Unwetter in Thailand: Elf Tote nach Überschwemmungen

January 7, 2017

(dpa) Die Zahl der Todesopfer der schweren Überschwemmungen im Süden Thailands ist auf elf gestiegen. Die meisten Opfer seien ertrunken, teilte das Krisenschutzzentrum des südostasiatischen Landes am Samstag mit. Insgesamt sind mehr als 744 000 Personen in elf Provinzen von den Überflutungen betroffen. Am Freitag erhöhten die Behörden die Flutwarnstufe auf drei, die zweithöchste Stufe.
Das Hochwasser trifft auch touristische Orte. Am Freitag rettete die Polizei fünf Urlauber aus einer überfluteten Hotelanlage in der Provinz Nahkhon Si Thammarat. Auch die beliebte Urlaubsinsel Ko Samui ist betroffen: Mit Blick auf Starkregen, Wind und hohen Wellengang erliessen die dortigen Behörden ein Tauch- und Badeverbot.

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Jeff Bridges cements place in Hollywood

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January 7, 2017

Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges was described as “royalty” by his peers on Friday as he sunk his hands and feet into the cement at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre.
The 67-year-old actor, who has been nominated for a Golden Globe this year for “Hell or High Water,” was surrounded by fellow actors and industry heavyweights, including Sharon Stone and Chris Pine, during the ceremony.
“He is a pillar. He is a backbone. He may as well be royalty,” said Pine as he introduced the veteran actor. “Even within the business, actors are fangirling over Jeff Bridges all the time, including myself. ”
Pine added that Bridges, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his performance in “Crazy Heart,” just “breathes love. ”
“He has a heart miles and miles wide. His bandwidth for love, compassion and positivity is something to really behold,” Pine said.
Bridges, dressed in a suit and tie, recalled coming to the iconic theater as a kid and joked that his brother Beau had told him to “bliss out” and enjoy the imprint ceremony.
The actor has been a Hollywood leading man since the 1970s and is notably known for playing Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski in the 1998 Coen Brothers cult comedy classic “The Big Lebowski. “

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Heavy smog chokes a third of China’s cities at year’s start

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January 7, 2017

Heavy smog has blanketed a third of China’s cities, including its capital Beijing, with 62 issuing health alerts since Jan. 1, officials said. The hazardous air has forced hundreds of flight cancellations or delays and is forecast to linger into the weekend in some areas.
The concentration of PM2.5 particles — which pose the greatest health risks because they can become lodged in the lungs — was 475 micrograms per cubic meter near Tiananmen Square at 8 a.m. Wednesday, according to the municipal air-monitoring website. The World Health Organization recommends PM2.5 exposure of no more than 25 micrograms over a 24-hour period.
Pollution was at medium or higher levels in 186 cities Tuesday, according to the latest update issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. About 25 cities, including Shijiazhuang and Baoding in Hebei Province and Jinan and Dezhou in Shandong, have issued red alerts, the highest level pollution warning, prompting vehicle use restrictions and industrial production curbs, the ministry said.
In Beijing, city streets are full of pedestrians wearing masks, while many individuals and companies rely on expensive air filters to cut indoor levels of toxic air. Northern China is particularly polluted in winter because of a combination of fog and other weather conditions that trap industrial and auto emissions and those from burning millions of tons of coal used for heating in below-freezing temperatures.
Calls for the government to get tough and clear the skies has led to some punishment for companies, but local officials also must balance enforcement actions with the central government’s goals to keep economic growth humming.
Heavy pollution could remain until Saturday, officials said. Beijing, Tianjin and 20 other cities have extended their orange alerts, the second-highest level.
More than 430 flights were canceled Sunday in Beijing and neighboring Tianjin, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. More than 180 flights have been canceled in Zhengzhou, stranding 1,000 passengers in the capital of Henan, while 164 flights were scrubbed in Hebei’s capital, Shijiazhuang, local media reported.
By noon Wednesday, 14 flights had been canceled at Beijing Capital International Airport and average delays had reached 36 minutes, according to Flightaware.com.
Beijing environmental officials said Tuesday that overall air quality had improved in 2016, with the total number of “blue sky days” up 12 from 2015 and the average PM2.5 measure dropping 9.9 percent to an average of 73 micrograms.
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Nigeria captain John Mikel joins China gold rush with move to Tianjin from Chelsea

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January 7, 2017

The New Year is a time of resolutions and 2017 offers the opportunity to see some improvements in rugby. Here is a list of five things we would like to see in the coming months.

