Jian Ghomeshi: Radio host charged with sex abuse, bailed

 

Jian Ghomeshi was the presenter of the popular arts and culture radio show Q Former Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) host Jian Ghomeshi has appeared in court to face four sex assault charges and one of choking.

The former radio host was released on bail on Wednesday - his lawyer said her client will plead not guilty.
At least three women complained to Toronto Police that Mr Ghomeshi had been physically violent towards them.
Mr Ghomeshi, 47, was the host of the CBC's radio show Q. He was sacked by the CBC last month.
His bail was set at C$100,000 ($90,000; £55,000) on condition that he live with his mother, surrender his passport and avoid contact with his alleged victims.
Mr Ghomeshi's lawyer Marie Henein added that she had sought a routine publication ban on her client's case.
She told reporters: "We will address these allegations fully and directly in a courtroom. It is not my practice to litigate my cases in the media."
Mr Ghomeshi is next due in court on 8 January.
Compañias de Carpeta Republica Dominicana
The police department's sex crimes unit began investigating Mr Ghomeshi on 31 October after two women filed complaints.
Nine women have spoken to Canadian media accusing Mr Ghomeshi of physical and sexual assault.
'Graphic evidence' Throughout the investigation, he has denied the allegations made against him, claiming his actions were consensual.
The CBC began an inquiry into Mr Ghomeshi's sexual activities after Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star began investigating allegations by an ex-girlfriend that he had engaged in non-consensual, violent sex with her.
After being shown "graphic evidence" that Mr Ghomeshi had physically injured a woman, the broadcaster fired him.
On Tuesday, Mr Ghomeshi dropped a Canadian C$55m legal case against the CBC for wrongful termination.
This was finalised on Wednesday afternoon and it was agreed that Mr Ghomeshi would pay C$18,000 in legal costs.
However, he is still fighting the termination through the union, having filed a complaint with the Canadian Media Guild.
Mr Ghomeshi surrendered himself to officials on Wednesday morning, Toronto Police said in a statement.

Jamie Cooper-Hohn wins £337m in High Court divorce case

 

The couple set up the Children's Investment Fund Foundation in 2003 

The American wife of a London financier has been awarded £337m by a High Court judge in a divorce case.

Sir Chris Hohn and Jamie Cooper-Hohn, founders of the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, had fought over assets said to be worth more than £700m.
The sum is thought to be the biggest of its kind made by a judge in England after the couple separated following 17 years of marriage.
Details emerged after a draft ruling was given to the pair's legal teams.
Lawyers met on Thursday to discuss a number of legal issues, including whether the judgement in the case could be made public.
Mrs Justice Roberts said although the hearing had been in private, what had been said could be reported.
A detailed ruling on the dispute has not yet been delivered.
Sir Chris and Mrs Cooper-Hohn attended the hearing, but neither commented as they left court.
American-born Mrs Cooper-Hohn, 49, had sought half their assets but Sir Chris, 48, offered a quarter, arguing that he had made a special contribution to their wealth throughout their marriage.
Philanthropy Sir Chris, the son of a car mechanic and a legal secretary, graduated from Southampton University before making his fortune as a hedge fund manager.
The couple set up the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, known as CIFF, which works to transform the lives of poor and vulnerable children in developing countries.
The pair, who have four children, including triplets, have reportedly given away around £1bn.
This is not the first high-profile divorce case to result in a large payout.
The late Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, featured in a multi-million pound case three years ago when it was reported that his former wife Galina Besharova had agreed to accept between £165m and £220m as part of a settlement.

Ferguson shooting: Calm returns on snowy Thanksgiving

 

A level of calm has returned to Ferguson's streets following two nights of unrest.

There were a handful of protests and a heavy police presence, but no major incidents as Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday began, marked by snow and rain.
A jury's ruling not to charge a police officer for killing a black teenager sparked violence in Missouri's St Louis suburb, and protests across the US.
Michael Brown's family have said they felt "crushed" by the decision.
Their son was killed after being shot six or seven times by Officer Darren Wilson in August.
The policeman said he feared for his life but some witnesses said Mr Brown, who was unarmed, had his hands up when he was killed.
The decision by the grand jury not to press charges and bring the case to trial has triggered a nationwide debate over relations between black communities and law enforcement.
Wednesday night's protests in Ferguson were peaceful, with about 100 people marching as the snow fell.

