including restrictions on derivatives trading
  • blocking certain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations
  • cuts in the budgets of the EPA and the IRS
  • increases in the budget for Wall Street regulation agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.[youtube OeKSPt3DIrE 650]

California biggest storm in 5 years leaves 220,000 people without power

Nancy Clayson
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California biggest storm in 5 years leaves 220,000 people without power

Heavy rains and high winds slammed northern California leaving more than 220,000 people without power.

The storm brought rainfall of more than an inch an hour in San Francisco and winds gusts of 140mph in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Flooding has already closed two major motorways in the area, delayed public transport, cancelled 240 flights and shut ferry services.

The rain is much needed in the drought-hit state but mudslides are a concern.

Power cuts were widespread, from the suburban area south of San Francisco to Humboldt, near the Oregon border.

National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson said: “It’s a two-pronged punch – it’s wind and rain.

“Once the ground gets saturated and the winds are howling, there’s a bigger chance of trees going down on power lines.”California storm December 2014

There were multiple vehicle accidents but no series injuries.

Rain and floods also led to rare weather-related school closures for students in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz County.

Some 240 flights at San Francisco’s airport were cancelled and delays averaged two hours, said a spokesman.

In Santa Cruz, a young child was trapped after an 80ft (24m) tree fell on his arm and shoulder,

Rescuers with chain saws cut it apart and the student was taken to hospital in a good condition.

In the small town of Healdsburg, cars were stalled in heavily flooded streets.

However, surfers welcomed forecast of waves as high as 15ft and unseasonably warm temperatures near San Francisco Bay and ski resorts in the northern Sierra Nevada were hoping for more than two feet of snow.

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 Preparing Students for Careers in Modern Medicine

Kathryn R. Bown
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 Preparing Students for Careers in Modern Medicine

The world of healthcare is changing. It’s becoming smarter and better connected. Yet people are still composed of the same blood, organs, muscles, and bones. The core abilities needed for doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are the same. New technology and communication methods make aspects of the job easier, but also require a more modern, IT-savvy medical student.

A health informatics degree has become essential. Health informatics is the use of computing, networking, and organization to share health information. It is one of the fastest growing areas of health care. It enables better informed medical professionals and is revolutionizing the field.

Preparing Students for Careers in Modern Medicine

Image via Flickr by Medill DC

How do you get your high school students ready to enter the new medical world? Knowledge and preparation are key. Medical school is still a long process, but approaching it with fundamental skills and a plan makes it easier. Students aspiring to careers in medicine should graduate high school strong in the following disciplines.

Science and Observation

Students still need to practice sound scientific method, be able to repeat experiments, understand the human body, and know the interactions of chemicals. A classic education in biology, chemistry, and anatomy delivers this knowledge. They also must be able to navigate the web for medical information.

A doctor needs a curious mind. Throughout school, students must be encouraged to watch, record, and recall. The difference between a medical professional with knowledge and one that solves problems is observation. They need to see the situation clearly, understand it, and find a solution.

Communication and Empathy

Students need to communicate their ideas in words. They must write essays, papers, and letters that are clear and descriptive. They need courses in expository prose more than creative writing. They also need to recognize how online language use is different. They need social media skills and proper digital citizenship.

Many brilliant minds lack the empathy to work with the masses. A bright student must also be a social one, able to earn trust and speak with anyone. They need to ask the right questions and deliver bad news in a sensitive way. They should get involved in various activities, meet diverse people and seek leadership roles.

Information Technology and Analytics

The last generation of healthcare workers didn’t need this. Today, understanding of software, hardware, and networks is vital. Students must know what to do when their computers don’t cooperate. When lives are on the line, medical professionals don’t wait for the IT guy.

Access to more information leads to sifting through mountains of data. The successful modern medical professional can spot patterns and anomalies in those mountains. Students need strong math skills, familiarity with spreadsheets, and experience solving complex equations.

Promotion

Students will need to sell their ideas, products, and organizations. They need practice with persuasive language, advertising, and speech. They should participate in writing, acting, and debate.

Although medical school may be ominous now, the rewards are innumerable. Skills learned from years of practice and labs result in the opportunity to change lives in the hospital. The years of study won’t be easy, but with knowledge of traditional science and modern health informatics your students can earn promising medical careers.

 

Golden Globes 2015: Full List of Nominations

Sonia Pantiss
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Golden Globes 2015: Full List of Nominations

The 2015 Golden Globes film and television awards will take place on January 11.

