Russia has donated a 25m tree Christmas tree to the Notre Dame cathedral in France, following an appeal for help.

The cathedral had struggled to raise the money for its annual tree and appealed to foreign embassies in Paris for assistance.

"It was a surprise but it won't create problems. It was a gift. No money changed hands. And if it helps to build bridges, so much the better.", said one of the Parisian clergy.

The surprise donation comes at a time of strained relations between the two countries, over Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

The whole country, and the world, stood up to police brutality and institutionalized racism today.

This short time lapse video puts the protests into perspective. While the mainstream media may report hundreds or maybe a thousand, you need to know the truth. You are not alone, many many other young people around the country have also awaken to the injustices we face.

Here's the proof:

There is a pattern emerging in my Facebook feed this week. One group of friends has been posting stories of police brutality and protests accompanied by personal statements of outrage. Another group has been remarking on the disgusting revelations from the Senate Intelligence Committee's CIA torture report and the need for accountability. There is little overlap between the two groups, and yet the common threads between the U.S.' foreign and domestic policies are disturbingly uncanny.

Whether on the streets of Baghdad or Ferguson, soldiers and militarized police forces have historically enforced control, not law. Behind the prison walls of Guantanamo and Texas, some authorities have tortured and brutalized rather than interrogated. They have not protected nor served; they have attacked and killed. They have not gathered intelligence; they have violated people's humanity.

I am an immigrant to the United States. The names of those killed and tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan invoke in my imagination people who look like me, people I could have known, who could be my family. In the faces of those killed and tortured in Ferguson and Los Angeles, I see my neighbors and friends, people I know and love and think of as family. These are not separate and distinct. The pain I feel while reading the CIA report is as strong as the grief that comes from perusing the images of unarmed people of color who have been killed by U.S. police. The U.S. tortures and imprisons people of color both at home and abroad.

Protesters are taking to the streets in cities across the US to protest grand juries' decisions not to indict the white officers responsible for the deaths of two unarmed black men, and demand police accountability.

Congressional staffers plan to walk off their jobs Thursday afternoon to show their support for the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in the wake of the decision by two grand juries not to indict the police officers responsible for their deaths, according to three staffers who plan to participate in the event.

The planned walkout comes after days of protests across the country, including in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators have marched through downtown, blocking roads and bridges on an almost nightly basis since last Wednesday's decision by a grand jury in Staten Island not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Garner.

"We're proud to have this moment of solidarity with the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the thousands of peaceful protesters around the country who are telling this country that black lives matter," said one staffer who was helping to plan the event.

On November 19, Rolling Stone published its story "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, an investigative journalist and two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for investigative reporting.

The article was disturbing, detailing the brutal gang rape of "Jackie" - reportedly her real nickname - at a fraternity house during the beginning months of her freshman year at the college, as part of an initiation ritual for the frat's pledges. Most chilling, perhaps, was one dehumanizing detail she described, where one of the young men attacking her told the others, "Grab its [expletive] leg!" as she struggled in vain.

Last week multiple news sources began calling Jackie's story - and the Rolling Stone piece - into question.

A video of an altercation between a female police officer and a 15-year-old girl has gone viral, along with seemingly contradictory accounts of what happened. The video has prompted witnesses to accuse the officer of punching the girl to subdue her.

The incident occurred in Mesa, Arizona on Friday, and was uploaded that evening to Facebook by Luis Paul Puleo Santiago. From there it made its way to Youtube, and as of Saturday evening the video reportedly had over half a million views online. The attention comes amidst protests that erupted in cities across the country over the failure to indict officers in the deaths of either Eric Garner or Michael Brown, both of whom were unarmed when police shot them.

Santiago and another woman caught the incident on camera from a car across from the street corner where it occurred. The figures are in the distance, but the video clearly captures a struggle between the female officer and the girl, ending with the officer pinning the girl to the ground. At that point, the girl repeatedly screams "stop" and "I can't breathe." On the soundtrack, Santiago and the woman can be heard gasping and saying "she just punched her in the face."

Police told ABC News 15 in Arizona that the girl had run away in the past, and that her mother had called the police asking for help after the girl got out of the mother's car and walked away. Esteban Flores with the Mesa Police Department told the news outlet that "authorities tried three times to convince the girl to stop before a female officer reached for the girl's arm." According to the police, the girl then kicked the officer and "punched her in the face." After that, the female officer - a 12-year veteran on the force, according to Esteban - made the arrest, "which involved physical force by the officer."

On the video, another male witness and the girl's mother approach the struggle after the officer gets the girl to ground, and the mother proceeds to have an angry but indistinct exchange with the officer. When Santiago and the woman pull over and exit the car, the screen goes dark, but Santiago can be heard saying, "She punched her in the face, I have it on video." Another female voice, presumably the girl's mother, says "Please be a witness."

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Warsaw to protest recent election results. Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski says the ballots were falsified with almost 20 percent of the votes being declared invalid.

Kaczynski's supporters are marching under the slogan "in support of democracy."

The organizers of the rally claim that over 100,000 people have turned out to protest, which would be the largest demonstration in the history of post-war Poland. However, reports from the Polish newspaper, Wyborcza, say this figure has been significantly inflated. Other estimates have put the figure at around 60,000, the paper adds.

Did you know that 65 percent of all children in the United States live in a home that receives aid from the federal government? We live at a time when child poverty in America is exploding. Yes, the U.S. economy is experiencing a temporary bubble of false stability for the moment, but even during this period of false stability the gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to rapidly expand and the middle class is being systematically destroyed. And sadly, this is having a disproportionate impact on children. This is happening for a couple of reasons. First of all, poorer households tend to have more children than wealthier households. Secondly, most people tend to have children when they are in their young adult years, and right now young adults are being absolutely hammered by this economy. As a result, things just continue to get even worse for children living in this country. Here are 14 facts that show that the number of children in America living in poverty this Christmas is at an all-time record high...

#1 The National Center for Children in Poverty says that 45 percent of all U.S. children belong to low income families.

#2 According to a Census Bureau report that was released just this week, 65 percent of all children in America are living in a home that receives some form of aid from the federal government...

"Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of children," said the Census Bureau, "lived in households that participated in at least one or more of the following government aid programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicaid, and the National School Lunch Program."

#3 According to a report recently released by UNICEF, almost one-third of all children in this country "live in households with an income below 60 percent of the national median income".

#4 When it comes to child poverty, the United States ranks 36th out of the 41 "wealthy nations" that UNICEF looked at.

#5 An astounding 45 percent of all African-American children in America live in areas of "concentrated poverty".

Parents, government officials, and tuition-paying students are all seeking solutions to the skyrocketing costs of higher education and the burden of student debt.

Currently, public universities in America are funded in a number of ways: government subsidies, research grants, donations, sponsorships, and, of course, tuition and fee payments. When debating cost-cutting measures, many propose lowering tuition. Typically, ancillary costs - such as the amount of fees students must pay on top of tuition - are ignored.

But according to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity these fees are increasing at rate 13% higher than tuition.

Often the breakdown of these fees (which, at public institutions, can run, on average, an extra $2,000-5,000 per year), is not specific or transparent to the student. Factor in future interest payments for students who are using loans to pay for college, and the costs of these fees to the student can be much higher.

What do these fees fund? Generally, they're allocated to eight specific areas: health services, student social centers, debt service on student administration and social centers (such as a student union), student government and publications, recreation, cultural programs, and intercollegiate athletics.

By far, the largest student fee is the last - the intercollegiate athletic fee - which can be upwards of 80% of the total fee amount at many institutions not in Power Five conferences.