The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan said the weather could have been a factor in keeping the numbers down. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan witnessed the protests on Wednesday night

There were, however, more than 100 people arrested in demonstrations in Los Angeles and Oakland, California.
Police said protesters vandalised businesses in Oakland and refused to disperse in Los Angeles, where most of the arrests took place.
And in Portland, Oregon, police used pepper spray and made arrests after about 300 people interrupted public transport routes.
Earlier on Wednesday, protestors had tried to storm City Hall in St Louis.
Some US celebrities are reportedly calling for a boycott to take place on Black Friday - one of the country's busiest shopping days after Thanksgiving - over the grand jury ruling.

The protests in Los Angeles were vocal

And dozens were arrested

Police officer Darren Wilson has told US media that he had a "clean conscience" over the killing on 9 August.
Mr Brown's mother said the officer had been "disrespectful" in his comments and that she did not believe his account of events.
In separate comments, the teenager's father, Michael Brown Sr, said his son's character had been "crucified" by prosecutors, but also urged protesters to remain peaceful.
Mr Wilson said that before the shooting, Mr Brown had pushed him back into his car, hit him and grabbed at his drawn gun, and said that he felt "like a five-year-old holding on to [US wrestler] Hulk Hogan".
Mr Brown's supporters said he was attempting to surrender to Mr Wilson when he was shot.

However, the state prosecutor said physical evidence had contradicted some of the witness statements. What should Ferguson mothers tell their children?

Many in Ferguson's predominantly African-American community had called for Mr Wilson to be charged with murder, but the grand jury - of nine white and three black members - decided not to charge him.
The decision means Mr Wilson will not face state criminal charges over the shooting.
A spokesman for Missouri state governor Jay Nixon said he would not entertain the idea of bringing in a special prosecutor to present the case to a new grand jury, the St Louis Post reports.
However, the US Justice Department has also launched a federal investigation into whether Mr Wilson violated Mr Brown's civil rights.

Jian Ghomeshi: Radio host charged with sex assault

  Ghomeshi was the presenter of the popular arts and culture radio show Q 

Former Canadian Broadcasting Corporation presenter Jian Ghomeshi has been arrested and charged with sexual assault, Toronto police say.

Mr Ghomeshi, 47, has been accused of violently attacking women during sex.
He was the host of the CBC's hugely popular radio show Q and sacked by the broadcaster shortly before the allegations became public.
He denies the allegations, saying in an earlier statement the actions were consensual.
He is set to appear in court on Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Mr Ghomeshi dropped a Canadian $55m (£31m) lawsuit against the CBC for wrongful termination.
In a statement, Toronto Police said the former presenter surrendered himself to officials on Wednesday.
He is charged with four counts of sexual assault and one of "overcoming resistance - choking".
Nine women have spoken to Canadian media accusing Mr Ghomeshi of physical and sexual assault. At least three women have filed complaints to police.

Snow snarls up US Thanksgiving getaway

 

Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington was busy on Wednesday

Snowy weather along the US east coast has disrupted one of the busiest travel days ahead of the country's Thanksgiving holiday.

More than 400 flights were cancelled and thousands delayed by a winter storm which brought snow, sleet and rain.
As much as 12in (30cm) of snow was due in the heavily populated north-east, forcing people to change travel plans.
More than 46 million Americans are expected to be on the move on Wednesday, mostly by car.
That would make it the busiest Thanksgiving travel since 2007, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), with most people travelling by cars.
New York City could see as much as four inches of snow, while between six and 12 inches is expected to fall further north.

LaGuardia airport in New York was miserable on Wednesday

Airlines were suggesting travellers switch to earlier flights, with some dropping change fees.
One of the people taking that advice was West Point Cadet Jameson Albers, 21, who switched his New York to Nashville flight.
"I bumped my flight to an 11:30 flight to try to get in before the really bad weather hits."
Snow is also expected in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC.

Juncker reveals giant EU investment plan

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has given details of a €315bn (£250bn; $393bn) investment plan to kick-start Europe's economy.

