Source: BBC News

25 December 2014 Last updated at 04:02 ET

Sierra Leone has declared lockdown of at least three days in the north of the country to try to contain the Ebola epidemic.

Shops, markets and non-Ebola related travel services will be shut down, officials said.

Sierra Leone has already banned many public Christmas celebrations.

More than 7,500 people have died from the outbreak in West Africa so far, the Word Health Organization (WHO) says, with Sierra Leone the worst hit.

Sierra Leone has the highest number of Ebola cases in West Africa, with more than 9,000 cases and more than 2,400 deaths since the start of the outbreak.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30601523

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Do they know it's Christmas time at all? Facile question! The important thing is stopping the spread of this plague, today, tomorrow, and throughout 2015.

Whadeffer you faith popcorn we aral humans or's thata cee in Rusha?

Source: Associated Press

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Dec. 25, 2014 12:34 AM EST

HAVANA (AP) — Golden rays of tropical sunlight slant through the caved-in roof of Saint Thomas de Villanueva chapel, illuminating tiles graced by the faces of saints. Vandals shattered the stained-glass windows and scrawled their names on the thick walls during decades of frigid relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Cuba's communist government.

But a new chain-link fence surrounds the building, protecting it for a future that once seemed unimaginable.

The church is planning to restore the building to its former glory, along with more a dozen more churches, parish houses and other buildings, as part of a quiet reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government that has brought relations to a historic high point this Christmas. Authorities have also given permission for the construction of the first two new churches in more than five decades.

After years of bridge-building behind closed doors, the Cuba-Vatican rapprochement burst into the headlines last week when the U.S. government credited Pope Francis with helping facilitate the secret reconciliation talks between the U.S. and Cuba. Francis wrote the leaders of both countries to invite them to resolve their differences.


Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/71a031c6979e4ea0aed9ccb1757beedb/cubas-relations-catholic-church-hit-high-point

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Not surprising, really: Both Cuba and the Church have a history of non-democracy, says this Irish-Catholic.

Source: Alternet

December 24, 2014 | One of the reforms being promoted to reduce police brutality is greater use of mandatory cameras by police units to ensure that excessive force isn't used. Dashboard and body cameras can also, purportedly, protect police officers from false accusations.

The Seattle Police Department has a dashboard camera system in place, but says it can't allow the public to view the footage out of privacy concerns. In order to share the recordings with the public, it has to blur faces and distort voices.

As a result, the SPD is hosting a contest looking for “a few good hackers” to step up and redact its videos so it can release the 314,636 hours of videos it's captured over the past five years.

Read more: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/seattle-police-department-hosts-contest-looking-hackers-who-can-doctor-officers

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No evil intent, I'm sure. Nothing to see here, people. Now run along and watch the Kardashians!

Source: Aljazeera

December 24, 2014 2:08PM ET

The U.S. government is preparing to boost the number of private contractors in Iraq as part of President Barack Obama's growing effort to beat back Islamic State militants threatening the Baghdad government, a senior U.S. official said.

The presence of contractors in Iraq, particularly private security firms, has been controversial since a series of violent incidents during the U.S. occupation, culminating in the September 2007 killing of 14 unarmed Iraqis by guards from Blackwater security firm.

Three former guards were convicted in October of voluntary manslaughter charges and a fourth of murder in the case, which prompted reforms in U.S. government oversight of contractors.

The preparations to increase the number of contractors — who can be responsible for everything from security to vehicle repair and food service — seemingly underscores the Obama administration's growing commitment in Iraq. When U.S. troops and diplomats venture into war zones, contractors tend to follow, doing jobs once handled by the military.


Read more: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/24/us-contractors-iraq.html

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Of course we will.

Source: CNN

December 24, 2014: 3:14 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
JetBlue (JBLU) is offering to fly two police officers from each department on its route around the country to New York for the funerals of two NYPD officers killed last weekend.

The New York-based airline is also working with its partners to have family members of one of the slain officers, Wenjian Liu, flown in from overseas.

Liu and a second NYPD officer, Rafael Ramos, were sitting in their patrol car when they were shot and killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, a Georgia man with a long criminal record.

Ramos's funeral is being held on Dec. 27, whereas Liu's funeral hasn't been scheduled, pending the arrival of relatives from China.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/24/news/jetblue-police-nypd/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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Good move, regardless of coporate motivations!

From yesterday's New Yorl Times:

LA VIRGEN, Costa Rica — Over just a few decades in the mid-20th century, this small country chopped down a majority of its ancient forests. But after a huge conservation push and a wave of forest regrowth, trees now blanket more than half of Costa Rica.

Far to the south, the Amazon forest was once being quickly cleared to make way for farming, but Brazil has slowed the loss so much that it has done more than any other country to limit the emissions leading to global warming.

And on the other side of the world, in Indonesia, bold new promises have been made in the past few months to halt the rampant cutting of that country’s forests, backed by business interests with the clout to make it happen.

In the battle to limit the risks of climate change, it has been clear for decades that focusing on the world’s immense tropical forests — saving the ones that are left, and perhaps letting new ones grow — is the single most promising near-term strategy.

Link

Gee, I hope this post isn't too controversial!

One can only wonder.

Source: The Guardian

Paul Lewis in Washington
Wednesday 24 December 2014 08.39 EST

The families of at least four unarmed black men killed this year by police are pinning their hopes on possible federal prosecutions under a little-known civil rights statute that has only occasionally been used to indict officers in such cases.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), the FBI and local US attorneys’ offices have for weeks been examining the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and John Crawford III – all of whom were killed by police officers who grand juries later decided not to indict on state criminal charges.

Late on Monday, the DOJ announced it would review a fourth death: that of Dontre Hamilton, who was shot 14 times by a police officer following a confrontation in a park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in April.

The review was launched after the Milwaukee district attorney announced that Christopher Manney – the police officer who shot Hamilton, and who has since been fired – will not face charges.

In all four cases, federal officials are considering whether there is sufficient evidence to bring charges under a section of the US code that prohibits public officials from depriving an individual of constitutional rights under “color of law”.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/24/federal-review-michael-brown-eric-garner-crawford-hamilton

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Do it, Holder!