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US life expectancy on the decline, falling behind other wealthy nations

USFLAG
© Salon
American lives are shorter on average than those in other wealthy nations, and the gap is growing ever wider, according to the latest data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As recently as 1979, the typical American could expect to live roughly 1.5 years longer than the average resident of one of the other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - a group of 35 wealthy, predominantly Western nations.

The typical American baby born in 1979 could expect to live about 73.9 years, while the typical baby born in one of the other 34 OECD countries would live roughly to age 72.3.

Comment: It seems like Christopher Ingraham really wants to blame Trump for the decline of US life expectancy. Better yet, why not just blame Russia?

A reason not considered for the decline of life expectancy is how the adoption of faulty thinking can put a negative strain on the immune system. Combine that with the Standard American Diet and you've got a nasty mix. Fake news and fake food makes a society sick.


Gold Coins

Head of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges kidnapped in Ukraine

A Russian IT specialist and managing director of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges Pavel Lerner has been kidnapped in Kiev, Ukrainian media reports.

Paul Lerner
© Paul Lerner / Facebook
Lerner stopped responding to phone calls on December 26, according to a Ukrainian media Strana.ua.

"The programmer was dragged into a Mercedes-Benz Vito car by unknown persons in dark clothes and balaclavas, and taken away in an unknown direction," the website writes.

Cell Phone

Apple apologizes to customers for 'misunderstanding' over slowing down older iPhones

Apple phone
© Damir Sagolj / Reuters
Following a strong backlash for conceding they reduced the processing speed of aging iPhones, Apple apologized to customers and lowered the price of the out-of-warranty battery replacements by $50.

The tech giant is currently facing nine lawsuits in relation to how the company handles the power management of its batteries in older iPhones.

In response, the company sent a letter to customers Thursday, attempting to clear up what it said were some "misunderstandings" about the issue.

"We've been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process," Apple said. "We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There's been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue."

Comment: See also:
Woman sues Apple for nearly a trillion dollars for deliberately slowing down older iPhones
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook now only uses private jets to travel & gets hefty pay increase


Fire

At least 12 dead in 5-alarm apartment fire in Bronx borough of New York, cause of fire unknown

Apartment fire Bronx December 2017
© NYFD / Reuters
New York Fire Department ladder trucks deploy at a building fire in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York, U.S. December 28, 2017.
Over 160 New York firefighters have knocked down a 5-alarm blaze inside a Bronx apartment that has left at least 12 people dead and many more seriously injured.

The fire started before 7:00pm Thursday on Prospect Avenue near East 187th Street on the third floor of a five-story building, WABC reported.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio arrived on the scene for a briefing, where it was confirmed that one of the 12 dead is a 1-year-old child. Four other people are in critical condition. Two people suffered other injuries.

Newspaper

2 children, 2 adults killed in Troy were targets

Deaths inside Second Avenue apartment were not random acts, chief said

Charles Mayben Jr
© Skip Dicksen, Albany Times Union
Charles Mayben Jr., right, a basketball coach for one of the murdered children, is comforted by clergy member Rev. Charles Burkes after a press briefing on Wednesday, Dec 27, 2017, at City Hall regarding the quadruple murder that was discovered Tuesday in Troy, N.Y.
Police Chief James Tedesco called it an act of "savagery": two adult women and two children found murdered in their Second Avenue basement apartment the day after Christmas. On Wednesday, it was a crime shrouded in secrecy.

Tedesco assured the public that while officials aren't releasing details on any suspects, the two women, ages 36 and 22, and two children, a 11-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl, appear to have been targeted. Officials want people to come forward if they have information.

Fire

Arkansas man sets house explosion to cover up toddler's murder

Ricky Carter
© Handout
Ricky Carter has been charged with Arson and Murder in connection with the death of a 2-year-old boy, which police say he tried to cover up.
An Arkansas man was burned by his own wicked plan.

Ricky Carter has been charged with first degree murder and arson in connection with the death of a 2-year-old child, Arkansas State Police confirmed in a statement posted on their Facebook page.

