U.N. lifts Syria death toll to "truly shocking" 60,000

AMMAN/GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 60,000 people have died in Syria's uprising and civil war, the United Nations said on Wednesday, dramatically raising the death toll in a struggle that shows no sign of ending.

In the latest violence, dozens were killed in a rebellious Damascus suburb when a government air strike turned a petrol station into an inferno, incinerating drivers who had rushed there for a rare chance to fill their tanks, activists said.

"I counted at least 30 bodies. They were either burnt or dismembered," said Abu Saeed, an activist who arrived in the area an hour after the 1 p.m. (1100 GMT) raid in Muleiha, a suburb on the eastern edge of the capital.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said in Geneva that researchers cross-referencing seven sources over five months of analysis had listed 59,648 people killed in Syria between March 15, 2011 and November 30, 2012.

"The number of casualties is much higher than we expected and is truly shocking," she said. "Given that there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013."

There was no breakdown by ethnicity or information about whether the dead were rebels, soldiers or civilians. There was also no estimate of an upper limit of the possible toll.

Previously, the opposition-linked Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the toll at around 45,000 confirmed dead but said the real number was likely to be higher.

FATAL RUSH FOR PETROL

Muleiha, the target of Wednesday's air strike, is a residential and industrial area in the eastern Ghouta region of Damascus that also houses a Syrian air defense base.

Video footage taken by activists showed the body of a man in a helmet still perched on a motorcycle amid flames engulfing the scene. Another man was shown carrying a dismembered body.

The video could not be verified. The government bars access to the Damascus area to most international media.

The activists said rockets were fired from the base at the petrol station and a nearby residential area after the air raid.

"Until the raid, Muleiha was quiet. We have been without petrol for four days and people from the town and the countryside rushed to the station when a state consignment came in," Abu Fouad, another activist at the scene, said by phone.

In Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad's forces fired artillery and mortars at the eastern districts of Douma, Harasta, Irbin and Zamlaka, where rebels are active, activists living there said.

Assad's forces control the centre of the capital, while rebels and their sympathizers hold a ring of southern and eastern suburbs that are often hit from the air.

The Observatory said a separate air strike killed 12 members of a family, most of them children, in Moadamiyeh, a southwestern district near the centre of Damascus where rebels have fought for a foothold.

The family of an American freelance journalist, James Foley, 39, said on Wednesday he had been missing in Syria since being kidnapped six weeks ago by gunmen. No group has publicly claimed responsibility for his abduction.

Syria was by far the most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, with 28 killed there.

The conflict began in March 2011 with peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule and turned into an armed revolt after months of government repression.

Insurgents trying to topple Assad see his air power as their main threat. They hold swathes of eastern and northern provinces, as well as some outlying parts of Damascus, but have been unable to protect their territory from relentless attack by helicopters and jets.

In the north, rebels, some from Islamist units, attacked the Afis military airport near Taftanaz air base, firing machineguns and mortars at helicopters on the ground to try and make a dent in Assad's air might, the Observatory said.

The al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham Brigade and other units in northwestern Idlib province were attacking the base, which is near the main north-south highway linking Damascus to Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, the Observatory said.

In recent months, rebel units have besieged military bases, especially along the highway, Syria's main artery.

The Observatory's director, Rami Abdelrahman, said the attack was the latest of several attempts to capture the base. A satellite image of the airport shows more than 40 helicopter landing pads, a runway and aircraft hangars.

Syrian state media gave no immediate account of the Damascus air strikes or the fighting in the north.

"FOR GOD'S EYES"

Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities in the 21-month-old conflict, but the United Nations says the government and its allies have been more culpable.

In the latest evidence of atrocities, Internet video posted by Syrian rebels shows armed men, apparently fighters loyal to Assad, stabbing two men to death and stoning them with concrete blocks in a summary execution lasting several minutes.

Reuters could not verify the provenance of the footage or the identity of the perpetrators and their victims. The video was posted on Tuesday but it was not clear where or when it was filmed. However it does clearly show a summary execution and torture, apparently being carried out by government supporters.

