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EU referendum: Leaving EU 'big gamble' for UK security - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...olitics-eu-referendum-35628051

referendum leaving security bbc news

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  • EU referendum: Leaving EU 'big gamble' for UK security
  • David Cameron will face MPs later as he presents his case for the UK remaining within the 28-member organisation.But Mayor of London Boris Johnson has again insisted that the country has a "great future" outside the EU.
  • The prime minister will outline details to MPs in a Commons statement, starting at 15.30 GMT, of last week's deal with EU leaders on reforms to the terms of the UK's membership, which paved the way for him to call a referendum on EU membership on 23 June.
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  • He rejected claims by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of six Cabinet ministers campaigning for the UK to leave the EU, that the UK's membership actually exposed it to greater security risks, pointing out that the EU had taken the lead in confronting Russia over its annexation of Crimea and Iran over its nuclear programme.
  • "It is through the EU that you exchange criminal records and passenger records and work together on counter-terrorism...We need the collective weight of the EU when you are dealing with Russian aggression or terrorism. You need to be part of these big partnerships."
  • It is less than 48 hours since the referendum date was announced, but already the campaigning is in full swing. The leave campaign has been given a major boost by Boris Johnson, who says the only way to change the EU is to vote to go.
  • Leaving his home in north London, Mr Johnson said his immediate focus was his remaining time in City Hall and there would be plenty of time to discuss the issue of Europe, and the UK's "great future" outside it, over the next four months.
  • "There is only one way to get the change we need - and that is to vote to go; because all EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says no," he wrote.
  • Several other senior Tories - including Justice Secretary Michael Gove - have already said they will join the Out campaign.
  • In a 2,000-word column for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said staying inside the union would lead to "an erosion of democracy".
  • The prime minister, who argues EU membership offers more power to the UK, will take his case to the Commons this afternoon.
  • However, his father, Stanley Johnson, told BBC Radio 5 live he disagreed with his son's argument.He denied Mr Johnson's decision had been a "career move", saying he had "completely thrown away" any chance of a post inside Mr Cameron's cabinet by aligning himself against the prime minister.
  • The prime minister announced the date of the in/out referendum outside Number 10 on Saturday, having returned from agreeing a deal in Brussels that he argued gave the UK a "special status" within the EU.
redavistinnell

The world's first ghetto, 500 years later - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...otos-venice-ghetto-anniversary

world cnn US history education

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  • The world's first ghetto, 500 years later
  • "It was summer in Venice, and the place was fairly deserted and quiet," Gafic said. "You can tell that very few people still live there."
  • A mourning silence for a once-bustling community devastated by centuries of prejudice and finally the Holocaust. The photos are filled with wide spaces, usually featuring a lone character framed by an empty expanse.
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  • In the early 13th century, persecuted Jews from Europe and the Levant began settling in Venice. As their population grew, so did their living restrictions, and in 1516 Venetian authorities forced all Jews to live in confinement in the "geti," which is where the modern-day term of "ghetto" is derived. In this gated islet, Jews lived in lockdown by night but were allowed to trade by day as long as they wore an insignia.
  • In the 1790s, Napoleon's army destroyed the ghetto's gates, allowing Jews to live freely among Venetians. Many Jews opted for the lavish palazzos across the canals.
  • "I have a special empathy for people who have lived under siege," Gafic said. "The siege mentality is very particular, it never leaves you. "It is known that people in Sarajevo always have this sense of confinement and claustrophobia. Anyone who has been through it has a form of post-traumatic syndrome which is passed on to other generations."
redavistinnell

Women and minorities turned out for Hillary Clinton at Nevada caucuses, entrance polls ... - 0 views

