Cologne Celebrates New Year’s Eve Under Heightened Security Visitors are seen in front of the Cologne Cathedral during the light installation by the artist Philipp Geist in Cologne, where on New Year’s Eve one year ago hundreds of apparently coordinated sexual assaults were perpetrated against women, prior to New Year’s Eve celebrations on December 31, 2016 in Cologne, Germany. City authorities have deployed around 1,500 police officers – more than 10 times last year’s number, to maintain security during this year’s festivities. Security across Germany is high due also to the recent Berlin terror attack, in which suspect Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market and killed 12 people. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Cologne Celebrates New Year’s Eve Under Heightened Security Visitors celebrate New Year’s Eve in front of Hauptbahnhof main railway station, not far from where on New Year’s Eve one year ago hundreds of apparently coordinated sexual assaults were perpetrated against women, prior to New Year’s Eve celebrations on December 31, 2016 in Cologne, Germany. City authorities have deployed around 1,500 police officers – more than 10 times last year’s number, to maintain security during this year’s festivities. Security across Germany is high due also to the recent Berlin terror attack, in which suspect Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market and killed 12 people. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Cologne Celebrates New Year’s Eve Under Heightened Security Visitors celebrate New Year’s Eve in front of Cologne Cathedral, not far from where on New Year’s Eve one year ago hundreds of apparently coordinated sexual assaults were perpetrated against women, on January 1, 2017 in Cologne, Germany. City authorities have deployed around 1,500 police officers – more than 10 times last year’s number, to maintain security during this year’s festivities. Security across Germany is high due also to the recent Berlin terror attack, in which suspect Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market and killed 12 people. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Cologne Celebrates New Year’s Eve Under Heightened Security Visitors celebrate New Year’s Eve in front of Hauptbahnhof main railway station not far from where on New Year’s Eve one year ago hundreds of apparently coordinated sexual assaults were perpetrated against women, on January 1, 2017 in Cologne, Germany. City authorities have deployed around 1,500 police officers – more than 10 times last year’s number, to maintain security during this year’s festivities. Security across Germany is high due also to the recent Berlin terror attack, in which suspect Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market and killed 12 people. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

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ATLANTA — After Alabama ‘s dominating 24-7 victory against Washington on Saturday in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Crimson Tide defensive end Jonathan Allen called the Huskies « soft.  » That was actually an improvement over what he called them walking off the field at halftime.
« They were soft, » Allen told ESPN after the game. « No disrespect, but we could have played better.  »
Editor’s Picks Pick-six helps propel Bama past Washington
Another non-offensive score–that’s 15 on the year–pushed the Tide to a lead that Washington couldn’t overcome. Next up: the CFP title game on Jan. 9. Police officials test powder thrown at Peach Bowl
A powdery substance thrown at a Peach Bowl staffer tested negative for biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear entities.
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Another non-offensive score–that’s 15 on the year–pushed the Tide to a lead that Washington couldn’t overcome. Next up: the CFP title game on Jan. 9.
A powdery substance thrown at a Peach Bowl staffer tested negative for biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear entities.
Allen had six tackles, including a sack, as the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide advanced to the College Football Playoff title game against either Clemson or Ohio State Jan. 9 in Tampa, Florida. Alabama held Washington to 194 yards.
At halftime, when Allen was walking off the field to the locker room, he shook his head, and said to the Crimson Tide fans in the northeast corner of the Georgia Dome « they’re sorry, they’re sorry » before entering the tunnel.
Later Saturday, Allen tweeted that he had not called the Huskies soft. He wrote: « To all the reports saying I called Washington soft that is not true I never said that, at Alabama were taught to win and lose with class… I have nothing but the up most respect for Washington and how they came out there and competed today.  »
Allen, a senior, is expected to be among the first players taken in the 2017 NFL draft.
Huskies quarterback Jake Browning acknowledged after the game Alabama’s dominating defense.
« It’s a good defense, » he said. « They can get in a quarterback’s head. I don’t think they did that necessarily but they make you get rid of the ball quickly. They have elite pass-rush guys. We did a pretty good job with that overall, but you’ve got to make a couple more plays when you’re playing a good team like that.  »
The Huskies managed only 44 yards rushing on 29 carries — an average of 1.5 yards.
« They kind of are what we thought they were, a really, really elite championship defense with real good players across the board, » Washington coach Chris Peterson said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Media giant NBCUniversal has granted an extension in its carriage talks with cable television provider Charter Communications, averting a New Year’s Eve blackout of NBC-owned channels in nearly 16 million homes in the U. S. with Spectrum service.
NBCUniversal announced the extension late Saturday afternoon.
“Negotiations with Charter Spectrum for the NBCUniversal portfolio of networks have been extended,” NBCUniversal said in a statement. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith so that Charter Spectrum customers can continue to receive NBCUniversal’s valuable networks and we hope to be able to reach a deal.”
The current pact was set to expire at midnight Eastern time. The truce suggests that the two companies are making progress in their efforts to strike a comprehensive carriage deal for more than a dozen NBC channels.
NBC declined to specify the length of the extension.
NBCUniversal declared an impasse in the contract talks Thursday, but negotiations resumed Friday and continued Saturday.
Both companies appear motivated to resolve their differences and hammer out a new deal without an outage of popular TV networks during a long holiday weekend during which millions of people are at home watching television.
Such a blackout would have affected more than 1.6 million homes with Spectrum service in the Los Angeles region. Those customers would have lost coverage of KNBC-TV Channel 4, which is scheduled to televise Sunday’s high-profile NFL match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions on “Sunday Night Football.”
In addition to KNBC, NBCUniversal owns the Spanish-language Telemundo network and cable channels USA, Syfy, Bravo, E!, NBC Sports, Golf Channel, MSNBC and CNBC.
Connecticut-based Charter, which declined to comment, acquired Time Warner Cable in May, and rebranded its cable TV, phone and broadband Internet service as Spectrum.
Contentious carriage contract negotiations have become more common in the media industry. Pay-TV operators face an increasingly fraught environment as more consumers cut the cable cord in favor of lower-cost alternatives, such as SlingTV, Netflix and Hulu. Distributors do not want to risk alienating more customers by continuously raising their rates.
At the same time, media companies such as NBCUniversal have been shelling out more money for programming, particularly for sports. NBC, for example, pays the NFL more than $1 billion annually for rights to televise “Sunday Night Football” and a handful of Thursday night games.
Media companies have demanded higher fees from distributors to help pay for the programming – prompting a more tenacious tug of war between the two sides.
NBC executives also have been laboring for years to raise their programming fees, which are below industry averages. When the previous round of deals was struck about six years ago, NBC was owned by General Electric Co. The NBC broadcast network was in the ratings cellar – in fourth place among the big broadcast networks. NBC had less bargaining power than rivals such as Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, ESPN and the Disney Channel.
Philadelphia cable giant Comcast Corp. bought NBCUniversal in 2011. NBC now is a top network and has more leverage in negotiations with pay-TV companies, such as Charter.