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Taiwan president heads to US as Beijing watches

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January 7, 2017

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen left for the United States Saturday on her way to Central America, a trip that will be closely watched by Beijing, incensed by her congratulatory call to Donald Trump.
While the focus of the nine-day trip is to visit Taiwan’s ally nations in Central America, Beijing-sceptic Tsai’s transit stops in Houston this weekend and San Francisco next weekend will be under scrutiny as cross-strait tensions rise.
Tsai’s conversation with Trump in December after he won the presidency upended decades of diplomatic precedent in which Washington has effectively ignored Taipei in favour of Beijing, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province to be brought back within its fold.
Since then, China has stepped up military drills near Taiwan, with speculation its sole aircraft carrier may pass through the Taiwan Strait during or shortly after Tsai’s trip.
The drills are seen as a show of strength by Beijing as its ties with the self-ruled island and the US deteriorate.
Beijing has asked Washington to bar Tsai from flying through US airspace.
“A transit is a transit,” the Taiwanese leader told reporters last week, when asked whether she would be meeting anyone from Trump’s administration.
Trump himself appeared to have ruled out meeting Tsai this trip, saying it is “a little bit inappropriate” to meet anybody until he takes office January 20.
Taiwan’s presidential office declined to provide details of Tsai’s itinerary during her US stays.
“What China cares most about is whether Tsai and Trump will meet,” political analyst Liao Da-chi told AFP.
“These are all warning signals to see how Taiwan will respond, as well as testing waters with the US,” added Liao, a professor at the National Sun Yat-sen University.
Tsai will visit Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador — among the dwindling number of states that officially recognise Taiwan.
She will attend the presidential inauguration in Nicaragua on Tuesday and meet with the heads of states of the other three nations.
Taiwan is down to 21 allies after the small African nation of Sao Tome and Principe switched recognition to Beijing last month.
The Vatican is Taiwan’s highest-profile supporter, but the Holy See’s recently improving relations with Beijing is casting doubt over ties with the island.
Analyst Liao said Beijing would continue to woo the island’s allies as a pressure tactic on Tsai, who refuses to acknowledge the concept that there is only “one China”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry has declined to comment on speculation that China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier may pass through the Taiwan Strait on its return journey after its first exercise in the Pacific.
The ministry is “monitoring at all times” the position of the Liaoning, spokesman Chen Chung-chi said.
The vessel and five other warships passed south of the island outside Taiwan’s air defence identification zone last month, before heading to the South China Sea.

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China Dec forex reserves fall less than expected to $3.011 trillion

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January 7, 2017

China’s foreign exchange reserves fell for a sixth straight month in December but by less than expected to the lowest since February 2011, as authorities stepped in to support the yuan ahead of U. S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Reserves fell by $41 billion last month to $3.011 trillion, central bank data showed on Saturday, following a drop of $69.06 billion in November.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected reserves to drop $51 billion to $3.001 trillion, from $3.052 trillion at the end of November.
The yuan depreciated 6.6 percent against the surging dollar in 2016, its biggest one-year loss since 1994, and is expected to weaken further this year despite authorities’ latest attempts to slow its descent.
Adding to pressure on the currency, Trump has vowed to label China a currency manipulator on his first day in office on Jan. 20 and has threatened to impose huge tariffs on imports of Chinese goods.
While the world’s second-largest economy still has the largest stash of forex reserves by far, it has burned through half a trillion dollars since August 2015, when it stunned global investors by devaluing the yuan.
If forex reserves continue to be depleted at a rapid pace and capital flight continues, some strategists believe China’s leaders may have little choice but to sanction another big “one-off” devaluation which would roil global financial markets.
China’s gold reserves fell to $67.878 billion at end-December from $69.785 billion at end-November.