www.latimes.com/...evada-poll-20160221-story.html

minorities hillary clinton nevada entrance polls times

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  • Women and minorities turned out for Hillary Clinton at Nevada caucuses, entrance polls show
  • According to a poll of voters entering caucus sites around the state, Clinton beat Sanders 57% to 41% among women.
  • To compound Clinton's margin, women made up well over half the turnout, the entrance poll found.
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  • Clinton's double-digit lead among minority voters stemmed from a huge edge, better than 3 to 1, among African American voters. Her black support will play a critical role in the campaign's next contest, the South Carolina primary on Saturday, as well as in the large number of Southern and Midwestern states that vote in the first half of March.
  • Beyond gender and ethnicity, the other big division in the Nevada vote pitted experience and electability against empathy and trust. That tension has defined the Democratic race throughout the campaign, and it continued Saturday.
  • And he racked up a huge margin among the quarter of voters who said the biggest thing was a candidate who is "honest and trustworthy."
  • About 7 in 10 caucus voters called themselves liberal. In 2008, the last time the state had contested Democratic caucuses, about 45% of voters chose that label.
  • But about 4 in 10 voters said they wanted the country to move to a more liberal path than Obama's. Sanders won by better than 3 to 1 among them
  • That issue almost certainly will be prominent in the South Carolina primary, where black voters, who overwhelmingly back Obama, make up a majority of the likely electorate.
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Requiem for the Bush Dynasty | Vanity Fair - 0 views

www.vanityfair.com/...bush-drops-out-republican-race

requiem bush dynasty vanity politics US history

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  • Requiem for the Bush Dynasty
  • The prospect that voters would pick three presidents from two generations of just one family always struck plenty of politicos as at least one Bush too far.
  • On Saturday evening, Bush dropped out of the presidential race after a disappointing finish in South Carolina, a state that had once been so kind to his father and brother.
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  • As other campaigns scrambled to raise money, Bush’s PAC had money to burn, and burn it they did, mailing small video players with a 15-minute Jeb! documentary pre-downloaded to voters in New Hampshire, and buying digital billboard space in Iowa, where Bush wound up spending nearly $3,000 a vote and finishing in sixth place.
  • Four years later, on the morning of Jeb’s second, winning try at the job, the elder Bush so dreaded a possible encore that he confessed to his Secret Service agent, “I am one pathetic nervous wreck,” and told his old friend the journalist Hugh Sidey that he didn’t want to be with Jeb if he lost, “because it would hurt him even more to have us there.”
  • Paunchy or skinny, with glasses or without, Bush ran a joyless, self-conscious, disembodied campaign in which he always seemed to be looking at his watch, as his father so famously did in his 1992 town hall debate against Bill Clinton
  • Bush had his moments, chief among them a brave and principled argument that Donald Trump’s rampant anti-immigrant stance is not only bad policy but bad politics for his Republican Party, which needs Latino voters more than ever.
  • And to paraphrase Winston Churchill’s putdown of his rival Clement Atlee, Bush had “a lot to be modest about.”
  • Yet no epitaph for Bush’s effort could be simpler or truer than the words uttered by one of his longtime advisers on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. “We’re in striking distance in New Hampshire,” he told me with a bit of excessive optimism, before adding with dead-eyed aim: “But they’re not buying what we’re selling this year.”
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Taiwan earthquake death toll likely to exceed 100 | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...eath-toll-likely-to-exceed-100

taiwan earthquake death toll

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  • Taiwan earthquake death toll likely to exceed 100
  • The official death toll from the quake had risen to 38 by Monday, but more than 100 people were still missing.
  • Rescue efforts were focused on the wreckage of the 17-storey building, where 117 people were listed as missing and suspected to be buried deep under the rubble.
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  • The mayor of Tainan, William Lai, said during a visit to a funeral home that rescue efforts had entered the “third stage”.
  • Rescuers continued to scramble over the twisted wreckage of the building as family members waited for news of missing relatives. Lin Tong-meng said he had been waiting at the site for word of his 11- and 12-year-old nephews.
  • The president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, said there needed to be a “general sorting out” of old buildings to ensure they were able to cope with earthquakes. “There needs to be a continued strengthening of their ability to deal with disasters,” she said.
  • The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, conveyed his condolences to the victims, the state news agency Xinhua reported late on Sunday, and repeated Beijing’s offer to provide help.
redavistinnell