At one point, one of the perpetrators says: "For God's eyes and your Lord, O Bashar," an Arabic incantation suggesting actions being carried out in the leader's name.

The video was posted on YouTube by the media office of the Damascus-based rebel First Brigade, which said it had been taken from a captured member of the shabbiha pro-government militia.

The perpetrators show off for the camera, smiling for close-up shots, slicing at the victims' backs, then stabbing them and bashing them with large slabs of masonry.

Syria's civil war is the longest and deadliest conflict to emerge from uprisings that began sweeping the Arab world in 2011 and has developed a significant sectarian element.

Rebels, mostly from the Sunni Muslim majority, confront Assad's army and security forces, dominated by his Shi'ite-derived Alawite sect, which, along with some other minorities, fears revenge if he falls.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alistair Lyon/Mark Heinrich)

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New Jersey town's schools get armed cops

NEW YORK: Amid a national debate on how to stop gun massacres in public places, one town in New Jersey began posting armed police at every school on the restart of the academic year Wednesday.

The new policy was the town of Marlboro's response to anguished questions over security in the wake of December's massacre in which a gunman shot 20 young children and six staff dead at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

"The safety and security of our students, staff, and buildings are of utmost importance," the Marlboro education authority said on its website.

"To that end, and in response to the Newton, CT tragedy, starting Wednesday, January 2, every Marlboro school will have an armed, uniformed Marlboro Township police officer."

The measure will be in place for 90 days "while discussions about future security improvements are conducted," the statement added.

Deploying police full time at schools has become common in the United States over the last two decades, according to a study sponsored by the Department of Justice.

"Nearly half of all public schools have assigned police officers," the 2010 study said, and "assigning officers to schools is becoming increasingly popular."

But the Newtown shootings on December 14 added urgency to an already heated debate over how to protect schools and other public places.

Gun control advocates say US laws too easily allow criminals and deranged individuals access to powerful weapons. The main gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association, says that the best way forward is to arm teachers -- a strategy that has found favour in some western states, including Utah.

Reactions to Marlboro's initiative were mixed on the schools' Facebook page.

"I think this is a wonderful idea and every school should do it. I applaud Marlboro township for doing it!" one contributor said.

But another dismissed the idea, noting that several other major massacres over the years, including at schools, took place despite the presence of armed guards.

"This merely appeases parents, providing them with a false sense of security while doing nothing to address the real issues," she said.

- AFP/jc

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Facebook conquers Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Vietnam

Facebook continues to make progress in its colonization of planet earth. With more than 1 billion active users, Facebook is the leading social network in 127 countries, according to Alexa data compiled by Vincenzo Cosenza. Much of the recent growth has come from higher penetration in Asia. In recent months, Facebook has become the leading social network in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Vietnam, according to Cosenza's research. China and Iran remain impenetrable to Facebook, and V Kontakte and Odnoklassniki continue to dominate Russian countries.

Read: Zuckerberg mobilizes Facebook for 5 billion users and the Internet of things

Cosenza's data analysis identified only five significant social networks, down from seven in June 2012, as Zing, which had some traction in Viet Nam, and Draugiem, in Latvia, faded. 

Cosenza's social-networking map from June 2009 shows how more competitive the field was and that Facebook was not the dominant player in Brazil, Mexico, Peru or India.

Hat tip: TNW

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Sandy Hook survivors welcomed at new school

A man waves to a child on a bus on the first day of classes after the holiday break, in Newtown, Conn.,Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. / AP Photo/Jessica Hill

Updated 1:21 p.m. ET

MONROE, Conn. The children who escaped last month's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown were welcomed Wednesday to a school in a neighboring town that was overhauled specially for them.

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Orientation day for Sandy Hook students

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Heroism of Sandy Hook teachers

The open house at the former Chalk Hill School in Monroe marks the students' first time in a formal classroom setting since the massacre on Dec. 14, when a gunman killed 20 of their fellow classmates and six educators. Classes are starting for the Sandy Hook students on Thursday.

