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President Barack Obama advised US president-elect, Donald Trump to avoid managing the country’s affair like a family business. Obama also said Trump needs to know there is a big difference between campaigning and ruling.

The outgoing president of America, Barack Obama has called on the president-elect, Donald Trump to warn him against running the country like he runs his family business. Note that the president-elect, Donald Trump has no political experience but he is an experienced businessman.

President Barack Obama advised US president-elect, Donald Trump to avoid managing the country’s affair like a family business. Obama also said Trump needs to know there is a big difference between campaigning and ruling.

The outgoing president of America, Barack Obama has called on the president-elect, Donald Trump to warn him against running the country like he runs his family business. Note that the president-elect, Donald Trump has no political experience but he is an experienced businessman.
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U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver his farewell address to Americans today, in Chicago, ten days ahead of the handover to Donald Trump, a man he has described as polar opposite.

Obama’s speech will be a parting shot “to say thank you” to Americans “and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here”.

Chicago is Obama’s adopted hometown, where he met his wife, Michele and was elected an Illinois senator.

In his invitation on January 2 to Americans to attend the ceremony, Obama had written:
“In 1796, as George Washington set the precedent for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power he also set a precedent by penning a farewell address to the American people. And over the 220 years since, many American presidents have followed his lead.

“On Tuesday, January 10, I’ll go home to Chicago to say my grateful farewell to you, even if you can’t be there in person.

“I’m just beginning to write my remarks. But I’m thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you’ve changed this country for the better these past eight years and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here.

“Since 2009, we’ve faced our fair share of challenges, and come through them stronger.

“That’s because we have never let go of a belief that has guided us ever since our founding — our conviction that, together, we can change this country for the better.

“So I hope you’ll join me one last time. Because, for me, it’s always been about you,” the outgoing two-term president said in his invitation.

 The White House said the outgoing president took the country out of one of the worst economic recessions.

“President Obama inherited an economy careening toward a second Great Depression, and he acted aggressively to arrest the crisis, restart growth and job creation, rebuild our economy on a stronger long-term foundation, and expand opportunity for all Americans.

“Since 2009, the unemployment rate has been cut by more than half from its peak.

“‘Yes, we can’. President Obama spoke these three words for the first time as a candidate in January 2008 in New Hampshire.

“After eight years, this remains a guiding principal that continues to inspire Americans across the country to come together and find their own ways to move our country forward.
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BUENA PARK, Calif. –  Firefighters using ropes and harnesses safely lowered 21 people from an amusement park ride stuck 100 feet in the air for more than six hours at Southern California's Knott's Berry Farm, officials said.

The riders, both children and adults, were harnessed to firefighters and hugging them tightly as they were lowered one-by-one from the Sky Cabin Friday night.
One girl who appeared to be about 10 years old could be seen smiling as she descended, her turquoise Converse sneakers dangling high above the crowd of onlookers.
Firefighters briefly pulled a large, cherry-picker crane up to the ride but decided not to use it and returned to using the ropes.
The tourists and fun-seekers on the slow-moving ride are most likely hungry, claustrophobic and badly in need of a bathroom, but Orange County Fire authorities and park officials have both said they are not in danger.
"We're visiting from Oregon," rider Gave Javage told KNBC-TV via cellphone. "There's nine in our group. "My son and his cousin are down below. They elected not to go on the ride. Good choice for them, huh?"

All three of Eddie Kim's daughters were stuck on the ride while he waited below for them to be rescued.
He told KTTV-TV that all three were fine, but "my little girl, 8-year-old girl, she came down, and she's crying."
The Sky Cabin is a slow-moving attraction where riders in a circular tram travel up a large cylinder, which firefighters had to climb to begin saving the passengers. The ride is fully enclosed and is more like being in a room than on a ride. The Knott's website calls it "mild" and says it's meant to give "a 360 degree panoramic view of Orange County, Catalina Island, and the LA basin."
It was 100 feet high when it stopped at about 2 p.m., Knott's said in a statement. Park mechanics made several attempts to bring it down before calling the fire department. An operator was among the 21 on the ride and was in constant contact with the ground.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the breakdown. Knott's said in a statement that the ride would remain closed until an investigation was completed.
In a much more frightening incident at Knott's, a group of 20 people in 2013 were stuck 300 feet high on a ride that left them exposed with their legs dangling out.