EU proposals will force multinationals to disclose tax arrangements | World news | The ... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...-arrangements-us-google-amazon

proposals will force tax arrangements

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  • EU proposals will force multinationals to disclose tax arrangements
  • The European commission is to table legislation in early April aimed at making the world’s largest multinational corporations open their tax arrangements with EU governments to full public scrutiny.
  • The commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, is said to be in favour of the initiative. A consensus has formed around making the rules apply to the world’s biggest conglomerates, including those from the US, the officials said.
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  • “It will likely target the large multinationals, all multinationals and not just EU ones,”
  • The commission was heavily criticised last month when it proposed that corporations report only to national tax authorities in Europe without making the information public.
  • However, the sources said the new rules would be effected by amending one of two existing directives, meaning they can be passed by a qualified majority, or 16 of the 28.
  • Juncker was Luxembourg’s finance minister and prime minister between 1995 and 2009.
  • The revenue threshold for companies ordered to report their earnings and taxes publicly has not yet been agreed. However, officials said the new rules will apply only to all “large” global multinationals, meaning US companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook will fall under its scope.
  • Tove Maria Ryding, tax justice coordinator for the European Network on Debt and Development , a group of 46 NGOs fighting for a fairer global financial system, said that if the commission chooses to limit public reporting to large companies – those with more than €750m in annual turnover – then 85% of the world’s multinationals would be unaffected.
  • “For a very long time big companies have been saying their tax affairs are a matter of competitive confidentiality,” he said. “We think it is incredibly important as a matter of principle that this information is made public.”
redavistinnell

India To Be World's Fastest Growing Economy: Keeping It Going Will Be The Difficult Tri... - 0 views

www.forbes.com/...ng-will-be-the-difficult-trick

india world fastest growing economy

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  • India To Be World's Fastest Growing Economy: Keeping It Going Will Be The Difficult Trick
  • So, a predicted growth rate of 7.3% for the last quarter of last year, with that rate expected to be maintained in the year to come is good news.
  • Well, there’re worries about the present too but as ever in an economy we need to look at the short term, where macroeconomics holds sway, and also at the long term, where it’s microeconomics all the way down.
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  • The annual budget, which garners significant market attention each year, assumes greater importance this time as markets test Modi’s commitment to fiscal consolidation that is also key to determining the path of India’s monetary policy after the biggest interest-rate cuts in six years in 2015.
  • My own opinion is that that is going to be a sufficient boost to the economy pretty much whatever the government manages to do with the deficit
  • Effectively the country needs the destruction of the entire Licence Raj. Much has already been done but there’s still a lot to do
  • Perhaps not in some of the formal measures but the Chinese economy, as it actually works, is in that private sector one of the most viciously free market on the planet at present.
redavistinnell

U.S. Consumer Prices Fall 0.1% in December - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...ine-0-1-in-december-1453296949

u s consumer prices fall

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  • U.S. Consumer Prices Fall 0.1% in December
  • “Slowing rent inflation is telling us the momentum in the economy is slowing,” said Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG Investment Research Inc. “It’s increasingly evident that the economy slowed in the second half of the year."
  • That slowdown has brought little inflation pressure across swaths of the economy. The consumer-price index, which measures what Americans pay for everything from airfare to baby food, fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in December from the prior month, the Labor Department said. The index is up just 0.7% over the past 12 months.
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  • The U.S. economy has been steadily adding jobs, but is struggling to break out of a sluggish growth trajectory amid turmoil in overseas economies.
  • Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices rose 0.1%, their smallest increase since August.
  • Even as unemployment has fallen to 5%, workers have seen only modest wage growth. Wednesday’s report showed gasoline prices have fallen by 19.7% since December 2014, saving many Americans hundreds of dollars. But those savings from have so far failed to translate into robust consumer spending.
redavistinnell

Isis has destroyed Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, satellite images confirm | World ... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...stery-satellite-images-confirm

iraq christian satellite monastery images

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  • Isis has destroyed Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, satellite images confirm
  • St Elijah’s monastery stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years, including most recently for US troops
  • This month, a high resolution camera was used to capture images of the site, which were compared with earlier photographs of the same spot.
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  • “Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of grey-white dust. They destroyed it completely,” he said.
  • chief executive of Allsource Analysis, who pinpointed the destruction between August and September 2014.
  • Stephen Wood,
  • Isis, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians in the past two years. During that time, its fighters destroyed whatever they considered contrary to their interpretation of Islam.
  • “I would imagine that many people are feeling like: ‘What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?’” said US army reserve Col Mary Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and 2009.
  • St Elijah’s was built in 590. In 1743, up to 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred by a Persian general. In 2003 St Elijah’s shudderedas a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the cistern.
  • Why we treat each other like this is beyond me,” he said. “Elijah the prophet must be weeping.”
redavistinnell