The road leading to the school in a rural, largely residential neighborhood was lined with signs greeting the students, saying "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary School" and "Welcome. You are in our prayers." Several police cars were parked outside the school.

Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared the former Chalk Hill middle school with fresh paint and new furniture and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elementary school students can reach the toilets. The students' desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left behind following the shooting were taken to the new school to make them feel at home. Superintendent Janet Robinson said the rooms may not look exactly the same, but the school has been renamed Sandy Hook Elemntary.

Monroe police officers said at a press conference Wednesday it was "the safest school" in the country.

Counselors say it's important for children to get back to a normal routine and for teachers and parents to offer sensitive reassurances.

When classes start on Thursday, Robinson said teachers will try to make it as normal a school day as possible for the children.

"We want to get back to teaching and learning," she said. "We will obviously take time out from the academics for any conversations that need to take place, and there will be a lot of support there. All in all, we want the kids to reconnect with their friends and classroom teachers, and I think that's going to be the healthiest thing."

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Lawmakers Furious at Boehner Over Sandy 'Betrayal'

Republican lawmakers from New York and New Jersey whose storm-ravaged residents are desperate for federal aid are fuming at their party's leaders for refusing to hold a vote on a $60 billion disaster relief package despite promises that help was on the way.

"This was a betrayal," Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., told ABC News.com. "It's just reprehensible. It's an indefensible error in judgment not have given relief to these people that are so devastated."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, called it a "dereliction of duty" in a joint statement with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat.

"This failure to come to the aid of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is unprecedented," the governors said.

Lawmakers were told by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that the relief bill would get a vote on Tuesday night following an eleventh hour vote on the fiscal cliff bill. But in an unexpected switch, Boehner refused to put the relief bill to a vote, leading to lawmakers from parties yelling on the floor of the House.

Congress historically has responded to natural disasters by promptly funding relief efforts. The Senate already passed its version of the bill that would replenish an emergency fund set to run out of cash next week and which will help repair subways and tunnels in New York City and rebuild parts of the New Jersey shore devastated by superstorm Sandy.

Time is particularly pressing, given that a new Congress will be sworn in Thursday. The Senate will therefore have to vote on the bill again before it comes to the House, which could be as late as February or March.

Boos as House Adjourns Without Hurricane Sandy Relief Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Passes House Despite GOP Holdouts Watch Video

Rep. Peter King, R- N.Y., took the floor of the House and to the airwaves and aimed his outrage squarely at Boehner, accusing him plunging "a cruel knife in the back" of storm-ravaged residents "who don't have shelter, don't have food," he said during a House session this morning.

"This is not the United States. This should not be the Republican Party. This shouldn't not be the Republican leadership," King said on the floor of the House.

He made no attempt to hide his anger, suggesting that residents in New York and New Jersey should stop sending money to Republicans and even questioning aloud whether he could remain a member of the party.

"Anyone who donates one cent to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King, a staunch conservative and Republican congressman for 10 years, told CNN.

"They have written off New York and New Jersey. They've written me off…. Party loyalty, I'm over that. When your people are literally freezing in the winter… Then why should I help the Republican Party?" he added.

He said that Boehner refused to talk to Republican members from New York and New Jersey when they tried to ask him about the vote Tuesday night.

"He just decided to sneak off in the dark of night," King said.

Democrats were also outraged.

"It is truly heartless that the House will not even allow the Sandy bill to come to the floor for a vote, and Speaker Boehner should reconsider his ill advised decision," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D- N.Y., said in a statement.

October's storm was the worst natural disaster ever to hit the region, causing billions in damage and leaving 120 people dead.

More than 130,000 people are expected to make claims to the federal government, but without a funding increase only about 12,000 people can be covered with existing funds.

"It doesn't make sense they wouldn't vote on this. There are truly people in need," said Steve Greenberg, whose home was flooded and damaged by fire in the hard-hit Breezy Point section of Queens. "Not of these people are fit to serve," he said.