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BERLIN –  German police say they have arrested a man who shouted "bomb, bomb, bomb" at Berlin's massive open-air New Year's party.

Using the hashtag "#nichtlustig" — meaning "not funny" — Berlin police tweeted Saturday that the unnamed man "is now celebrating #Welcome2017 with us."
Tens of thousands of people are celebrating the New Year near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate amid tight security.
Large concrete blocks have been place around the security cordon to prevent a repeat of the truck attack that killed twelve people in Berlin before Christmas.
The suspected attacker, 24-year-old Tunisian, was shot dead in Italy days afterward.
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US President-elect Donald Trump has praised Vladimir Putin for not expelling American diplomats, despite a similar move by Washington in response to alleged election interference.
Mr Trump tweeted: "Great move on delay - I always knew he was very smart!"
Moscow denies any involvement in election-related hacking.
But in one of the last moves of the Obama presidency, Washington demanded Russian 35 diplomats leave the country by Sunday afternoon.
Mr Putin ruled out an immediate tit-for-tat response.
The row follows allegations that Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, releasing embarrassing information through Wikileaks and other outlets to help Mr Trump win the election.
Several US agencies including the FBI and the CIA say this is the case, but Mr Trump initially dismissed the claims as "ridiculous". He has since said he will meet US intelligence chiefs to be "updated on the facts of this situation".
The Obama administration announced retaliatory measures on Thursday:
  • Thirty-five diplomats from Russia's Washington embassy and its consulate in San Francisco were declared "persona non grata" and given 72 hours to leave the US with their families
  • Two properties said to have been used by Russian intelligence services in New York and Maryland were closed on Friday
  • Sanctions were announced against nine entities and individuals including two Russian intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSB
After the US announced it would expel diplomats, Russia's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had vowed Russia would respond to the "manifestation of unpredictable and aggressive foreign policy". But he hinted it might delay its action until Mr Trump became president.
Russia's foreign ministry suggested expelling 31 US diplomats from Moscow and four from St Petersburg.
But Mr Putin said his country would not stoop to "irresponsible diplomacy", and invited the children of US diplomats there to spend New Year's Eve at the Kremlin.
In a statement on the Kremlin website (in Russian), the Russian president wished President Barack Obama and his family a happy New Year, as well as Mr Trump and "the whole American people".

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HARRISBURG, Pa. – A colonel who once headed the U.S. Army's strategic war gaming division sobbed and apologized Wednesday before being sentenced to 12 years for receipt and distribution of child pornography.

Col. Robert Rice, 59, told a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that he was deeply ashamed and acknowledged that the victims of child pornography may never heal.

"When this began I didn't see the human beings," Rice said. "I came to realize that this is not a victimless crime. That each time an image is passed it renews the ... emotional damage."


He said he was "so sorry and ashamed for what I did to continue that cycle."

The sentence was made concurrent with a four-year term he received in October after pleading guilty to three pornography counts during a military court-martial. Those findings and sentence are under review by an Army general.

In the federal case, Rice was convicted by a jury, and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Clancy said his actions during the investigation and trial were calculated.
"The severity of this kind of crime cannot be overstated," Clancy said.
Clancy said that Rice wore his full dress uniform, bedecked in medals, every day of his trial.

Rice also blamed his wife for his own conduct, which Clancy said subjected her "to an extended period of humiliation." Clancy said they have been involved in a protracted, bitter divorce that is not final.

Rice told U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner that his own actions put his wife in an impossible position.
"She had the moral courage to do what was right, and I did not," Rice said.
Rice, who has spent 37 years in the military, was most recently assigned to the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was arrested in 2013.

He said he took "full responsibility" and had brought discredit upon the Army. He apologized to the Army, his family members, his friends and investigators.

Conner said Rice's criminal activity became known because of software that had been installed on one of his computers. He said Rice had a large number of images and displayed knowledge of and experience in trading child pornography, actions that occurred over an extended period of time.

Rice's lawyer argued that Rice's age puts him at a low risk of re-offending and that he has benefited from counseling.
He was fined $5,100 and will have to spend 10 years under supervision upon release.
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Commercial apps, such as Facebook and Uber, can pinpoint your exact location using your smartphone’s built-in GPS. But that’s not necessarily the case when you call 911.