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Beijing advises umbrellas to shield against its gross snow

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January 7, 2017

BEIJING – “The snow is very dirty! The snow is very dirty! The snow is very dirty!” This thrice-emphasized warning from Beijing’s Meteorological Bureau appeared on Chinese social media site Weibo on Thursday after the country’s Ministry of Environmental Protection announced the city’s average air-quality index for the past month came in at 195, with a high of 470, Time reports.
To put that in context, the WHO notes that 25 is a generally safe level. And, apparently, the particles present in the air have settled into the precipitation, turning the city’s first snowfall of the year on Thursday into what the magazine refers to as “toxic snow.” Residents venturing out in the capital have been informed that no one will think the worse of them if they use protection.
“It is not pretentious to use an umbrella on a snowing smoggy day,” the bureau notes, though it advises just staying indoors altogether. Beijing’s smog has been an ongoing health hazard, triggering multiple “red alerts” over the past couple of years, and the smog currently plaguing the city (along with the accompanying orange alert) is expected to stick around until the weekend, per Shanghaist , which notes another smog-related story has grabbed headlines this week.
Photos of a normally gleaming-white bullet train that sped 500 miles from Shanghai to Beijing went viral, with the train’s grime-covered exterior looking like something out of an apocalyptic movie.
(Some of the dirtiest air in the US can be found in an unlikely spot .)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Beijing Advises Umbrellas to Shield Against Its Gross Snow
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Annual gadget expo features genuine innovations and junk

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January 7, 2017

LAS VEGAS — Here’s a morning routine for you. After the alarm on your smartphone goes off, it’s time to roll out of your smart bed and give your hair a good run through with your app-connected brush. Don’t forget to use your smart toothbrush in front of your smart mirror.
After that, your smart pillbox will remind you to take your medication. And remember to put on your smart jeans, so they can give you directions while you leave your phone in the pocket.
Sound like a typical morning? Tech companies at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas would like it to be. They’re unveiling products that do all these things and more. But do we really need them – or even want them?
“When an industry is nascent, you will see experimentation,” said Mark Hung, a vice president at Gartner Research. “Companies will throw things against the wall to see what sticks.”
You decide whether these are cool innovations or just junk.
Can’t express your feelings adequately through emoticon-filled text messages? For you, there’s the Lovebox. The wooden box – made by a French startup, of course – plugs into an outlet and connects to Wi-Fi. A heart on the outside spins when you get a message. Open the lid to see a digital screen with the message. You can reply with a digital heart by rotating the heart on the box.
The Lovebox won’t be out in the U. S. until June, so forget Valentine’s Day. And these virtual smooches come with a price: $120 for one box or $185 for two.
The Hair Coach from L’Oreal’s Kerastase brand uses a microphone, gyroscope and other sensors to monitor how fast and how hard you’re brushing. An accompanying app recommends how to brush for optimal quality and minimal breakage and split ends. It can also factor in heat and humidity and even discern if hair is wet or dry. Kerastase teamed up with tech company Withings on the battery-powered brush, due out in mid-2017. It comes at a hair-raising price: $200.
If sharing your pictures on Instagram isn’t enough, why not wear them? A California startup called Pop-I has a backpack for just that. A built-in digital screen displays photos you just snapped or have in your photo gallery. The backpacks will come out later this year and range from $99 to $399, depending on material and screen size. Pop-I is looking to expand to clothing and other products, too.
Want to look smart while tooling around an unfamiliar neighborhood? How about a pair of vibrating jeans to get you where you’re going? The jeans from Spinali Design, another French startup, will vibrate on your right or left hip to let you know which direction you should head. Sure, a smartwatch can do the same thing, but why not get something that can do more? If that’s too much clothing for you, try bikinis that buzz when you’re out in the sun too long and need to apply more sunscreen. The jeans cost about $100, and the bikinis about $140.
Want body monitoring that rivals that of an intensive care unit? Xenoma’s “e-skin” is essentially a shirt with sensors that measure movement, breathing, pressure, perspiration and body temperature. The shirt connects wirelessly to a smartphone or personal computer for real-time number crunching. Developers at the Tokyo-based Xenoma say the shirt can be used for health monitoring, fitness tracking and even virtual-reality gaming. But they’re still working on it, so it’s not available for sale yet.
Elsewhere at CES, connected pet feeders and dog collars were on display, while chefs for humans could see Wi-Fi-enabled air fryers and sous vide cookers. Run out of an ingredient? A smart trash can automatically adds it to your shopping list.
And if you don’t have time to read to your kids, the Lunii storytelling speaker can come to your rescue. Never mind that this can be done through a phone app rather than a $60 device.
With all that help, you’ll have plenty of time for 18 holes with your 3-D-printed connected golf club. It promises to let you know – through an app, of course – just how bad your form actually is.
Just don’t forget to send a note to your loved one – through the Lovebox.
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U. S. intelligence report: Putin directly ordered efforts to elect Trump