At its heart is a new €21bn fund that would provide loans for infrastructure projects. Mr Juncker hopes most of the rest of the money will come from private backers.
Only €16bn of the original money would come from the European Union budget.
However, critics doubt it can attract so much private investment.
There was immediate scepticism from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) whose General Secretary, Bernadette Segol, suggested the Commission was "relying on a financial miracle like the loaves and fishes".
She said she did not believe that €315bn could be raised from €21bn, a leverage factor of 15 which the ETUC argued was "almost certainly unrealistic".
The Commission believes it could create up to 1.3 million jobs with investment in broadband, energy networks and transport infrastructure, as well as education and research.

Analysis by BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt
This is the new Commission's big idea. It is the EU's New Deal.
To a large extent it will be judged by its success or failure.
The markets are currently awash with money. The big test is whether they will invest in Europe where the economy is stagnating and confidence is low.

"Europe needs a kick-start and today the Commission is providing the jump leads," Mr Juncker said as he detailed his ambitious five-year plan at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Mr Juncker said Europe needed a kick-start and the Commission was offering the jump-leads

He said Europe had to face "the challenge of a generation" head-on, without a money-printing machine, and described his plan as the greatest effort in recent EU history to trigger additional investment without changing the rules.
The plan would take the burden off national governments, already facing big debts after the financial crisis. But they could contribute to the fund if they wished, and would be asked to come up with a list of projects with "high socio-economic returns" that would start between 2015 and 2017.
Illustrating the type of projects he has in mind, Mr Juncker said he had a vision of:

• Schoolchildren walking into a brand new classroom equipped with computers in the Greek city of Thessaloniki
• European hospitals saving lives with state of the art medical equipment
• French commuters charging electric cars on motorways in the same way as petrol stations are used now
• Households and companies becoming more energy efficient

The Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) would create the fund's €21bn reserve, according to Mr Juncker, which would then enable the EIB to fund loans worth €63bn. Private investors would be expected to put forward the lion's share of the money, some €252bn.

Pope Francis likened Europe to a grandmother on Tuesday, "no longer fertile and vibrant"

Mr Juncker's speech came a day after Pope Francis addressed the same parliament, criticising an "elderly and haggard" Europe that had become less and less of a protagonist.
Initial reaction to Mr Juncker's plan came from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who told the German parliament that her government supported the package in principle, but it had to be clear to everyone where the projects were in the future.
The Commission president, who came to office at the start of November, said he could not promise how much investment would go to each country, but he argued that investment in one country could only be good for growth in another.
Structural reforms were necessary to modernise Europe's economy and fiscal responsibility was needed to restore confidence in public finance, but now investment had to be boosted as well, he said.
The start of the former Luxembourg prime minister's term as president has been overshadowed by his country's role in a tax break row.
Hundreds of multi-national firms were reportedly attracted to Luxembourg in legal tax avoidance schemes. Mr Juncker was prime minister at the time but denies wrongdoing.
Although a vote against him is due to take place at the European Parliament on Thursday, it is unlikely to attract widespread support.

Ferguson shooting: Brown family 'crushed' by jury verdict

 

Michael Brown Sr said terrible things had been said about his son 

The family of Michael Brown, the black teenager shot dead by a policeman, say they are "crushed" by the grand jury's decision not to charge Darren Wilson.

Mr Brown's father told NBC news his son's character had been "crucified". Separately, Mr Brown's mother said Mr Wilson had been "disrespectful".
Mr Wilson, who shot dead Mr Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August, has told US media he has a "clean conscience".
There were protests over the ruling in 13 US cities on Tuesday night.
In Ferguson, there was some unrest on as protesters scuffled with police, and a police car outside the town hall was set alight.
However, police said security was "much better" than Monday, when there was widespread rioting and looting, and more than a dozen buildings were set alight.
About 2,000 National Guard troops were deployed in the city on Tuesday night. Forty-four people were arrested.

St Louis police said Tuesday was a "much better night" than Monday, despite some scuffles

Protests were reported in 12 other cities: Philadelphia, Seattle, Albuquerque, New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Oakland, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Portland, Chicago and Boston.
Those demonstrations were mostly peaceful, but rioting broke out in Oakland, California, where protesters started a street fire.
In Los Angeles, 130 protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct, the LA Times reported.
'Insult after injury' Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, on 9 August, sparking protests.
Speaking out after the verdict on Monday, Mr Wilson told US broadcaster ABC that he had a "clean conscience".
He said that before the shooting, Mr Brown had pushed him back into his car, hit him and grabbed at his drawn gun, and said that he felt "like a five-year-old holding on to [US wrestler] Hulk Hogan".