FILM

Best film, drama

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Best film, comedy or musical

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Into the Woods

Pride

St. Vincent

Best actress, comedy or musical

Amy Adams – Big Eyes

Emily Blunt – Into the Woods

Helen Mirren – The Hundred-Foot Journey

Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars

Quvenzhané Wallis – Annie

Best supporting actor

Robert Duvall – The Judge

Ethan Hawke – Boyhood

Edward Norton – Birdman

Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best score

Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game

Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything

Trent Reznor – Gone Girl

Antonio Sanchez – Birdman

Hans Zimmer – Interstellar Golden Globes 2015

Best song

Big Eyes – Big Eyes (Lana Del Ray)

Glory – Selma (John Legend, Common)

Mercy Is – Noah (Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye)

Opportunity – Annie

Yellow Flicker Beat – Hunger Games, Mockingjay Pt 1 (Lorde)

Best director

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ava Duvernay – Selma

David Fincher – Gone Girl

Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Best actor, drama

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game

Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler

David Oyelowo – Selma

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Best supporting actress

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year

Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game

Emma Stone – Birdman

Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best actress, drama

Jennifer Aniston – Cake

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best actor, comedy or musical

Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Michael Keaton – Birdman

Bill Murray – St. Vincent

Joaquin Phoenix – Inherent Vice

Christoph Waltz – Big Eyes

Best animation

Big Hero 6

The Book of Life

The Boxtrolls

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The LEGO Movie

Best screenplay

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo – Birdman

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Graham Moore – The Imitation Game

Best foreign language film

Force Majeure

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Ida

Leviathan

Tangerines

TELEVISION

Best series, drama

The Affair

Downton Abbey

Game of Thrones

The Good Wife

House of Cards

Best actress, drama series

Claire Danes – Homeland

Viola Davis – How to Get Away with Murder

Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife

Ruth Wilson – The Affair

Robin Wright – House of Cards

Best actor, drama series

Clive Owen – The Knick

Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan

Kevin Spacey – House of Cards

James Spader – The Black List

Dominic West – The Affair

Best series, comedy or musical

Girls

Jane the Virgin

Orange is the New Black

Silicon Valley

Transparent

Best actress, comedy or musical series

Lena Dunham – Girls

Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie

Gina Rodriguez – Jane the Virgin

Julia Louis Dreyfuss – Veep

Taylor Schilling – Orange Is the New Black

Best actor, comedy or musical series

Don Cheadle – House of Lies

Ricky Gervais – Derek

Jeffrey Tambor – Transparent

Louis CK – Louie

William H. Macy – Shameless

Best mini-series or TV movie

Fargo

The Missing

True Detective

The Normal Heart

Olive Kitteridge

Best actress, mini-series or TV movie

Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Honorable Woman

Jessica Lange – American Horror Story: Freak Show

Frances McDormand – Olive Kitteridge

Frances O’Connor – The Missing

Allison Tolman – Fargo

Best actor, mini-series or TV movie

Martin Freeman – Fargo

Woody Harrelson – True Detective

Matthew McConaughey – True Detective

Mark Ruffalo – The Normal Heart

Billy Bob Thornton – Fargo

Best supporting actress

Uzo Aduba – Orange is the New Black

Kathy Bates – American Horror Story: Freak Show

Joanne Froggatt – Downton Abbey

Allison Janney – Mom

Michelle Monaghan – True Detective

Best supporting actor

Matt Bomer – The Normal Heart

Alan Cumming – The Good Wife

Colin Hanks – Fargo

Bill Murray – Olive Kitteridge

Jon Voight – Ray Donovan

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CIA torture report: John Brennan defends CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation methods

Roy Siemens
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CIA torture report: John Brennan defends CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation methods

Director John Brennan has defended the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation techniques but admitted some methods were “harsh” and “abhorrent”.

Speaking at CIA headquarters, John Brennan said some officers acted beyond their authority but most did their duty.

According to the Senate report, “brutal” methods like waterboarding were ineffective.

However, John Brennan asserted the CIA “did a lot of things right” at a time when there were “no easy answers”.

“Our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation programme produced useful intelligence that helped the United States thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives,” Brennan told a rare CIA news conference in Virginia.

“But we have not concluded that it was the use of <<enhanced interrogation techniques>> (EITs) within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees who were subjected to them,” he added.

“The cause-and-effect relationship between the use of EITs and useful information subsequently provided by the detainee is, in my view, unknowable.”John Brennan CIA torture report

While he was speaking, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the committee that produced the report, was rejecting his arguments on Twitter.

One tweet said: “Brennan: <<unknowable>> if we could have gotten the intel other ways. Study shows it IS knowable: CIA had info before torture. #ReadTheReport.”

John Brennan was a senior CIA official in 2002 when the detention and interrogation program was put in place.

An outgoing Democratic Senator, Mark Udall, has called on John Brennan to quit, citing interference from the CIA in preparing the report.