Grimm said Boehner's decision fuels a perception that the Republican Party does not care about people.

"It buys into the ideology that Republicans don't care and are callous," he said. Grimm said there were enough votes to get the bill passed and that it makes fiscal sense, because the money would go to help spur small businesses.

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About 60 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - About 60 people were crushed to death in a stampede outside a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan after a New Year's Eve fireworks display, the government said on Tuesday.

The incident took place near Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium where a crowd had gathered to watch fireworks, emergency officials said.

One of the injured, speaking to Reuters at a hospital, said security forces had arrived to break up the crowd, triggering a panic in which many people fell over and were trampled.

"The provisional death toll is 60 and there are 49 injured," Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said in a statement broadcast on national television.

President Alassane Ouattara, visiting injured people at the hospital, called the incident a national tragedy and said an investigation was underway to determine what happened.

A Reuters correspondent said blood stains and abandoned shoes littered the scene outside the stadium on Tuesday morning.

"My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" said Assetou Toure, a cleaner.

She did not know if her children had escaped unhurt.

The incident was the worst of its kind in Abidjan since 2010, when a stampede at a stadium during a football match killed 18 people.

Ivory Coast, once a stable economic hub for West Africa, is struggling to recover from a 2011 civil war in which more than 3,000 people were killed.

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Alain Amontchi; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Venezuela frets over ill Chavez as 2013 begins

CARACAS: Somber Venezuelans began 2013 fretting over their ubiquitous and garrulous leader Hugo Chavez, wondering what the future holds as the president wages a tough battle with cancer in a Havana hospital.

Chavez won re-election in October and is supposed to be sworn in on January 10, but that seems up in the air now, stoking the prospect of major upheaval in a nation that sits atop the world's largest proven oil reserves.

If Chavez, who has completely dominated Venezuelan political life since taking power in 1999, is declared incapacitated before then -- or dies -- the Venezuela constitution demands that new elections are called within 30 days.

As Chavez's health crisis has deepened, his handpicked political heir, vice president Nicolas Maduro, a burly and moustachioed former bus driver and union leader, has been trying to look more prominent and statesmanlike.

But the key question is whether Chavismo, Chavez's left-wing social movement marked by patronage and generous government handouts to the poor, can survive without him.

If new elections are held, opposition leader Henrique Capriles -- who gave the comandante a good run for his money in the October election -- might prevail and seek to begin a new era.

For now, both the government and the opposition are leaving open the possibility of postponing the inauguration, depending on how Chavez's health evolves.

Less than two years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine the country without the larger-than-life Chavez at the helm.

His outsized personality and bombastic style of governing did not permit the ascension of an heir apparent within his United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

But before leaving for Cuba in December, Chavez anointed Maduro as his chosen successor and for many that signalled that the process of transition had begun.

Venezuelans began 2013 pondering what political life without Chavez might be like.

New Year's Eve revelry was tempered, and official acts -- two open air concerts -- were cancelled outright out of respect for the ex-paratrooper who has irked the United States for years by aligning his country with such countries as Iran, Cuba and Syria.

Chavez underwent his fourth cancer-related surgery three weeks ago in Havana and has been bed-ridden ever since. Information on his condition is scant, with the government admitting only to "complications" in his recovery.

The streets of Caracas were practically deserted early Tuesday.

"You can feel the sadness in the air. People are sorry about what is happening with Chavez," said a doorman who gave his name as Adrian, alluding to the toned-down parties of the night before.

"I hope we will have a better year in 2013. Nothing will be the same without Chavez, no matter who the next president is."

Twitter has been red hot with comments and rumours to the effect that Chavez, the tough-talking 58-year-old face of the populist left in Latin America, is fading fast or even dead already.

From Havana, Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza -- the president's brother in law -- fired back, seeking to restore calm.