Pakistan attack: Gunmen kill 19 at Bacha Khan University - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-asia-35359072

pakistan attack khan university

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  • Pakistan attack: Gunmen kill 19 at Bacha Khan University
  • One Pakistani Taliban commander said the group had carried out the assault, but its main spokesman denied this.The group killed 130 students at a school in the city of Peshawar, 50km (30 miles) from Charsadda, in 2014.
  • The attackers struck at about 09:30 local time (04:30 GMT), apparently climbing over a back wall under cover of the thick winter fog.
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  • One student told television reporters he was in class when he heard gunshots: "We saw three terrorists shouting, 'God is great!' and rushing towards the stairs of our department.
  • Reports say a chemistry lecturer, named by media as Syed Hamid Husain, shot back at the gunmen to allow his students to flee, before he was killed.
  • "Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall."
  • The victims - mostly male students - were shot in the head or chest. Seventeen people were injured. At least one security guard also died.
  • The attack is reminiscent of the December 2014 attack on a school in Peshawar in which more than 150 people, mostly schoolboys, were killed. But damage to life and property this time has been much less, mainly due to swift action by the local police, but also because of the fact that the university had its own team of more than 50 trained security guards on duty who first confronted the attackers.
  • A senior Taliban commander, Umar Mansoor, told the media the attack was in response to a military offensive against militant strongholds. He said four suicide attackers had carried out the attack.
  • There is a symbolic value attached to Bacha Khan University as it is named after a Pashtun nationalist leader who believed in non-violent struggle, says BBC Urdu's Asad Ali Chaudry.
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Israel: 4 charged over 'lynching' of Eritrean migrant - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

israel charged cnn

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  • Israel: 4 charged in 'lynching' of Eritrean migrant mistaken for terrorist
  • Haftom Zarhum, a 29-year-old Eritrean who worked at the Beersheva central bus station, was shot by a security guard, then set upon by an angry mob who wrongly believed he had just shot a soldier at the scene.
  • The district attorney's office said in a statement that four people had been charged with causing grave bodily harm for their roles in last year's assault, which it described as a "lynching."Read MoreOne of the men charged was a prison guard.
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  • While Zarhum was bleeding and clearly "helpless" on the ground, one of the charged men, David Moyal, slammed him forcefully with a nearby bench, "with the intention of causing him harm, disability or maiming him," the indictment said.
  • A bystander moved the bench away, but Cohen and Shamba put it back, before Shamba pushed away an onlooker who asked him to stop and kicked Zarhum again, the indictment states.
  • In the wake of Zarhum's death, which caused shock and triggered soul-searching in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on citizens not to take justice into their own hands.
  • "No one will take the law into his own hands. That's the first rule," he said.
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Blast kills 14 near Pakistan polio center - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

blast kills pakistan center

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  • Blast kills 14 near polio vaccination center in Pakistan
  • Islamabad (CNN)A blast near a polio vaccination center in Pakistan killed 14 people and injured more than a dozen more, officials said -- an attack later claimed by two Islamist militant groups.
  • Two groups made apparently competing claims of responsibility for Wednesday's attack.
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  • The lack of trust and fears of attacks on vaccination centers have led many Pakistani parents to refuse mandatory vaccinations. Last year, the government arrested at least 500 parents for refusing to vaccinate.
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Revolutionary Guards release 10 US sailors who entered Iranian waters | World news | Th... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...ed-territorial-waters-state-tv