A summary of the larger classified report says that the CIA carried out “brutal” and “ineffective” interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US and misled other officials about what it was doing.

The information the CIA collected using “enhanced interrogation techniques” failed to secure information that foiled any threats, the report said.

John Brennan described the actions of some CIA agents as “harsh” and “abhorrent” but would not say if it constituted torture.

He added an overwhelming number of CIA agents followed legal advice from the justice department that authorized some of the brutal methods.

“They did what they were asked to do in the service of their nation.”

The UN and human rights groups have called for the prosecution of US officials involved in the 2001-2007 program.

However, the chances of prosecuting members of the Bush administration are unlikely – the US justice department has pursued two investigations into mistreatment of detainees and found insufficient evidence.

On December 10, an unnamed justice department official told the Los Angeles Times prosecutors had read the report and “did not find any new information” to reopen the investigation.

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Ebola vaccine clinical trial halted temporarily due to joint pains

Kathryn R. Bown
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Ebola vaccine clinical trial halted temporarily due to joint pains

An Ebola vaccine clinical trial in Switzerland has been interrupted after some patients complained of joint pains in their hands and feet.

The trial was stopped one week early in all 59 volunteers “as a measure of precaution”, the University of Geneva Hospital said.

The vaccine being tested is one developed by NewLink Genetics, and recently bought by Merck.

There is currently no vaccine licensed for use to protect against Ebola.Ebola vaccine NewLink Genetics

Two vaccines are currently being tested in humans in a number of countries.

The side-effects in the Geneva trial were experienced by four volunteers.

The hospital said human safety trials would resume on January 5 in up to 15 volunteers after checks had taken place to ensure the joint pain symptoms were “benign and temporary”.

“They are all fine and being monitored regularly by the medical team leading the study,” the hospital said.

Four trials of another Ebola vaccine developed by GSK, in collaboration with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, are also underway.

JK Rowling’s Cuckoo’s Calling and Silkworm to be adapted for TV

Sonia Pantiss
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JK Rowling’s Cuckoo’s Calling and Silkworm to be adapted for TV

JK Rowling’s detective novels The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm, written under the name Robert Galbraith, is to be made for TV, BBC One has announced.

The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm will form the basis of the serial, which will be made with the assistance of JK Rowling.

Filming details for the series have yet to be determined.JK Rowling detective novels

The number of episodes for the series are still in discussion, and it is not yet clear when it will be broadcast.

The BBC together with HBO has already made a small screen version of JK Rowling’s A Casual Vacancy, which is due to be aired in February.

Production company Bronte Films, which made the mini-series, will also be responsible for the new crime drama.

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The Interview: Seth Rogen objected to re-editing movie

Sonia Pantiss
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The Interview: Seth Rogen objected to re-editing movie

Seth Rogen objected to re-editing The Interview movie, about an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un, just “to make North Koreans happy”.

Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal wrote to Seth Rogen to ask him to tone down a scene in which the North Korean leader is blown up.

Amy Pascal said the request came from Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Corporation.

The exchange was revealed in leaked emails in the wake of a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

Seth Rogen – who wrote and directed The Interview – refused to meet all of the demands made by Kazuo Hirai.

“This is now a story of Americans changing their movie to make North Koreans happy,” he wrote, in an email dated August 15.

“That is a very damning story.”

The Interview – due to be released on Christmas Day in the US – sees Seth Rogen and James Franco play two reporters who are granted an audience with Kim Jong-un. The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.The Interview Seth Rogen

In June this year, North Korea described the film as an act of war and an “undisguised sponsoring of terrorism”, and called on the US and the UN to block it.

Amy Pascal wrote to Seth Rogen relaying concerns raised by Kazuo Hirai about a key shot in the film which depicts Kim Jong-un struck by a tank shell, causing his head to explode.

“As embarrassing as this has been from my point of view,” wrote Amy Pascal to the film-maker, “you have to appreciate the fact that we haven’t just dictated to you what it had to be.”

“This isn’t some flunky. It’s the chairman of the entire Sony Corporation who I am dealing (with),” she said, referring to Kazuo Hirai’s position as the head of the studio’s parent company.

She stressed she was keen to ensure that the Japanese company would not be placed “in a bad situation”, in terms of its political relations with North Korea.

In a later response, Seth Rogen agrees to remove some of the ghoulish detail, including reducing the “flaming hair”, but added: “The head explosion can’t be more obscured than it is because we honestly feel that if it’s any more obscured, you won’t be able to tell it’s exploding and the joke won’t work.”

In an email to Kazuo Hirai, Amy Pascal notes that she has encountered considerable “resistance from the filmmakers”.