"Countrymen, do NOT believe mean-spirited rumours." Arreaza tweeted. "President Chavez spent the day quietly and in stable condition, in the company of his children," the minister wrote on Monday evening.

Even Capriles, the young opposition leader, warned Venezuelans to stay away from rumours.

"Let us not fall victim to the trap of rumours and hatred," Capriles tweeted. "Let's spend energy on building, not destroying."

The country has been in a state of fretful limbo since Sunday's warning that Chavez's recovery was "not without risk."

"It is only natural. We have not seen him in days," said Adrian, the doorman.

Indeed, since Chavez left for Havana more than three weeks ago, he has not appeared in public, nor have photos of him been published -- something highly rare for a man who is usually all over the media in one form or another.

Chavez had declared himself cancer free in July, more than a year after being diagnosed with the disease in the pelvic region. The exact nature of the cancer has never been made public and no official medical report has been released.

Many Venezuelans attended Mass and other religious ceremonies Monday to pray for him.

- AFP/jc

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Paris Apple Store robbed of more than $1 million in goods

Apple's Paris store near the Paris Opera House, in a photo taken during the iPhone 5 launch this past September.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Armed robbers broke into the Apple Store in Paris on New Year's Eve and made off with more than a million dollars' worth of merchandise, according to reports.

Masked suspects wielding handguns forced their way into the store through an employee entrance as a janitor was leaving, about three hours after the store's 6 p.m. closing time, England's Telegraph reported. The janitor was "lightly injured," the news outlet said. The Wall Street Journal cited French reports and said a security guard had also been overpowered by the thieves.

The Journal said two suspects forced their way in, and the Telegraph reported that four or five suspects total were involved in the robbery.

The thieves ignored display items and grabbed boxes of goods, loading them onto a truck. The whole operation took about 40 minutes, the Telegraph reported.

The total value of the stolen goods was estimated at about 1 million euros, or $1.32 million. But the exact total is not yet known, as an inventory is still being taken, the Telegraph reported.

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The art of the "fiscal cliff" deal

Nobody said it would be easy.

Senators voted in the pre-dawn hours of New Year's Day to pass the long-sought agreement on the "fiscal cliff" and the House readies for its turn as soon as today, which, if the House passes it, would officially avert the tax hikes and spending cuts that technically took effect at midnight (the deal, when signed by the president, will make the new tax rates and spending retroactive to midnight).

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Biden advises not to predict outcome of "cliff" deal

How did the politicians involved get to their final agreement? Here's the rundown, according to officials familiar with the talks and with the White House's thinking:

Friday through Sunday: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's opening offer Friday night to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was a $750,000 income tax threshold and no jobless benefits and no extension of the earned-income tax credit and other low-income tax breaks, means-testing Medicare, and the Bush era estate tax rates. Offers bounced back and forth Saturday and on Sunday, Reid opted out and handed talks over to Vice President Joe Biden (at McConnell's suggestion). President Obama, Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi were in tandem through the talks. Delaying the federal spending cuts, or sequester, fell out of the talks on Sunday but McConnell came down to $550,000 in income tax threshold and some estate tax concessions reflected in the final deal.

Sunday, 8 p.m. ET: Mr. Obama and senior staff met in the Oval Office to discuss their final counter-offer to McConnell. The president set the $400K and $450K income threshold with one-year of jobless benefits and some delay of the sequester. Biden and McConnell talked through the night. Their last call was at 12:45 a.m.

After that, Mr. Obama and Biden met in the Oval until 2 a.m. to go over final details. Mr. Obama sent his legislative liaison Rob Nabors to Capitol Hill at 2 a.m. to begin drafting a bill with Senate Democrats. Biden and McConnell spoke again at 6:45 a.m. The rest of Monday was devoted to resolving the sequester impasse.

Monday, 9 p.m. ET: Biden and McConnell sealed the deal by telephone (Biden spoke to McConnell after clearing final details with Mr. Obama). The president then called Reid and Pelosi for one final OK and the deal was announced/leaked/confirmed.