revolutionary guards release iranian waters

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  • Revolutionary Guards release 10 US sailors who entered Iranian waters
  • The US military confirmed the sailors’ release after the Guards issued a statement claiming they were freed into international waters after an apology from Washington.
  • The sailors’ two small navy craft brieflywent missing on Tuesday while crossing the Gulf from Kuwait to Bahrain. Pentagon sources later said the vessels entered Iranian waters because of technical difficulties.
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  • “These are always situations which, as everybody here knows, have the ability, if not properly guided, to get out of control. I’m appreciative for the quick and appropriate response of the Iranian authorities.”
  • In fact, it is clear that today this kind of issue was able to be peacefully resolved, and officially resolved, and that is a testament to the critical role that diplomacy plays in keeping the country safe, secure and strong.”
  • The US defence secretary, Ash Carter, said: “I am pleased that 10 US navy sailors have departed Iran and are now back in US hands. I want to personally thank secretary of state John Kerry for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure our sailors’ swift return. Around the world, the US navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress, and we appreciate the timely way in which this situation was resolved.”
  • The Revolutionary Guards patrol Iranian waters in the Gulf, especially near the strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes in tankers.
  • The swift release of the Americans contradicted speculation that the hardline Revolutionary Guards were seeking to sabotage improving relations between Iran and the west days before the planned implementation of the nuclear deal reached in Vienna in July
  • In an unusual move, the Guards last week condemned the attack by a group of hardliners on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, showing an approach in line with that of the Rouhani administration.
  • Once Iran finishes swapping the core of a heavy water nuclear reactor at Arak with cement, they will receive an influx of cash under the July deal.
redavistinnell

Athletics doping crisis: UK Athletics wants to reset world records - BBC Sport - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...35277793

athletics crisis wants reset world records

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  • Athletics doping crisis: UK Athletics wants to reset world records
  • The sport's governing body has made 14 proposals, among them longer bans for drug cheats and a public register of tested athletes.
  • UKA chairman Ed Warner said it was time for "radical reform", adding: "The integrity of athletics was challenged as never before in 2015."
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  • Russia was barred from international competition for alleged "state-sponsored doping".
  • And three IAAF figures - including Diack's son, Papa Massata Diack - were given lifetime bans after a report claimed they "conspired" to blackmail a Russian athlete in order to cover up her doping violations.
  • Warner says trust in the sport is at its "lowest point for decades", adding clean athletes and fans "have been let down".
  • Some of the key recommendations:
  • Warner says it is all about provoking a discussion and defended the UKA's decision to go it alone.
  • Warner points out that London is hosting the World Championships next year and wants athletics to take steps to clean up its act before then.
  • In response to UKA's manifesto, the IAAF said it had already begun implementing its own proposals and would "look forward to reviewing" the UKA recommendations in full.
  • UKA had already found that there was "no evidence of any impropriety" from Farah, Britain's multiple Olympic gold medallist, and no reason to "lack confidence" in his elite training programme.
  • Athletes in receipt of support from UKA should also be required to sign an agreement which outlines "moral and ethical" obligations.
  • At the time, Dick Pound, chairman of the independent commission, warned the public to expect further revelations.
  • "It believes the IAAF, run by Lord Coe, is too preoccupied with salvaging its own credibility after recent corruption allegations.
  • "It may also decide to raise concerns over the lengthening of bans given it feels the current four-year sanction is proportionate.
redavistinnell

Church split over homosexuality would be a failure - Welby - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/uk-35278124

church split homosexuality failure

shared by redavistinnell on 11 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • Church split over homosexuality would be a failure - Welby
  • A split in the Anglican Church over the issue of homosexuality "would not be a disaster, but it would be a failure", the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
  • Views range from liberals in the US - who do accept openly gay clergy - to conservatives in Africa, who refuse to.
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  • Ever since the liberal Episcopal Church in America consecrated Canon Gene Robinson - a divorced man in a gay relationship - as bishop of New Hampshire in November 2003, sniping within the Communion has intensified.
  • "It would not be good if the Church is unable to set an example to the world of showing how we can love one another and disagree profoundly, because we are brought together by Jesus Christ, not by our own choice."
  • "There's nothing I can do if people decide that they want to leave the room. It won't split the communion."
  • Given the fractious Primates' meetings of the past, the Archbishop of Canterbury has done well simply in persuading all 38 to meet around one table, using much of the personal capital he built up during his visits to every single Anglican province around the globe.
  • The more liberal provinces that are open to changing Church doctrine on marriage in order to allow for same-sex unions include Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, South India, South Africa, the US and Wales.
  • A spokesman for the archbishop added the meeting would be an opportunity for national churches to decide their approach to the next Lambeth Conference - the once-in-a-decade gathering of the worldwide Anglican bishops.
  • A letter sent recently by more than 100 senior Anglicans to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York urging them to ensure the Church repents for "discriminating" against lesbian and gay Christians will be discussed too. It called for the Church to acknowledge members around the world have been treated as "second-class citizens".
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David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...david-bowie-dies-at-69.html