A final email in October, from Seth Rogen, confirms that his latest edit had “removed the fire from the hair and the entire secondary wave of head chunks”.

“Please tell us this is over now,” he adds.

Details of the emails were reported by Bloomberg News. Representatives for Seth Rogen declined to comment.

Sony Pictures announced this week that the stars will be giving no interviews at the Hollywood premiere of The Interview.

The California-based studio’s computer system went down last week and hackers then published a number of as-yet unreleased films on online download sites. The Interview was not among them.

A slew of emails, including embarrassing exchanges about some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, have also been leaked.

North Korea has denied it was directly involved in the hacking but praised the attack itself as a “righteous deed”.

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Ebola outbreak: Unreported bodies found in Kono, Sierra Leone

Kathryn R. Bown
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Ebola outbreak: Unreported bodies found in Kono, Sierra Leone

A number of bodies have been discovered by health officials in Kono, a remote diamond-mining area of Sierra Leone, raising fears that the scale of the Ebola outbreak may have been underreported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said they uncovered a “grim scene” in the eastern district of Kono.

A WHO response team had been sent to Kono to investigate a sharp rise in Ebola cases.

Ebola has killed 6,346 people in West Africa, with more than 17,800 infected.

Sierra Leone has the highest number of Ebola cases in West Africa, with 7,897 cases since the beginning of the outbreak.Ebola outbreak Sierra Leone

The WHO said in a statement on December 10 that over 11 days in Kono, “two teams buried 87 bodies, including a nurse, an ambulance driver, and a janitor drafted into removing bodies as they piled up”.

Bodies of Ebola victims are highly infectious and safe burials are crucial in preventing the transmission of the disease.

The response team also found 25 people who had died in the past five days piled up in a cordoned section of the local hospital.

Dr. Olu Olushayo, a member of the WHO’s Ebola response team, said: “Our team met heroic doctors and nurses at their wits’ end, exhausted burial teams and lab techs, all doing the best they could but they simply ran out of resources and were overrun with gravely ill people.”

Health officials are worried that many of the Ebola cases in Kono have gone unreported until now.

“We are only seeing the ears of the hippo,” said Dr Amara Jambai, Sierra Leone’s Director of Disease Prevention and Control.

The district of more than 350,000 inhabitants had reported 119 cases up to December 9.

Authorities in Sierra Leone have decided to put Kono district on “lockdown” from 10 to 23 December to try and contain the outbreak.

During the lockdown, no-one will be able to enter or leave the district but they can move around freely within it.

Hong Kong protest: Pro-democracy activists arrested as Admiralty protest camp is cleared

Diane A. Wade
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Hong Kong protest: Pro-democracy activists arrested as Admiralty protest camp is cleared

Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been arrested at the main protest camp at Admiralty, which is now cleared after more than two months of demonstrations.

Many left as bailiffs and police removed the camp’s barricades but some vowed to stay despite police warnings.

Police began their operation early on December 11 in what is widely seen as the final act in the long-running protests.

The number of protesters has dwindled in recent weeks from the tens of thousands who turned out in September.

They want Beijing to allow free elections for the territory’s next leader in 2017. China says everyone can vote but a pro-Beijing committee will screen candidates.

Police officers started to clear the camp and dismantle tents after issuing orders for protesters to vacate the “occupied area” within 30 minutes or face arrest.

Among those reportedly arrested were opposition Democratic Party founder Martin Lee, student leader Nathan Law, media tycoon Jimmy Lai and singer Denise Ho.Admiralty protest site Hong Kong

As police approached the last remaining protesters, Alex Chow, head of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, rallied the crowds, saying the fight was not over, AP reports.

Meanwhile, a dozen people who opposed the protests turned up to cheer on the police, the South China Morning Post reports.

Earlier in the morning, bailiffs read out a final warning to protesters shortly before workers, backed by police, moved in and began dismantling barricades in one section of the site, using box cutters to remove ties.

Footage from the scene showed police tearing down supply and first aid tents, as well as a study area used by students.

Trucks with cranes were also used to pick up debris left behind from the broken barriers, plastic sheets and umbrellas.

The clearance is the result of a court order obtained by a bus company which says the protests have disrupted its business.

While the order covers three portions of the Admiralty site, including the main Connaught Road area, Hong Kong police spokesman Cheung Tak-keung said officers would also clear blocked roads.

He said they would clear away barricades from a second protest site at Causeway Bay site “at an appropriate time”. About 20 people remain there, the South China Morning Post reports.

Some pro-democracy politicians have joined the students at the site and academics and a police watchdog are monitoring the clearance operation.

Some protesters, however, packed up their tents as Thursday dawned.