That’s because most 911 centers determine a mobile caller’s location based on technology that was adopted two decades ago — before cellphones were equipped with GPS. So, instead of obtaining location information directly from the phone, the 911 center estimates the caller’s location based on which cell tower is in use.

The problem is, the tower your phone pings may be miles away, or even in another jurisdiction.

Such was the case back in 2014, when newspaper deliverywoman Shanell Anderson called 911 after accidentally driving her SUV into a pond.

The sinking vehicle was located in Cherokee County — north of Atlanta. But the call was routed to a 911 center in the City of Alpharetta, two counties away. By the time rescuers were able to find Anderson’s location, the 31-year-old had already suffered critical injuries and died in the hospital several days later.

Alpharetta 911 receives approximately 44,000 emergency calls per year. Each day, the center has to transfer an estimated 10 to 12 calls that are misrouted from different jurisdictions.

“The amount of time that is spent in that 911 center getting to the right location is time wasted getting responders to the scene,” said Carl Hall, Alpharetta’s Public Safety administrator.

Alpharetta and other municipalities have been helping tech startup LaaSer test technology to give 911 centers accurate information on the location of mobile callers. It involves no equipment or software upgrades at the 911 centers, but helps cellphones communicate their GPS locations during emergency calls.

“Our approach is to let each piece of the puzzle do what it’s good at,” said LaaSer CEO Fred White. “The cell tower is great at communicating voice and data — not so great at figuring out where your phone is. Your phone is very good at telling where it is. So, we let the phone do its work, it tells our system where it is. And our system uses the cellular network just to transmit the voice and data necessary to complete the call.”

During a supervised test, a Fox News reporter dialed 911 from his cellphone. Although he placed the call while standing next to a 911 operator inside the Alpharetta center, her computer screen showed the address of a cell tower more than one mile away.

When CEO White called from the same location using his LaaSer 911 equipped mobile phone, the operator’s computer immediately showed the correct address of the 911 center.

Company officials say they’re working with a major Android manufacturer to make this technology a standard feature on their new phones.

Currently, 70 to 80 percent of emergency calls are made on cellphones. The Federal Communications Commission estimates that a one minute improvement in 911 response times for mobile callers would save more than 10,000 lives each year.

The FCC has mandated that by 2021, 911 centers must be able to receive accurate locations from 80 percent of wireless calls. But that still means one in five mobile callers may fall through the cracks in an emergency.
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NEW YORK – Police say a former New York City high school student who in 2012 fathered a child with his then-teacher has killed the woman and their 4-year-old son.

Authorities on Tuesday say 23-year-old Isaac Duran Infante confessed to killing Felicia Barahona and Miguel Barahona. He's been charged with murder.

Barahona was found Monday in her Harlem apartment with an electrical cord around her neck. Her son was found in the bathtub.

It wasn't clear if the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, man had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

A 2012 report by school investigators determined the 36-year-old Barahona began a sexual relationship with Infante when he turned 18.

The report found Barahona believed she and Infante would get married before their relationship ended.

She was subsequently fired from the Bronx school.
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Chicago's citywide crime wave didn't slow down during the holiday weekend.


City police investigated 27 shooting incidents this Christmas weekend, 12 of which were fatal, city Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a Monday news briefing.
"The violence primarily occurred in areas with historical gang conflicts on the South and West sides of the City," Johnson said. "We now know that the majority of these shootings and homicides were targeted attacks by gangs against potential rival gang members and groups who were at holiday gatherings."
Chicago police said there have been 753 homicides and 3,495 shooting incidents in the city from January 1 to December 25. During the same time frame in 2015, there were 478 homicides and 2,393 shooting incidents.

Chicago tops 700 homicides for the year "These were deliberate and planned shootings by one gang against another," Johnson said Monday. "They were targeted knowing fully well that individuals would be at the homes of family and friends celebrating the holidays. This was followed by several acts of retaliation."