david dies music new york new york times

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  • David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion
  • He died after an 18-month battle with cancer, according to a statement on Mr. Bowie’s social-media accounts.
  • He had also collaborated on an Off Broadway musical, “Lazarus,” that was a surreal sequel to his definitive 1976 film role, “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”
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  • Mr. Bowie earned admiration and emulation across the musical spectrum — from rockers, balladeers, punks, hip-hop acts, creators of pop spectacles and even classical composers like Philip Glass, who based two symphonies on Mr. Bowie’s albums “Low” and “ ‘Heroes’.”
  • Yet throughout Mr. Bowie’s metamorphoses, he was always recognizable. His voice was widely imitated but always his own; his message was that there was always empathy beyond difference.
  • He was Ziggy Stardust, the otherworldly pop star at the center of his 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.”
  • he arrival of MTV in the 1980s was the perfect complement to Mr. Bowie’s sense of theatricality and fashion. “Ashes to Ashes,” the “Space Oddity” sequel that revealed “we know Major Tom’s a junkie,” and “Let’s Dance,” which offered, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” gave him worldwide popularity.
  • He also pushed the limits of “Fashion” and “Fame,” writing songs with those titles and also thinking deeply about the possibilities and strictures of pop renown.
  • Mr. Bowie largely left the spotlight after a heart attack in 2004 brought an abrupt end to a tour supporting his album “Reality.” The singer experienced pain during a performance at a German festival and sought treatment for what he believed was a shoulder injury; doctors then discovered a blocked artery.
  • And he collaborated with musicians like Brian Eno in the Berlin years and, in his final recordings, with the jazz musicians Maria Schneider and Donny McCaslin, introducing them to many new listeners.
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Judge Declares Mistrial of Baltimore Cop in Freddie Gray Case - NBC News - 0 views

www.nbcnews.com/...-cop-freddie-gray-case-n481296

judge baltimore cop freddie gray nbc case

shared by redavistinnell on 17 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • Judge Declares Mistrial of Baltimore Cop in Freddie Gray Case
  • In what is a perceived legal blow for prosecutors, the jury was hung and the judge declared a mistrial in the trial of Baltimore police Officer William Porter in connection with Freddie Gray's death after he sustained injuries while in custody. Maryland circuit Judge Barry G. Williams indicated that he expected prosecutors to retry Porter.
  • Prosecutors considered Porter's case key to strengthening the case against Caesar Goodson Jr., who was driving the van. It was also seen as a signal of how the trials of the five other officers could go.
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  • The judge scheduled conferences Thursday to "discuss a new trial date," indicating that he expects prosecutors to try Porter again. Williams gave Porter the option to appear Thursday, but he declined.
  • During arguments, prosecutors focused on what they said was Porter's failure to take care of Gray while he was in custody by not getting him medical care or buckling his seatbelt.
  • "In the coming days, if some choose to demonstrate peacefully to express their opinion, that is their constitutional right," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. "In the case of any disturbance in the city, we are prepared to respond. We will protect our neighborhoods, our businesses and the people of our city."
  • Porter, who took the stand in his defense, said that Gray was "unable to give me a reason for a medical emergency" and that it was not his duty to fasten the seatbelts of people who have been arrested in the van.
  • And in the meantime, Baltimore worked to rebuild and remember.
  • "With the eyes of the world on Baltimore City, we must ensure that any protests that take place are peaceful, and we must ensure that the process of healing our community continues. We must continue to channel our emotions into strong, positive change, so that, as a city, we truly see our young men of color before it is too late," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, said in a statement. "This is the road to more equal justice in our community."
  • "I think it went botched, I don't feel as if the prosecution was at tight as it needed to be by virtue of the fact that the jury still had a whole lot of unanswered questions," he said. "To be clear that they were deadlocked on all four charges and got no clarity or consensus on any of them. So I hope that in this retrial they'll be more clear about how it is they present the case."
  • ers should remain calm. He described the mistrial as "a bump on the road to justice."
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Fed raises interest rates, citing ongoing U.S. recovery | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...-usa-fed-idUSKBN0TY2EX20151217