Clashes erupted when a third protest site, at Mong Kok, was cleared last month.

On December 10, Hong Kong’s top civil servant Carrie Lam urged students to leave the Admiralty site peacefully.

Later that night, more than 10,000 people gathered at the protest site, chanting pro-democracy slogans in what many saw as a farewell to the current demonstrations.

At their height, the protests were seen as the biggest challenge to Beijing’s rule in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.

Rallies in late September and early October saw huge crowds on the streets. But numbers fell as weeks passed and many Hong Kong residents also spoke out against the protests because of disruption to the city.

Beijing has not moved from its position on Hong Kong’s election process, describing the demonstrations as illegal.

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Superbugs study: Drug resistant infections will kill more than cancer by 2050

Kathryn R. Bown
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Superbugs study: Drug resistant infections will kill more than cancer by 2050

According to a new study, drug resistant infections will kill an extra 10 million people a year worldwide – more than currently die from cancer – by 2050 unless action is taken.

They are currently implicated in 700,000 deaths each year.

The analysis, presented by British economist Jim O’Neill, said the costs would spiral to $100 trillion.

He was appointed by UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron in July to head a review of antimicrobial resistance.

The reduction in population and the impact on ill-health would reduce world economic output by between 2% and 3.5%.

The analysis was based on scenarios modeled by researchers Rand Europe and auditors KPMG.

They found that drug resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) would have the biggest impact.Superbugs study

In Europe and the United States, antimicrobial resistance causes at least 50,000 deaths each year, they said. And left unchecked, deaths would rise more than 10-fold by 2050.

Jim O’Neill is best known for his economic analysis of developing nations and their growing importance in global trade.

He coined the acronyms BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and more recently MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey).

He said the impact would be mostly keenly felt in these countries.

The review team believes its analysis represents a significant underestimate of the potential impact of failing to tackle drug resistance, as it did not include the effects on healthcare of a world in which antibiotics no longer worked.

Joint replacements, Caesarean sections, chemotherapy and transplant surgery are among many treatments that depend on antibiotics being available to prevent infections.

The review team estimates that Caesarean sections currently contribute 2% to world GDP, joint replacements 0.65%, cancer drugs 0.75% and organ transplants 0.1%.

This is based on the number of lives saved, and ill-health prevented in people of working age.

Without effective antibiotics, these procedures would become much riskier and in many cases impossible.

The review team concludes that this would cost a further $100 trillion by 2050.

Dick Cheney: CIA torture report is full of crap and George W. Bush knew about interrogation techniques

Roy Siemens
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Dick Cheney: CIA torture report is full of crap and George W. Bush knew about interrogation techniques

President George W. Bush was “fully informed” about CIA interrogation techniques condemned in a Senate report, his vice-president, Dick Cheney, says.

Speaking to Fox News, Dick Cheney said George W. Bush “knew everything he needed to know” about the program, and the report was “full of crap”.

The CIA has defended its use of methods such as waterboarding on terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.

The Senate report said the CIA misled politicians about the program.

However, George W. Bush dismissed this, saying: “The notion that the committee is trying to peddle that somehow the agency was operating on a rogue basis and that we weren’t being told – that the president wasn’t being told – is a flat-out lie.”

In the interview on December 11, Dick Cheney said the report was “deeply flawed” and a “terrible piece of work”, although he admitted he had not read the whole document.

A summary of the larger classified report says that the CIA carried out “brutal” and “ineffective” interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US and misled other officials about what it was doing.

The information the CIA collected using “enhanced interrogation techniques” failed to secure information that foiled any threats, the report said.

However, Dick Cheney said the interrogation program saved lives, and that the agency deserved “credit not condemnation”.Dick Cheney on CIA torture report

“It did in fact produce actionable intelligence that was vital in the success of keeping the country safe from further attacks,” he said.

The UN and human rights groups have called for the prosecution of US officials involved in the 2001-2007 program.

“As a matter of international law, the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice,” Ben Emmerson, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, said in a statement made from Geneva.

He said there had been a “clear policy orchestrated at a high level”.

Correspondents say that the chances of prosecuting members of the Bush administration are unlikely, not least because the US justice department has said that it has already pursued two investigations into mistreatment of detainees since 2000 and concluded that the evidence was not sufficient to obtain a conviction.

None of the countries where the prisons were located has been identified in the report, but several countries suspected to have hosted so-called “black sites” reacted strongly to the publication.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is among the world leaders to have condemned how the agency imprisoned and questioned al-Qaeda suspects.

He said the program “violated all accepted norms of human rights in the world”.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he hoped that the publication of the report would “help us leave these techniques where they belong – in the past”.