In one Christmas night incident, a man walked out of an alley, opened fire on people partying on a porch in the East Chatham neighborhood and then ran away, CNN affiliate WLS reported. Two brothers 18 and 21 years old died and five people were wounded. No arrest has been reported. Ninety percent of those killed had gang affiliation, criminal history and had been identified as potential offenders or victims of gun violence, said Johnson. Forty-five guns were seized over the weekend, he said.

Johnson called on Chicago's policymakers to enact stricter gun laws, specifically to increase sentences for repeat gun violence offenders. Johnson said criminals feel empowered and emboldened by recent criticisms of police.

"When they feel the public will speak out for them and not the police officers, that's giving them the power to go out and do what they did," Johnson said. August was the deadliest month, with 96 homicide reports, the Chicago Tribune said. In one weekend in August, there were eight gun-related homicides and 64 non-fatal shootings.
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CUSTOMERS of Uber have reported being offered drugs by drivers as concern grows over how the service could be used to mask the distribution of illegal substances.

Dozens of people have alleged on social media that a driver offered to sell them drugs. Some suggested that the practice was common.

The Times has also spoken to a customer of Uber Eats, which delivers restaurant food in London, who said that his delivery man had tried to sell him cannabis. James Newman, of Clapton, said: “I ordered food one night, which was delivered by a young chap on a bike. After the ‘food transaction’ he attempted to close a second deal. “He sized me up and then asked whether I wanted to buy some weed. He had ‘the best you can buy anywhere in the neighbourhood, top quality’. I declined.

“While the moment was slightly awkward, he was very professional about it all, said, ‘OK then, good night anyways,’ and went on his way. “You have to admire his entrepreneurial spirit — but it would be nice if he used it for something else than selling drugs on the side of delivering food.”


Others have told more sinister stories. Last month a woman from London wrote on Twitter: “Had a bullshit experience with Uber last night and I’m still kinda shaken. Driver tried to push drugs onto me and got aggressive.” The woman did not respond to The Times’s request to explain further and we have not been able to substantiate her or any other claims online.

However, a search of Twitter shows many others sharing their experiences of being offered drugs.

In October a man going by the name TheScottness wrote: “We got an Uber back last night and the dude was like ‘Ya I Uber drugs to parties a lot of the time, you want some blow?’”

Josh Klein, a technology expert and author of Hacking Work, told the online magazine Vice: “You have a massive drug market which requires extralegal delivery mechanisms and a widespread, independently operated network of drivers for whom it is an ideal means of masking their activities.”

A court case last month in London showed how drug dealers may be using Uber’s network of 40,000 drivers to distribute narcotics. Lorenzo Bocchini, 36, a former rugby player from Italy, was convicted of six drug-related charges after the police found a home laboratory and drugs including crystal meth with a street value of £200,000 at his home in Bayswater. During the case prosecutors said that Bocchini used an Uber driver as a courier to transport drugs around the capital.

Uber urged any customers who are offered drugs to report the incident to the company, promising that all feedback would be treated confidentially.

A spokesman added: “This is the first time we have heard any allegation like this and is something we’re taking extremely seriously. Everyone that partners with Uber must pass the relevant criminal records check, which would flag past drugs offences.”
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Arguing that Americans still subscribe to his vision of progressive change, President Barack Obama asserted in an interview recently he could have succeeded in this year's election if he was eligible to run. "I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it," Obama told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the "The Axe Files" podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. "I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one," Obama said in the interview, which aired Monday.

"In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow, it really was a fantasy," Obama said of the hope-and-change vision he heralded in 2008. "What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism."



Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton won a majority of the vote in the 2016 contest. Clinton beat Trump in the popular vote by almost 2.9 million ballots, though Trump won more electoral votes and thus the presidency.

In the 50-minute session, Obama repeated his suggestion Democrats had ignored entire segments of the voting population, leading to Donald Trump's win. He implied that Hillary Clinton's campaign hadn't made a vocal enough argument directed toward Americans who haven't felt the benefits of the economic recovery. Full transcript: David Axelrod interviews President Barack Obama for The Axe Files

"If you think you're winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer," he said, adding later he believed Clinton "performed wonderfully under really tough circumstances" and was mistreated by the media.
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President Obama says it has been “the privilege of my life” to serve as the commander in chief of the US military. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visited troops at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay Sunday, marking the last time Obama will take part in his annual Christmas tradition as president, the AP reports. It was the first major outing for the president this Christmas. Obama said his gratitude to the military won’t stop once his term ends, and his commitment to standing by the military “every step of the way” will continue. He noted that US. troops are serving on Christmas in dangerous places like Iraq and Afghanistan, with some engaged in missions against ISIS.