fed interest rates u s recovery

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  • Fed raises interest rates, citing ongoing U.S. recovery
  • The U.S. central bank's policy-setting committee raised the range of its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent, ending a lengthy debate about whether the economy was strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs.
  • The Fed's policy statement noted the "considerable improvement" in the U.S. labor market, where the unemployment rate has fallen to 5 percent, and said policymakers are "reasonably confident" inflation will rise over the medium term to the Fed's 2 percent objective.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • "The process is likely to proceed gradually," Yellen said, a hint that further hikes will be slow in coming.
  • New economic projections from Fed policymakers were largely unchanged from September, with unemployment anticipated to fall to 4.7 percent next year and economic growth hitting 2.4 percent.
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Egypt's Second Twitter Revolution - The Daily Beast - 0 views

www.thedailybeast.com/...second-twitter-revolution.html

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  • Egypt’s Second Twitter Revolution
  • CAIRO — Ayman Moussa’s father died on Nov. 12. But there was little hope, it seemed, of the young engineering student and activist making it to the funeral.
  • Moussa’s friends tried to figure out how to get him a temporary release so he could pay his last respects. Articles in the traditional media were out—Egypt’s free press is anything but. Any demonstrations in the street are ruthlessly smacked down.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The government “feels [it is better] to calm down the situation than to be stubborn,” explained Mustafa. “They are afraid of a lot of things. Things are unstable [in the country.] The hostility towards [President] Sissi is increasing.”
  • So Mustafa—who asked not be named, to protect himself from reprisals—got together with a few others and started a hashtag campaign on Twitter and Facebook. #letAymanburyhisfather soon swept across thousands of Egypt’s screens.
  • The Egyptian government, fearing a hashtag campaign could erupt into another 2011-style uprising, is apt to respond to such campaigns before they evolve into something big
  • Over the past week, as national outrage grew louder, the government detained four police officers on suspicions on police brutality, an unusual concession by a government that considers police a protector of fragile order and apt to ignore such claims.
  • Last month alone, in addition to Taweel and Moussa’s cases, there was a campaign for an Alexandria groom swiped by a swarm of police at his wedding (#theykidnappedthegroom), and a prominent investigative journalist and human-rights advocate summoned by military intelligence (#freehossambaghat).
  • Social media “is the only solution we have now because if you protest, it is a crime. And if you don’t speak about it, no one will do anything about it. So social media is the only way out,” al Attar explained to The Daily Beast while attending Moussa’s father’s funeral.
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ISIS Gains a Foothold in Gaza - The Daily Beast - 0 views

www.thedailybeast.com/...-gains-a-foothold-in-gaza.html

gains foothold gaza

shared by redavistinnell on 14 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • ISIS Gains a Foothold in Gaza
  • GAZA CITY — The early hours of the morning of Nov. 24 began with a boom. The Israeli Air Force was hitting targets here in the Gaza Strip, shattering the pre-dawn quiet of this besieged coastal enclave.
  • Though some, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, may want you to believe Hamas and ISIS are buddies and would work together, this isn’t the case.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Before the question could even be asked, Yousef explained that “the last suicide bombing used by Hamas was in 2004,” saying that the technique of indiscriminate killing was harming the movement.
  • “For years, they were ‘quiet,’ they didn’t get involved in politics,” Yousef said. Then, “When Hamas won the Palestinian elections in 2006, some of them decided to involve themselves.”
  • They hoped to have a space where “they controlled what was preached, without oversight,” according to Yousef.
  • On Aug. 14, 2009, Moussa declared an Islamic emirate from Rafah, directly challenging Hamas rule.
  • The armed followers of Moussa, Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Followers of God), and other Salafi offshoots sporadically attacked Hamas positions. They also murdered Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni in 2011, after attempting to force Hamas to release one of their leaders. Arrigoni’s killing was widely condemned. He was a beloved figure in Gaza.
  • The rockets were easily dealt with by Israel’s advanced “Iron Dome” missile defense system, and the IAF quickly retaliated by bombing three sites—two belonging to Hamas and another to Islamic Jihad. Israel promises to hold Hamas responsible for any rockets. So, when SOHB bombs, Hamas pays the price.
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