On Wednesday, Mr Brown's parents said that they did not believe Mr Wilson's account of events. Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown: "I know I did my job right"

Mr Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, said her son did not have a history of violence

Mr Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, told NBC that Mr Wilson's remarks added "insult after injury" and were "disrespectful".
In a separate interview with CBS, she added: "I don't believe a word of it. I know my son far too well... Our son doesn't have a history of violence."
Meanwhile, Mr Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr, said that he felt "hurt" and "crushed" following the verdict.
He said that "terrible" things had been said about his son, and prosecutors had "crucified his character".
He also urged protesters to avoid violence, saying: "My son was a good guy, a quiet guy. So in his name, I want to keep it on a positive note."
Mr Brown's supporters said he was attempting to surrender to Mr Wilson when he was shot.

In Los Angeles, protesters set up barricades and shut down a freeway

In Oakland, residents sought to extinguish a street fire started by protesters What should Ferguson mothers tell their children?

However, the state prosecutor said physical evidence had contradicted some of the witness statements.
Many in Ferguson's predominantly African-American community had called for Mr Wilson to be charged with murder, but the grand jury - of nine white and three black members - decided not to charge him.
The decision means Mr Wilson will not face state criminal charges over the shooting. However, the US Justice Department has also launched a federal investigation into whether Mr Wilson violated Mr Brown's civil rights.
Speaking from Chicago on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said there was "no excuse" for destructive behaviour and criminal acts of rioting.
However, he added that "many communities of colour" had a sense that laws were not being enforced "uniformly or fairly", and said he had ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to look at what steps could be taken to build trust.

Iran nuclear talks deadline extended to end of June

 

Monday's talks were the final day of a lengthy session in Vienna

The deadline for an Iran nuclear deal has been extended to the end of June after talks in Vienna failed to reach a comprehensive agreement, diplomats say.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said good progress had been made, but it was "not possible to get an agreement by the [original] deadline".
Six world powers want Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of UN sanctions.
Tehran says it is not seeking nuclear weapons, but wants atomic energy.
The six countries - the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - have been in negotiations with Iran to finalise a preliminary deal reached last year in Geneva.
Speaking after the Vienna talks had ended, Mr Hammond said that negotiations would resume in December, and would be extended until 30 June 2015.
Iran would be allowed to continue accessing $700m (£450m) per month in frozen assets during that period.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he expected the "basic principles" of the nuclear deal to be agreed within three to four months.

Iran nuclear talks: 'Big gaps' remain as deadline looms

 

Iran says the sole purpose of its nuclear programme is civilian energy projects 

Key sticking points remain as negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme enter their final stages in Vienna, Western negotiators have said.

Both Germany and the US said the sides were working to close "big gaps" ahead of Monday's deadline for a final deal.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is to hold fresh talks on Saturday with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.
Six world powers want Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of United Nations sanctions.
The US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China - the so-called P5+1 group - are seeking reassurance that Iran is not trying to build nuclear weapons.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely energy-related.

Potential deal-breakers

Uranium enrichment: Western states want to reduce Iran's capacity in order to prevent it acquiring weapons-grade material but Tehran is set on expanding it nearly 20-fold in the coming years
Sanctions reduction: Iran wants sanctions lifted immediately but Western states want to stagger their removal to ensure Tehran abides by its commitments
Bomb technology: Iran has failed to explain explosives tests and other activity that could be linked to a nuclear weapons programme and has denied international nuclear inspectors access to its Parchin military site

'No new ideas' On Saturday Mr Kerry said: "We're working hard. We hope we're making careful progress, but we have big gaps (...) which we're working to close."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the negotiations so far "constructive", but added: "That must not mask the fact that there is still a big gap between us in many aspects."
One European source told the AFP news agency that it was now "physically impossible" to reach a full deal in the remaining timeframe. Another anonymous official told Reuters: "Our feeling is that [Iran's negotiators] don't have a lot of flexibility."
However, an Iranian source told the BBC that they remained confident a complete deal was still possible, suggesting the deadline could be extended by a couple of days.
The P5+1 group and Iran reached an interim agreement a year ago. But the two sides failed to reach a lasting deal by July, as initially agreed, and extended the deadline until 24 November.
After meeting Mr Kerry on Friday evening, Mr Zarif said he heard "no new ideas" and had received "no remarkable proposals to take to Tehran".
Iran has been resisting efforts to scale back its nuclear programme for nearly a decade.
Separately, the international nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is calling on Iran to address its concerns about suspicious military activities that could be linked to a nuclear weapons programme.
On Friday, a senior Iranian official told the BBC the team was expecting to reach an outline of a deal by the deadline and then spend the following seven-to-10 days working on the implementation of it at expert level.

