On the heels of the Senate's passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration announced the creation of seven regional "climate hubs" on Wednesday to help farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods.

White House officials described the move as one of several executive actions that President Obama will take on climate change without action from Congress.

In substance, the creation of the climate hubs is a limited step, but it is part of a broader campaign by the administration to advance climate policy wherever possible with executive authority. The action is also part of a push to build political support for the administration's more divisive moves on climate change - in particular, the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations on coal-fired power plants.

Police have arrested a woman and her boyfriend in connection with the death of her three-year-old daughter.

Sara Krueger, 23, and Scott Warner, 26, were held after a search in the San Francisco Bay Area over the weekend.

Boyfriend Scott Warner, 26

They were found at a station in El Cerrito, about 30 miles south of Napa, after someone recognised the couple at a restaurant and tipped off authorities.

On Saturday, officers conducting a welfare check at Krueger's Napa apartment found the child's body in her bed.

Being Homeless Is Not A Crime

Living in Florida, we don't often have the opportunity to use the heat setting on our thermostat, but this winter we got the chance in a big way. And as a matter of fact, so many people in my neighborhood were using heaters that it blew out the transformer.

So there I was with my wife and three kids, all of us huddled under blankets with the fireplace roaring, watching the temperature continue to drop from a comfortable 65 degrees down to 45. But outside it was 17 degrees and raining and sleeting, and if you were homeless, you had to consider that if you used a blanket to shield yourself from the elements, that you might be hauled off to jail for a violation of a local ordinance prohibiting using blankets, cardboard, or newspaper to cover yourself.

This was part of a series of ordinances which prohibited using public restrooms for washing your face, panhandling, and "camping". Though the mayor's office and members of the city council tried to say that these ordinances were not targeted at the homeless, email correspondence between them and other city officials proved otherwise.

The anti-camping ordinance went the furthest in its limitation of basic civil liberties, making it essentially illegal, not only to cover yourself for any reason, but also effectively making it illegal to be homeless. It was a tough ordinance to fight, because if you opposed them, it gave the impression that you were supporting blight in the city. Not to mention the city council wasn't interested in having the discussion. The then council president either would cut people off or have them thrown out during the public discussion.

The ordinances were passed, in spite of the public outcry.

The director's adopted daughter denies Allen's suggestion that Mia Farrow coached her to say he sexually assaulted her.

Dylan Farrow has responded to an op-ed Woody Allen published by The New York Times Friday.

In the response, provided to The Hollywood Reporter, Farrow denounced Allen's op-ed -- in which he suggested Farrow's mother, Mia Farrow, had coached her to accuse Allen of sexually assaulting her as a child.

"I have never wavered in describing what he did to me. I will carry the memories of surviving these experiences for the rest of my life," Farrow said.

She went on to challenge other points in Allen's op-ed, calling it 'the latest rehash of the same legalese, distortions, and outright lies he has leveled at me for the past 20 years."

Allen's op-ed came nearly one week after Farrow published an open letter on the Times website, where she detailed an alleged sexual assault Allen carried out on her when she was seven. Farrow is the adopted daughter of Allen and Mia Farrow.

• Residents of Clacton, Essex reported hearing a loud bang 'like a bomb going off' at 8.30am thanks to gas explosion
• Four fire engines, five ambulances and two air ambulances called to scene and took 10 people to hospital
• Passers-by who helped pull victims from the rubble said they were shocked to find residents still alive

Nine people were hurt yesterday as a massive gas blast flattened two houses on an estate.

A retired couple were seriously injured but miraculously no one was killed in the 8.30am explosion.

David Davies, 65, was in bed and his wife Hela, 56, in the kitchen when the huge blast - which neighbours said was 'like a bomb' - sent debris flying up to 150 yards along the street in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

The couple, who have three grown-up children, were rescued from the debris in their pyjamas by shocked residents who rushed to help. They were taken to hospital with severe burns.

Seven neighbours were also taken to hospital following the explosion, which fire chiefs believe could have been caused by a badly installed boiler or appliance.

Gary Curtis, 27, ran to help rescue Mr and Mrs Davies after the blast smashed his windows. 'It was like a bomb going off, he said. 'You could just hear screams coming from the rubble.

'The woman had somehow survived in a protective tunnel that had formed above her from the wreckage. When we pulled her out she had burns all up her arms, her pyjamas were singed. Her husband was still in bed covered in debris.

'It is a miracle that no one is dead. There is a primary school 100 yards up the road and a bus stop just outside the house.'

Above: art

You know what? I'm sick of pretending. I went to art school, wrote a dissertation called "The Elevation of Art Through Commerce: An Analysis of Charles Saatchi's Approach to the Machinery of Art Production Using Pierre Bourdieu's Theories of Distinction", have attended art openings at least once a month for the last five years, even purchased pieces of it, but the other night, after attending the opening of the new Tracey Emin retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, I'm finally ready to come out and say it: I just don't think I "get" art.

The French comedian Dieudonne Mbala Mbala, he of the infamous Quenelle gesture, today sent a billet doux to the Prime minister following the Home Secretary's decision on Monday to ban him from entering the UK.

He had previously declared that he would travel to Britain to support the West Brom player Nicholas Anelka who used the gesture, an alleged reverse nazi salute, when he scored against West Ham. Anelka who denies any malicious intent, now faces an FA disciplinary hearing. Newsnight's Steve Smith hopped across the channel to Paris this morning to meet him in the theatre where he's performing.

Two adults, believed to be the child's parents, are in a serious condition in hospital after falling unwell in a house.

A seven-year-old boy has died and his parents remain in hospital after emergency services were called to a house in flood-hit Chertsey.

Officers were called to the property at around 3.30am on Saturday following a request for assistance by the ambulance service.

The boy, named locally as Zane Gbangbola, was declared dead at nearby St Peter's Hospital.

Our cities are not broke. They are struggling with onerous interest payments to Wall Street bankers who are nothing but middlemen. These interest payments impoverish your communities, while enriching Wall Street. This video shows how municipalities, counties, universities and states can significantly reduce their interest payments by creating their own public bank. This has already been done and proven, and could cut the costs of public projects by at least half.


Link to previous video:
http://www.endtheillusion.org/moneyno...

A French political activist and comedy actor, who has been under pressure from the government for "racist and anti-Semitic remarks," has told Press TV about the extent of Zionism within the French establishment.

"...Zionism takes up a considerable amount of space in the French establishment...," Dieudonné M'bala M'bala said at the Golden Hand Theatre, where he runs his highly popular shows.

In recent weeks, Dieudo, as the actor is often called in France, has been accused of preaching the Quenelle, a gesture considered anti-Zionist in France.

M'bala M'bala is credited with creating and popularizing the gesture, done by pointing one arm diagonally downwards palm down, while touching the shoulder with the opposite hand.

Following the accusations, the French government banned his show. Now he is back to running his comedy show tours.

M'bala M'bala said, "A kind of a storm hit my family and my professional circles. All this because of one man, Manuel Valls, the interior minister. For how long, I can't say. But I hope for the shortest possible time. He attacked me and the freedom of speech and expression in this country in general. Therefore, it feels very strange to face the entire government."