“As tough as it is to be deployed, the people here in America, back home, understand that every single day you serve, you’re fighting for our freedom,” the president said.


Obama has made it a tradition to spend some time on Christmas at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, not far from the rented house that he and his family have made their winter home away from home. As he spoke, a few hundred troops sat around tables in uniforms, many with their families, in a mess hall hosting their Christmas meal. As he bid farewell to the troops, Obama ended on a lighter note, pointing out that it might not be his final goodbye.

“I understand that I still have a little bit of rank as ex-president,” he said. “So I still get to use the gym on base and, of course, the golf course.”
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The U.S. intelligence community thinks the "hundreds" of surface-to-air missiles that China recently shipped to its Hainan Island in the South China Sea will be moved to the country’s nearby and disputed man-made islands in the coming months, two military officials told Fox News on Saturday.

The plan follows what U.S. intelligence officials say is Beijing’s expressed desire to protect its three airstrips on three of the man-made islands.

The missiles now on Hainan island, China’s largest in the South China Sea, are a combination of short- medium- and long-range weapons. And they include one battalion of the advanced SA-21 system, a long-range missle system that is based on fourth-generation Russian software and capable of knocking out aircraft from as far away as 250 miles.

The total number of surface-to-air missiles on Hainan could reach 500, one of the military officials told Fox News. China shipping more surface-to-air missiles from the mainland to the South China Sea The new missiles have been seen by American intelligence satellites on China’s provincial island province of Hainan, which is not part the disputed islands.

Officials think the location is “only temporary” and likely a training site before the missiles are deployed in early 2017 to the contested Spratley Islands or Woody Island.

The two missile systems seen on Hainan island are known as the CSA-6b and HQ-9. The CSA-6b is a combined close-in missile system with a range of 10 miles and also contains anti-aircraft guns. The longer-range HQ-9 system has a range of 125 miles, and is roughly based on the Russian S-300 system.

This latest deployment of Chinese military equipment comes days after the Chinese returned an unclassified underwater research drone in the South China Sea. The Pentagon accused a Chinese Navy ship of stealing the drone, over the objections of the American crew operating it in international waters to collect oceanographic data.

The escalation comes weeks after President elect-Donald Trump received a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s president breaking decades-long “one-China” protocol and angering Beijing.

China has deployed surface-to-air missiles to Woody Island in the South China Sea before, as Fox News first reported in February.

It has yet to deploy missiles to its seven man-made islands in the Spratly chain of islands. Weeks ago, civilian satellite imagery obtained by a Washington, D.C., based think-tank showed gun emplacement on all the disputed islands, but not missiles.

Earlier this month, Fox News first reported China getting ready to deploy another missile defense system from a port in southeast China. China also flew a long-range bomber around the South China Sea for the first time since March 2015 and days after Mr. Trump’s phone call with his Taiwan counterpart.

Days before President Trump’s call, a pair of long-range H-6K bombers flew around the island of Taiwan for the first time.

Beijing has long expressed interest in fortifying its seven man-made islands in the South China Sea.
Last year, China’s President Xi Jinping pledged not to “militarize” the islands, in the Rose Garden at the White House.

“This another example of the adventurous and aggressiveness of the Chinese in the face of an anemic and feckless set of policies that we've seen over the last eight years,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, former head of Air Force intelligence, in an interview with Fox News.


This month, U.S. intelligence satellites also spotted components for the Chinese version of the SA-21 system at the port of Jieyang, in southeast China, where officials say China has made similar military shipments in the past to its islands in the South China Sea.

The Chinese SA-21 system is a more capable missile system than the HQ-9.
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HONOLULU – For most people, a Christmas Eve phone call with the first lady of the United States is an unexpected surprise. But Austin was holding out for someone else.

"I want to hear Santa talk," said Austin, one of a handful of kids who called the NORAD Tracks Santa program on Saturday and found Michelle Obama on the other end of the line.