The officials also pointed out that to get to the final deal, moving Republicans from a position of no tax increases in debt ceiling debate to tax increases through tax reform after Mr. Obama's re-election to nothing more than $1 million in higher rates and now to $400,000 and $450,000 thresholds is a significant policy and political victory (worth $620 billion over 10 years).

When the big deal talks failed before Christmas, Mr. Obama's biggest goal was to get GOP buy-in on higher tax rates for the wealthy. It is regarded as one of the most significant policy victories in two decades, the officials said.

Compromising on the two-month sequester was difficult, the officials added. The White House wanted a full year of waiving the sequester but there was no time to negotiate the difficult policy details (the sequester talks took literally all of Monday).

As for the deal's effect on the deficit, it does not cut the deficit relative to what would have occurred if all the fiscal cliff tax cuts had been erased (meaning all Bush tax cuts expired) and the sequester kicked in full force. But, relative to a baseline that assumes all existing tax policy would have continued, the deal raises $620 billion in revenue. The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) fix is not counted by the WH, for example, because its extension was assumed in the existing policy baseline (that doesn't mean it won't cost anything; just that the White House doesn't count the cost).

The jobless benefit extension for one year cost $30 billion and that is not paid for. The Medicare "doc fix" is paid for by savings that will be taken from other provider payouts in Medicare. It costs $31 billion, meaning those provider cuts will pay for protecting doctors from a 27 percent automatic cut in premiums.

And $12 billion in new revenue comes from allowing 401Ks and other retirement instruments into Roth IRAs. This is the revenue that forms half of the offset of the two-month sequester delay. The other $12 billion will come from a 50-50 split of non-defense and defense cuts.

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White House Revels in Fiscal Cliff 'Victory'

Jan 1, 2013 12:13pm

It’s hard to find anyone in Washington happy about the outcome of the “fiscal cliff” brinksmanship.

But inside the Obama White House, senior officials are elated by what they call a significant presidential achievement:  breaking longstanding Republican intransigence on taxes.

The deal passed by the Senate early this morning, with the endorsement of all but seven of the 47 Republicans, would raise $620 billion in new revenue, hiking tax rates on households earning more than $450,000 a year.

The income tax hike would be the first in two decades.

“Keep in mind that just last month Republicans in Congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans,” President Obama said Monday. “Obviously, the agreement that’s currently being discussed would raise those rates and raise them permanently.”

The spin from the White House – casting the new revenue as a major victory – is at least partly aimed at grumbling liberals who have accused Obama of capitulating on a key campaign pledge: hiking tax rates on households making $250,000 or more.

“Anyone looking at these negotiations, especially given Obama’s previous behavior, can’t help but reach one main conclusion: Whenever the president says that there’s an issue on which he absolutely, positively won’t give ground, you can count on him, you know, giving way – and soon, too,” liberal economist Paul Krugman wrote today in the New York Times.

“The idea that you should only make promises and threats you intend to make good on doesn’t seem to be one that this particular president can grasp.”

Still, the White House believes the concessions Obama extracted from Republicans on taxes puts him in a stronger position for negotiating on the debt ceiling and “sequester” in the coming weeks.

The president now says any deal to offset the automatic “sequester” spending cuts will have to be balanced – including additional new tax revenue, not cuts alone.

But Republican leaders see the outcome, and the fiscal fights ahead, much differently.

GOPers are touting permanent extension of many of the Bush-era tax cuts as a victory in its own right. They also believe the resolution of the tax revenue debate will allow for greater focus on spending cuts and entitlement overhaul, essentially resetting the national dialogue.

“Frankly, we’ve denied [Obama], I think, his most important piece of leverage in any negotiation going forward,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who sits on the House Budget Committee, said on MSNBC. “So I particularly like that part.

“The sequester is in front of us. The continuing resolution runs out the end of March and, obviously, the debt ceiling. All of those things honestly are Republican leverage, not Democratic,” he said.

“So I think there will be opportunities to deal with the spending issue next year.”

SHOWS: World News

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