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January 7, 2017

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin had a direct hand in ordering, in behalf of Moscow’s government, a large-scale effort to interfere in the U. S. presidential election — in an attempt to get Donald Trump in the White House and sully the image of Hillary Clinton , an unclassified intelligence report said Friday.
The office of the director of national intelligence released the highly-anticipated report on Friday, which followed a classified version being given to President Barack Obama Thursday and President-elect Donald Trump Friday.
For weeks, U. S. intelligence officials have implicated the Russian government in a series of cyberattacks before the Nov. 8 vote. Friday’s 25-page report showed investigators concluded “with high confidence” that not only did Russia’s government interfere, but that Putin directly ordered it to do so. It also says agents of the Kremlin also employed third parties to impact the vote — including the Moscow-funded network RT and “trolls” on social media channels.
“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US
presidential election,” the report states. “Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.
“We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments. ”
The report said both the CIA and FBI were highly confident in the conclusions implicating the Kremlin, and the National Security Agency was moderately confident.
Authorities in the report expressed alarm at the brazenness of Russia’s purported involvement, saying its efforts “demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations. ”
The report bolstered its conclusions by citing Russia’s track record of ordering covert actions related to American elections, which dates back decades to the former Soviet Union and the Cold War.
“In the 1970s, the KGB recruited a Democratic Party activist who reported information about then-presidential hopeful Jimmy Carter ‘s campaign and foreign policy plans, according to a former KGB archivist,” it noted.
Intelligence officials said Russia will likely use the lessons it learned from Trump’s election to try and influence elections in the future.
Included in Friday’s report is the claim that the U. S. intelligence community intercepted communications from Moscow in November that revealed high-level Russian officials celebrating Trump’s win and congratulating themselves — a development first reported late Thursday .
“Further information has come to light since Election Day that, when combined with Russian behavior
since early November 2016, increases our confidence in our assessments of Russian motivations and
goals,” the report says.
Three top intelligence officials testified in the Senate Thursday and defended their claims of Russian complicity.
Russia had been suspected in multiple cyberattacks last year against Democratic targets, including the Democratic National Committee, that officials believe were motivated by a desire to obtain and expose information embarrassing to Clinton.
“When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency,” the report added.
While the report accuses Russia of direct interference with the cyberattacks, it said there was no evidence that Moscow tampered, or even attempted to alter, the vote tally.
Trump has expressed great skepticism about Russia’s potential involvement in the election. Friday, he took aim at the news media for a report that was published before he was briefed on the investigations.
“I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it,” he tweeted .

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Tickets For Obama’s Farewell Speech To Be Distributed Saturday

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January 7, 2017

(CBS) – As anticipation builds toward President Obama’s Jan. 10 farewell speech, his South Side neighbors are breathing something of a sigh relief.
At McCormick Place, preparations well underway for the president’s goodbye address to the nation, starting with distribution of free tickets Saturday morning.
The ticket distribution begins at 8 a.m. Saturday at an office next to the McCormick Hyatt Hotel lobby. The free single tickets will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis, the White House says.
No one may line up prior to 6 a.m.
Motorists can enter Parking Lot A starting at 6 a.m. and wait in their vehicles until the ticket handout begins.
Meantime, the presidents Kenwood neighbors are taking heart at what Obama told CBS 2’s Jay Levine this week, that he’ll “always be a citizen of Chicago.”
“I think maintaining residence here and having his (presidential) library here means he will have a presence, and I think that’s a great thing,” Ald. Sophia King, 4 th Ward, says.