He banned harsh interrogation techniques after taking office in 2009, and has acknowledged that some methods amounted to torture.

Some Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee released a minority report, accusing the Senate of having a “flawed analytical methodology”, “inadequate objectivity” and “political considerations”.

However, influential Republican Senator John McCain argued that torture “rarely yields credible information” and that even in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden the most important lead came from “conventional interrogation methods”.

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France plane crash: Alpha Jet aircraft comes down in Vouvray killing one person

Nancy Clayson
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France plane crash: Alpha Jet aircraft comes down in Vouvray killing one person

An Alpha Jet aircraft has crashed into a home for disabled people in central France, killing one person and leaving several others injured, one seriously.

According to French media, the military plane, which was on a training flight, came down in the town of Vouvray near Tours on Wednesday, December 10, at about 17:30 local time.

The two crew members had ejected and were unhurt, the air force said.

Uninjured residents of the home are being moved to new lodgings.

The 63-year-old resident who was killed had lived at the home for several years, said Health Minister Marisol Touraine after visiting the scene of the accident.

About 75 people live at home. The plane hit one of two buildings housing female residents.Alpha Jet crash Vouvray

A witness quoted by the local Nouvelle Republique newspaper, named as Sebastien, described a “very loud noise” and a “huge fireball”.

He also said he had seen the two crew of the jet descending in parachutes.

The pilots had made for “a dark area that appeared to be uninhabited,” said Col. Cyrille Duvivier, commander of air base 705 near Parcay-Melay.

He said the plane had been on a night training flight with an instructor and trainee pilot on board.

Col. Cyrille Duvivier described the Alpha Jet as a “very reliable design, which has been in service for some 30 years.

It is more than 30 years since the last such accident at base 705, according to Le Monde newspaper.

Princess Charlene of Monaco gives birth to twin babies

Lisa.Felice
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Princess Charlene of Monaco gives birth to twin babies

Princess Charlene of Monaco has given birth to twin babies, Gabriella and Jacques, the palace has announced.

Prince Jacques is next in line to the Monaco throne, a rich principality on the southern French coast.

A statement said both babies were doing well. Princess Gabriella was born first, with Prince Jacques arriving two minutes later.

Prince Albert II, 56, is the son of the late actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III.Princess Charlene of Monaco gives birth

Princess Charlene, 36, a Zimbabwean-born former Olympic swimmer, was giving birth to her twins at Princess Grace Hospital.

The prince has two other children but they are excluded from the throne because they were born outside of marriage.

Ahead of the birth, Prince Albert said that the first child to be delivered would become next-in-line, if the twins were the same gender.

Since the twins are mixed gender, Prince Jacques takes the role, due to Monaco’s laws of succession favoring males.

The gender of the twins had been kept a secret even from their father during Princess Charlene’s pregnancy.

Forty-two canon shots were fired to mark the babies’ arrival, 21 for each infant.

It is the first time twins have been born to Monaco’s royal family since it was founded in the 13th Century.

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Sinead O’Connor to join Sinn Fein party

Sonia Pantiss
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Sinead O’Connor to join Sinn Fein party

Sinead O’Connor has applied to become a member of the Irish political party, Sinn Féin.

Writing in her blog, Sinead O’Connor said she wanted to join the party “just as a regular punter” because she wanted to see a “proper socialist Ireland”.

However, in a Facebook post on December 8, the singer also called for the Sinn Féin leadership to step down.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the party welcomed her membership application and that it was currently being processed.

Sinead O’Connor achieved worldwide fame in 1990 with the song Nothing Compares 2 U, written by Prince.

She has often courted international controversy over her outspoken political and religious views.

Sinead O’Connor currently writes a regular blog on her website, entitled Sinead’s musings.

In recent weeks, the singer’s posts have focused on the controversial introduction of domestic water charges in the Republic of Ireland and the legacy of the 1916 Easter Rising, the rebellion against British rule.

In her latest blog entry, entitled Strange Week, Sinead O’Connor wrote: “I’m joining Sinn Féin now. If they’ll have me.

“Just as a regular punter who wants to learn and contribute with whatever strengths I might have or learn. I’d like to see a proper socialist Ireland.”

She also said that she has “never voted” in an election in her life.

Writing in a later Facebook post on Monday night, Sinead O’Connor said she “might not even be the kind of person they [Sinn Féin] want”.

She added: “I feel the elders of Sinn Féin are going to have to make ‘the supreme sacrifice’ and step down shortly in the same way the last Pope did.”

Both Sinn Féin and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church have faced criticism over how they dealt with allegations on child abuse in Ireland.

It is not the first time Sinead O’Connor has publicly criticized Sinn Féin or other political parties.