The 27-year-old was arrested one day after the Paris Police Department responded to a call reporting an explosion. Officers arrived on the scene, where they spotted a home on fire.

One of the responding officers entered the burning dwelling and helped Carter carry four children to safety, police said in the press release.

Three of the four children and Carter were uninjured in the incident. The toddler, later identified as Ryatt Reese, was transported to a local hospital, NWA Homepage reports.

Bomb

Bomb explodes near police station in Southern Turkey

Ambulance in Turkey
© AP/Emrah Gurel
The Dogan news agency news agency reports of a blast near a police station in a town in Southern Turkey.

According to the Dogan news agency, the explosion occurred in the town of Seyhan, in Adana province at around 7:10 p.m.

The police and medical teams were sent to the scene, while no information on possible casualties has been provided yet.

"We believe it was a home-made bomb, like a sound bomb," Anadolu quoted Adana Police Chief Selami Yildiz as saying. "We are continuing our inspections."


Dollars

JMU pays teachers $250 to become more 'inclusive'

Seminar will teach instructors 'inclusivity and multiculturalism'

diversity cloud
© Shutterstock
A public university in Virginia is offering instructors $250 to undergo training in order to become more "inclusive."

The program at James Madison University, offered by the school's Center for Faculty Innovation, is a semester-long "institute" that will allegedly help professors "hone their skills for appreciating, leveraging, and responding to diversity within their classrooms."

Newspaper

Woman falls in sewer and finds a missing boy

Tatasstan, Russia sewer
© Sputnik/ Maksim Bogodvid
It's an old adage that no matter how bad you have it, there's always someone worse off. One Russian woman discovered the literal truth of this when she stumbled upon a lost child.

A volunteer woman, who participated in the search for a missing 10-year-old boy in the village of Cheremshan in Tatarstan, Russia, fell into a sewer and discovered the child trapped there.

Stormtrooper

'They beat me with their boots and rifles': Palestinian teenage boy in viral photo released on bail

Palestinian teenager boy Israeli soldiers viral photo
© Wisam Hashlamoun / Twitter / @marro_lb
A photo of Junaidi being arrested, taken by the Palestinian photographer Wisam Hashlamoun, went viral on social media on Dec. 7, 2017.


The Palestinian child was released on bail but will have to appear before the military court in 10 days over stone throwing charges.


An Israeli court released on bail Palestinian teen Fawzi Junaidi, whose photo blindfolded and handcuffed as more than 20 Israeli soldiers arrested him went viral few weeks ago during protests over the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Middle East Eye website reported Wednesday.

The 16-year-old had been in detention for 20 days before the judge allowed his release for a bail payment of US$3,000. However, he would have to appear before the court on Jan. 7 over "stone-throwing" charges. Junaidi, a minor and a civilian, is being tried in an Israeli military court.

According to MEE, the Palestinian teen told his lawyer, Farah Bayadsi from Defence for Children International, a non-profit organization that advocates for children rights, that he was running away from Israeli tear gas in a street in Hebron city to his aunt's house, when Israeli soldiers hiding between buildings arrested him.

Comment: Israeli soldiers get their kicks out of bullying, attacking and arresting children - and then many of them are tortured in prison. From our recent article on the arrest of Palestinian teenage girl Ahed Tamimi:
Sadly, what is happening to Ahed is not the exception. Since 2000, at least 8,000 Palestinian children as young as 12 have been arrested and prosecuted by the Israeli military. The Israeli military detention system is notorious for the ill-treatment of children.The extent to which Shin Bet interrogators practice torture has been described as 'institutional'. In its 2016 report, Amnesty International found that Israeli forces and Shin Bet personnel had "tortured and otherwise ill-treated Palestinian detainees, including children, particularly during arrest and interrogation", with methods such as "beating with batons, slapping, throttling, prolonged shackling, stress positions, sleep deprivation and threats".

According to research of Defence for Children International - Palestine, almost two thirds of Palestinian children detained in the West Bank had endured physical violence after apprehension. In several cases (23% in 2013, for example), children have been either shown or made to sign documentation, presumably 'confessions', in Hebrew - a language they do not understand.