Santa couldn't get to the phone, the first lady patiently explained, "because he's delivering all the gifts" — 3 million as of late morning in Honolulu, where President Barack Obama and his family are on vacation.

There was a bittersweet note this year as the first lady carried out her annual Christmas ritual for the final time, taking calls from kids who wanted to know exactly how much progress Santa had made on his journey. It'll be up to the next first lady, Melania Trump, to decide next year whether to continue the tradition.
But Austin had another concern in mind: Would Santa know where to go?

"I'm going to move to another house," said Austin, joined by three other kids in North Carolina.
No matter, Mrs. Obama replied.
"He's going to be able to find you no matter where you go," she said, according to a transcript released by the White House. "That's the special thing about Santa."

The first lady spent roughly a half-hour taking calls before joining her husband, daughters Sasha and Malia and family friends for lunch at Side Street Inn, whose greasy food and low-key atmosphere is popular among Hawaii locals and tourists alike. Then the family drove to Breakout Waikiki, a "live action" experience where visitors are "trapped" in a room and must work together to break out.

But before the family fun, there was a geography lesson as the first lady updated children about Santa's most recent locales on his gift-giving voyage: Sardinia, Malta and Hungary, to name a few.
If there was a lesson for the first lady, it was a crash course in the latest hot-item gifts.

A girl named Kirsten told Mrs. Obama she wanted a drone from Santa. Joshua wanted a Hot Wheels garage, while Aiden wanted a hoverboard. But it was Adilyn whose gift seemed to catch the first lady off guard.

"I'm getting a hedgehog tomorrow," Adilyn said.
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MONTREAL -- An American man known as the "Godfather of Grass" will remain in detention in Montreal as he awaits extradition to the U.S., the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada said Friday.

A spokesman for the board said John Robert Boone was calm but refused to answer questions from border services agents during a detention review hearing Friday afternoon.

Boone was arrested without incident in Montreal on Thursday after eight years on the run, several months after police opened an investigation at the request of U.S. authorities.
In an email, board spokesman Christian Tessier said authorities considered Boone to be a flight risk with the means to go back underground if released.

He will remain in detention at least until his next hearing, scheduled for Dec. 29.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Thursday that authorities had been seeking Boone since they seized 2,400 marijuana plants on his Kentucky farm in 2008.

Boone, 73, spent more than a decade in prison after being convicted in the 1980s in what prosecutors called the "largest domestic marijuana syndicate in American history."

Montreal police opened an investigation in September after being contacted by American authorities who said they had reason to believe Boone was in Canada.

Police spokesman Jean-Pierre Brabant said earlier Friday that Boone was not facing charges in Canada. Authorities say he crossed the border illegally and they don't know how long he has been living in the country.
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A "shameful" abstention by the U.S. in a United Nations vote Friday allowed passage of a resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.



The UN Security Council resolution was put forward by four nations a day after Egypt withdrew it Thursday under pressure from Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Failure by the U.S. to veto the measure was seen as a double-cross of America's key Middle Eastern ally, and attributed directly to outgoing President Barack Obama, who has had chilly relations with Israel throughout his eight-year tenure.
It was to be expected that Israel's greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share and that they would have vetoed this disgraceful resolution," said Israel's Ambassador Danny Danon. "I have no doubt that the new U.S. administration and the incoming UN Secretary General will usher in a new era in terms of the UN's relationship with Israel."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., blasted the Obama administration for undermining America's historic Middle East ally. "This is absolutely shameful," Ryan said. "Today's vote is a blow to peace that sets a dangerous precedent for further diplomatic efforts to isolate and demonize Israel." Minutes after the vote, Trump took to Twitter to express his opposition.
As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th," Trump tweeted.