In a blog entry last week, dated December 1, she wrote: “We have a system left over from 1922. Fine Fail (sic)/Fine Gael/Sinn Fein, all of them. They are of the old order. They are of our violent history.

“We need new politics. Young people. Not people of the theocracy. Not people of “The War”. Not of any war.”

In a statement to the Journal.ie news website, a Sinn Féin spokesperson said: “We look forward to working with Sinead as part of Sinn Féin delivering change in communities across Ireland.”

However, the party later defended its leaders against the singer’s calls for them to step down.

“The membership of the party selects the Sinn Féin leadership every year at our Ard Fheis [the party’s annual conference],” a spokeswoman said.

“As a member, Sinead would have an equal say in that process.”

It also said that support for the party in the Republic of Ireland “has grown considerably” since Gerry Adams was elected as a member of the Irish parliament.

Sinead O’Connor has a history of hitting the headlines over issues unrelated to her music career.

In December 2011, Sinead O’Connor annulled her fourth marriage to therapist Barry Herridge 16 days after their wedding.

Pirate Bay taken offline after Swedish police raid

Nancy Clayson
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Pirate Bay taken offline after Swedish police raid

The Pirate Bay website has been taken offline following a police raid in Sweden.

Swedish police seized servers in Stockholm after a complaint was filed by a group targeting internet crime.

It is the first time in several years the pirated content website has been taken offline rather than simply blocked by filters.

Unexpectedly, The Pirate Bay‘s co-founder Peter Sunde – who is no longer involved – called for its permanent closure.

Swedish police have confirmed the raid, which took place after the complaint from the Rights Alliance.

As well as servers being removed from the data centre for examination, several people were now being interviewed by police.

The police operation took place in an area in Nacka, south-east of Stockholm. The area’s mountainous terrain is used as a natural cooling system for computer servers.The Pirate Bay goes offline

According to Torrent Freak, a website that reports on news about piracy and copyright law, a number of smaller torrent websites, or sites related to the activity, had also gone down.

Various reports on December 10 suggested that the site had returned with a Costa Rican web address.

However, this site appeared to be a “mirror” – meaning copy – of the real site, and search functionality did not work.

The Pirate Bay has operated for over 10 years, and in that time has become a focus for the creative industry’s war on copyright infringement. It is one of the internet’s most-visited websites, and the movie, music and software industries blame it for losses running into billions of pounds.

Despite The Pirate Bay‘s operators being convicted of copyright violations, authorities have struggled to stop the site from operating.

The Swedish raid steps up the effort to stop people reaching The Pirate Bay by knocking the site itself offline, although for how long is unclear.

In 2012, The Pirate Bay announced it was to move its site to the cloud – internet-based storage, which can be shared across a variety of locations – so that raids would apparently be ineffective.

Ziad Abu Ein: Palestinian minister dies after confrontation with IDF at West Bank protest

Roy Siemens
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Ziad Abu Ein: Palestinian minister dies after confrontation with IDF at West Bank protest

Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein has died after a confrontation with Israeli troops at a protest in the West Bank.

Ziad Abu Ein had died from complications related to tear gas exposure in the incident near the village of Turmusaya, doctors said.

Several witnesses said the minister had been hit and shoved by soldiers. One said he had been hit in the chest by a tear-gas canister fired by them.

The Israeli military (IDF) said it was looking into the reports.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called for an “immediate and independent” investigation and said that reports of “excessive use of force” by Israel were “extremely worrying.”

A statement released by the IDF said its forces had “halted the progress of rioters into the civilian community of Adei-Ad using riot-dispersal means”.

“The IDF is reviewing the circumstances of the participation of Ziad Abu Ein, and his later death,” it added.

Following the incident dozens of Palestinians have gathered at the spot near Turmusaya setting fire to tires and throwing rocks at security forces, Voice of Israel radio station reported.Ziad Abu Ein death in West Bank protest

The radio also said that Israel has proposed to set up a joint team with the Palestinians to investigate the death with experts from Israel and Jordan to attend a post-mortem examination.

In recent weeks, 10 Israelis and an Ecuadorean have been killed by Palestinians in a series of attacks. Thirteen Palestinians have also been killed, among them several of the assailants.

Ziad Abu Ein, a minister without portfolio, was among dozens of foreign and Palestinian activists taking part in a protest against land confiscations.

They had planned to plant olive tree saplings on a patch of land near the Jewish settlement of Shiloh, which Palestinians believe has been earmarked for annexation by Israel.

In the course of the protest, they came into confrontation with a group of about 15 Israeli soldiers.