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PASADENA, Calif. (CBSNewYork/CBSLA.com) — William Christopher, the actor best known for playing Father Francis Mulcahy on the smash sitcom “M*A*S*H,” has died.
Christopher, a native of Evanston, Illinois just north of Chicago, was 84. His death was reported by his son.
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His other acting credits included “Hogan’s Heroes,” “Gomer Pyle,” “That Girl” and “Columbo.”
But it was “M*A*S*H” that made Christopher famous. He appeared in more than 200 episodes of the acclaimed series.
A Methodist off-camera, he played the kindly and gentle Catholic priest on the CBS sitcom from 1972 until 1983. He also appeared in the spinoff “After M*A*S*H” (1983-1985.) He also played Father Tobias on “Days of Our Lives” in 2012.
Christopher married his wife Barbara in 1957. They had two sons.
He reportedly died at his home in Pasadena, California.

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The UK has marked the start of 2017 with a spectacular firework display and a declaration that « London is open ».
Tens of thousands gathered on the banks of the Thames to watch the display immediately after Big Ben sounded its midnight chimes.
New Year events across the UK went ahead under tight security, following lorry attacks in Berlin and Nice.
The music accompanying the London fireworks featured a recording of mayor Sadiq Khan saying: « London is open.  »
Other celebrations also took place at popular city locations, including the mass Hogmanay events in Edinburgh, but everywhere there was a more visible police presence with security fears to the fore following a series of terror attacks around Europe in the past year.
News of the latest, an attack which killed at least 35 revellers at a nightclub in the Turkish capital Istanbul, emerged in the final hour of 2016.
In London, around 12,000 fireworks producing 50,000 projectiles lit up the city as part of a 12-minute display.
Music for the display also sampled famous artists who died in 2016, including David Bowie and George Michael.
Mr Khan said before the fireworks that their theme would be « hope and optimism going forward ».
He added the capital was also sending a message to the world that « London is open », particularly post-Brexit, as part of its New Year’s Eve celebrations.
He added: « We’ve always been a city open to talent, to people, to ideas and that is not going to change.  »
Singer Robbie Williams staged a live concert from the Central Hall Westminster in London, which was shown on BBC One as part of the New Year celebrations.
After taking a brief break to allow TV viewers and his live audience to take in the Big Ben chimes, Williams returned to the stage to the strains of Auld Lang Syne.
He then restarted his show with his most famous hit Angels, before belting out a version of the traditional New Year favourite New York, New York.
After that, he wound the clock back as he performed his debut single Freedom. Initially released in 1996 after Williams left Take That, it was a cover version of the 1990 hit written and released by George Michael who died on Christmas Day.
As he started the song, he told the audience: « This is dedicated to the legendary George Michael.  »
Across the capital security had been stepped up, with more armed officers being deployed and concrete barriers in use.
There were also more places where vehicles are banned.
Greater Manchester Police also increased crowd protection in the wake of the Berlin attack.
British Transport Police « extended » its regular armed patrols across the nation’s rail network and there were armed officers on the London Underground.
Metropolitan Police Det Supt Phil Langworthy said 3,000 officers would be patrolling the streets in London.
Around 75,000 people had been expected to attend Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party for its sold-out New Year’s Eve celebration.
Police Scotland said there was a « very visible police presence » at the event.
Edinburgh was treated to a total of four separate firework displays to mark Hogmanay.
The Police Federation had made special arrangements to temporarily ban vehicle access in certain parts of London because of the use of lorries as terrorist weapons in this year’s attacks in Nice and Berlin.
Two weeks ago a lorry, driven by Anis Amri, ploughed into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48.
In Nice in July, 86 people died during Bastille Day celebrations when a lorry drove into crowds on the Promenade des Anglais.

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