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, said the contention that settlements, and not Palestinian terrorism, is the obstacle to peace is false. "This UN resolution represents the Big Lie of modern anti-Semitism," Bayefsky said. "Palestinians' backers on the Council, New Zealand and Malaysia, made today's slander clear, claiming Jews living peaceful, productive lives on Arab-claimed land was the 'single biggest threat to peace" and "primary threat to a two-state solution.'
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, said the contention that settlements, and not Palestinian terrorism, is the obstacle to peace is false.
The measure was adopted with 14 votes in favor, to a round of applause, after U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power abstained. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.
"The resolution is too narrowly focused on settlements when we all know, or all should know" there are other factors that contribute to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, Power said in an explanation for why the U.S. chose to sit on the fence, which ensured passage of the resolution. The Obama White House, under heavy pressure from the Israeli government and its supporters to veto the resolution, kept everyone guessing until the vote whether it would stop shielding Israel from council resolutions and permit it to pass by abstaining. After the vote, White House officials acknowledged on a conference that Obama made the decision himself after several rounds of discussions with top administration officials. As for Trump, deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes pointedly said there’s only one president at a time – and that the Obama administration was concerned the Israelis’ pace of settlement activity could put the viability of a two-state solution at risk. Israel believes it has the right to expand settlements in the disputed territories as populations within them expand. Palestinians do not believe the settlements should exist at all, and world condemnation of expansion is seen as a possible first in that direction.
The resolution, warning that Israeli settlement expansion is “steadily eroding the two-state solution and entrenching a one-state reality,” calls on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.” It repeated the longstanding UN position that all settlements on land Israel conquered in 1967 are illegal under international law. A senior Israeli official accused the U.S. of a "shameful move" after learning that it did not intend to veto the text, the BBC reported. The U.S., which has veto power as one the council five permanent members of the council, has traditionally sheltered Israel from condemnatory resolutions. But the Obama administration has long made clear its opposition to Israeli settlement-building in occupied territory and there had been speculation that in its final month it might allow a resolution against settlements to pass at the U.N. A senior Israeli official told The Associated Press: "President Obama and Secretary [of State John] Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the U.N. "The U.S. administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel's back which would be a tail-wind for terror and boycotts and effectively make the Western Wall [the Jewish holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem] occupied Palestinian territory.” Most of those critical of the move by the U.S. painted it as a stab in Israel's back delivered by Obama. “This last minute political maneuvering is shameful," said Ric Grenell, former spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the UN and a Fox News contributor. "It is inconsistent with the long standing U.S. policy that no country or organization should be dictating solutions on the two parties.
"Today’s abstention by the Obama Administration will make it harder to find a peaceful solution because it imposes outside positions on Israel without letting them negotiate directly,” he added. Wael Abu Youssef, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters that Netanyahu's government "must not be rewarded" by the initial withdrawal of the draft resolution. The resolution, although it reiterates long-held U.N. policy, could be more than symbolic. While it does not call for imposing sanctions on Israel, its language could hinder Israel's negotiating position in future peace talks. Given the widespread international opposition to the settlements, it would be nearly impossible for the Trump administration to reverse it.
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PALM BEACH, Fla. -- President-elect Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Germany was "an attack on humanity and it's got to be stopped." He also suggested he might go forward with his campaign pledge to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants from coming to the United States. "All along, I've been proven to be right, 100 per cent correct," Trump said when asked if the attack in Berlin had caused him to reevaluate the proposal. "What's happening is disgraceful." Trump proposed the Muslim ban during the Republican primary campaign, prompting criticism from both parties. He shifted his rhetoric during the general election to focus on temporarily halting immigration from an unspecified list of countries with ties to terrorism, though he did not disavow the Muslim ban. Trump addressed reporters for less than two minutes before a meeting with incoming White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. Transition officials did not respond to questions Wednesday seeking clarification about Trump's positions. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for Monday's attack in Berlin that left 12 people dead and 48 injured. On Wednesday, German officials launched a Europe-wide manhunt for a "violent and armed" Tunisian man suspected in the killings. Trump was spending the final days of 2016 huddling with advisers at his palatial private estate in South Florida. He also met Wednesday with the heads of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, companies with high-dollar government contracts that Trump has criticized. Boeing has a contract to build two new Air Force One planes and Lockheed Martin builds the F-35 fighter jet. Trump said of his meeting with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, "It's a little bit of a dance. We're trying to get costs down." Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Boeing, said his company was committed to working with Trump to lower costs on the Air Force One project. The president-elect was also finalizing his senior White House team, wrapping up a decision-making process that has been dogged by infighting among rival factions within Trump's organization. Some of Trump's original campaign aides have expressed concern to the president-elect himself that they are getting boxed out in favour of those more closely aligned with incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Among the early advisers who will not be joining Trump at the White House is Corey Lewandowski, his combative first campaign manager. But the operative won't be far away -- Lewandowski announced plans to start a political consulting firm with offices just a block away from the White House. Lewandowski oversaw Trump's campaign through the Republican primaries, but he clashed with the candidate's family and was fired. Still, he remained close to Trump, talking with him frequently and showing up occasionally at the president-elect's offices during the transition. Lewandowski said he was offered "multiple opportunities" to join the administration, though people with knowledge of the process said those opportunities did not include senior positions in the West Wing. The president-elect announced plans to hire economist Peter Navarro to run a new National Trade Council that will be housed in the White House. Navarro, author of "Death By China," has endorsed a hard line approach toward relations with Beijing. In a statement, the Trump transition team said the creation of the council "demonstrates the president-elect's determination to make American manufacturing great again." Trump also named billionaire investor Carl Icahn as an adviser on regulatory reform, though the transition team said Icahn would not be serving as a federal government employee. Transition officials said additional announcements on White House jobs were expected this week. Trump opened his day by boasting anew about his Nov. 8 election victory, tweeting that his win in the Electoral College was more difficult to pull off than winning the popular vote would have been if he had tried. Democrat Hillary Clinton won at least 2.6 million more votes than Trump, an apparent sore point for the president-elect. " "I would have done even better in the election, if that is possible, if the winner was based on popular vote - but would campaign differently," he tweeted.
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Alan Thicke died of a "ruptured aorta" -- essentially a heart attack -- according to his death certificate. According to the official doc ... doctors desperately tried to save Alan's life by performing a median sternotomy -- it's a surgical procedure where doctors literally crack open the sternum to open up the area around the heart and lungs so they can operate. Alan was stricken with the heart attack at around 11:15 AM last week. He died 3 hours later in surgery at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank. Time of death was listed at 2:14 PM. TMZ broke the story ... Alan died of a heart attack last week while he was playing hockey with his 19-year-old son, Carter. He was transported to Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center and died there. Source : tmz
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Two Babson College students who were alleged to have yelled racial slurs at black women during a celebration of Donald Trump’s election victory have been cleared of any wrongdoing. After the election, Parker Rand-Ricciardi and Edward Tomasso decided to go out and celebrate their candidate’s win. They did so by driving onto the nearby Wellesley campus, an all-women college, with a Trump flag flying proudly. Students at Wellesley, however, told a different story. Rand-Ricciardi and Tomasso, they said, spit on a student and shouted “racial and homophobic slurs while parked in front of the Harambee House, an on-campus gathering place traditionally meant for African American students.” As a result of that, the two students were told to leave the Babson campus and not return until Dec. 11.
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BOSTON – A man who survived a deadly 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston identified former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez in court on Tuesday as the one who pulled the trigger. The judge presiding over the upcoming murder trial also denied a bid by Hernandez's lawyer to push back the February start. Prosecutors asked Raychides Sanches during Tuesday's pretrial hearing to describe the chaotic scene the night of July 16, 2012. Sanches said he had been a passenger in a car stopped at a light in the city's South End when an SUV pulled up. He said someone from the SUV said "What's up, negroes?" and then gunfire erupted. Sanches said bullets struck 29-year-old Daniel de Abreu and 28-year-old Safiro Furtado. When asked who the shooter was, Sanches nodded in the direction of Hernandez in Suffolk Superior Court, the Boston Herald reported. "Looked like him," he said. "Hernandez." Another survivor of the shooting, Aquilino Freire, told the court he was shot twice and described the shooter as light skinned, with no beard but tattoos. Hernandez faces two counts of murder in the deaths of Furtado and de Abreu. Prosecutors say he gunned down the two men after one of them bumped into him at a Boston nightclub earlier that night. The former tight end has pleaded not guilty. Hernandez already is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2013 shooting death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Tuesday's hearing focused on a number of pre-trial issues as jury selection is slated to begin Feb. 13. Prosecutors are asking the judge to allow Sanches and Freire to give a general description of the shooter during trial. Defense lawyers argued that attorney-client privilege may have been violated because prison officials have acknowledged Hernandez's jailhouse calls were accessed by unauthorized people while he was awaiting his first murder trial. Hernandez is due back in court for another hearing Dec. 27.
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