Leading Palestinian activist Mahmoud Aloul, who was also at the protest, told the Associated Press news agency that the soldiers had fired tear gas and had beaten some of the activists with rifle butts.

At one point, Ziad Abu Ein was hit by a tear gas canister, Mahmoud Aloul said.

The Reuters photographer said he had seen Ziad Abu Ein being struck by a hand on the neck during an altercation with two soldiers.

An AFP news agency photographer said the minister had been hit in the chest.

Photos of the incident showed Ziad Abu Ein lying unconscious before he was taken away in an ambulance. He died before reaching hospital in the nearby city of Ramallah.

There are reports that Ziad Abu Ein had a health condition that may have contributed to his death.

Condemning “the brutal assault” on Ziad Abu Ein as a “barbaric act”, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas promised to take unspecified measures and declared three days of mourning.

A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinian Authority would halt security co-ordination with Israel.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said that she was “outraged” by the minister’s death.

“It’s extremely sad that a colleague and an old friend has been killed in such a cruel way” she said.

“Ziad was guilty of nothing more than planting olive trees where Israel would uproot trees.”

Ziad Abu Ein once received the death sentence, commuted to life imprisonment, from a court in Israel for a 1979 bombing that killed two Israeli teenagers. He was released in 1985 as part of a prisoner exchange that saw the release of three Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon.

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CIA torture: Aleksander Kwasniewski admits Poland hosted CIA secret prison

Roy Siemens
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0
CIA torture: Aleksander Kwasniewski admits Poland hosted CIA secret prison

Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski has acknowledged Poland let the CIA run a secret prison on its territory following 9/11.

Aleksander Kwasniewski insisted he had not known about the harsh treatment used by the CIA interrogators.

The former president had previously denied that Poland hosted a secret CIA prison.

The US Senate report into the CIA’s activities did not name the countries that hosted the prisons.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in July that Poland had allowed the CIA to torture two al-Qaeda suspects at a secret detention centre in 2002 and 2003, when Aleksander Kwasniewski was president.Poland CIA secret prison

In an interview following the publication of the CIA torture report, Aleksander Kwasniewski said Poland had agreed to strengthen intelligence co-operation with the US following the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

He said the Americans were very secretive about the way they conducted their activities, which aroused suspicions among Polish officials.

“Poland took steps to end the activity at this site and the activity was stopped at some point,” Aleksander Kwasniewski told Radio TOK FM in Warsaw.

He said he had been unaware of the methods they used which, he added, were totally unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into the claims in 2008, three years after Aleksander Kwasniewski left office. The investigation continues and has yet to publish any findings.

The CIA has defended its actions in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US, saying they saved lives.

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Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi receive Nobel Peace Prize awards

James J. Williams
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Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi receive Nobel Peace Prize awards

Malala Yousafzai and Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi have received the Nobel Peace Prize awards.

The Nobel committee described both laureates as “champions of peace”.

The Pakistani education activist said she was there to stand up for the rights of forgotten and frightened children, and raise their voice rather than pity them.

Kailash Satyarthi said receiving the prize was “a great opportunity” to further his work against child slavery.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi received their awards from the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, in the presence of King Harald V of Norway.

They delivered their Nobel lectures during the award ceremony.

In her speech, Malala Yousafzai, 17, said the award was not just for her: “It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.

“I am here to stand up for their rights, raise their voice. It is not time to pity them. It is time to take action so it becomes the last time that we see a child deprived of education.”Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls’ education and now lives in the UK.

She is the youngest-ever recipient of a Nobel Prize.

She said she had brought other girls with her to Oslo with similar stories, among them two classmates shot alongside her by the Taliban.

Malala Yousafzai said she was dedicating the prize money to the Malala Fund, “to help give girls everywhere a quality education and call on leaders to help girls like me…”

“I will continue this fight until I see every child in school,” she added.

“I feel much stronger after the attack that I endured, because I know, no-one can stop me, or stop us, because now we are millions, standing up together.”

In his speech earlier, Kailash Satyarthi, 60, said he was “representing the sound of silence” and the “millions of those children who are left behind”.

He said he had kept an empty chair at the ceremony as a reminder of the children without a voice.

“There is no greater violence than to deny the dreams of our children,” he said.

“I refuse to accept that the shackles of slavery can ever be stronger than the quest for freedom,” he added, to applause.

Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland stressed the importance of education, saying: “The road to democracy and freedom is paved with knowledge.”

Thorbjorn Jagland praised Kailash Satyarthi’s work campaigning against child labor, often at great risk to himself.

He also lauded Malala Yousafzai’s efforts to promote education despite threats from the Taliban, saying: “Her courage is almost indescribable.”

Indian and Pakistani leaders congratulated the laureates.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi have split the $1.4 million prize money.

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