Former EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (left) is taking part in the talks alongside foreign ministers

Nuclear talks timeline

• January 2012: IAEA confirms Iran is enriching uranium to levels of up to 20%, an important step towards making it weapons-grade
• June 2013: Reformist-backed cleric Hassan Rouhani wins presidential election, raising hopes for deadlocked nuclear talks
• November 2013: Iran and world powers reach interim deal to curb programme; deadline for final agreement set for July 2014
• January 2014: Some Western sanctions eased as Iran uranium enrichment remains at 5%
• July 2014: Deadline extended until November 2014 

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called on Iran to show "flexibility". At the same time, he warned: "We have a long way to go if we are to get to a deal before the deadline."
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "all the elements are already on the table" as long as there was "political will".
The deal being sought by the world powers is not directly linked to the IAEA's investigation of Iran.
However, the US has said in the past that Iran must address the watchdog's concerns if it expects a comprehensive agreement in the talks.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Iran had not "provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures".

Bill Clinton Says Obama Has Legal Authority For Executive Action On Immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday noted that previous U.S. presidents have issued some type of executive order on immigration, suggesting his Democratic successor was on "pretty firm legal footing."

The former president spoke on the eve of President Barack Obama's scheduled announcement of executive actions that could spare as many as 5 million immigrants from being deported from the U.S. Clinton said during an event honoring the magazine The New Republic that it was part of a larger debate about the nation's role around the globe.

"As far as I can tell every president in the modern era has issued some executive orders affecting immigration, so I think it — I imagine he's on pretty firm legal footing," Clinton said at a gala celebrating the publication's centennial.

Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush extended amnesty to family members who were not covered by the last major overhaul of immigration law in 1986.

Clinton sought to frame the debate in a larger context, saying Americans should be optimistic about the nation's future. He said the next two decades could be positive for the country if the U.S. can develop inclusive economics and inclusive politics.

"In a world where borders look more like nets than walls, we are interdependent whether we like it or not, so the only thing that remains is to define the terms of our interdependence," he said.

Clinton joked that nobody cares what an ex-president says unless his wife might run for office. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is considering a White House campaign in 2016.

The Temptation to ‘Just Wait for 2016′ Already Emerges

 

President Barack Obama

Associated Press

With the midterm election a mere two weeks in the past, some in both parties already are starting to think, and even to say: “Just wait until 2016.” It is a sentiment that, if it becomes too widespread, could seriously crimp prospects for meaningful action in the capital in the here and now.
As today’s Capital Journal column notes, some senators from both parties are urging that colleagues in the newly Republican-controlled Senate resist the urge to seek revenge over past political grievances and instead work together now.
For example, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a member of the Republican leadership, said in an interview that he thinks his party can return the Senate to “regular order” and start right away getting bills moving out of committees with votes from both parties.
“If they come out of the committees with bipartisan support, they are going to come to the floor with bipartisan support, and will get to the president because they have bipartisan support,” he said.
Democrats as well as Republicans want the system to once again work that way, which would mean at least some productive activity in the next two years.
But elsewhere, and in both parties, the temptation to turn the next two years into a holding pattern while waiting on the prospect of an improved political situation after a big national election two years from now already is taking hold.
Democrats look to 2016 and see a presidential election in which their national coalition will be more powerful than it is during a low-turnout midterm election such as the one just seen. Younger and minority voters will turn out in greater numbers for a presidential election, the idea goes, and will not only place a newly empowered Democrat in the White House but restore a Democratic majority in the Senate.
Certainly, in a reversal of this year’s situation, the Senate election map looks a lot more favorable for Democrats than for Republicans in 2016. Then, 24 Republican senators will have to defend their seats, compared to just 10 Democrats. And the Republicans will have to win not just in the kinds of deep-red states that dominated this year’s map, but in swing states such as New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Among conservatives and Republicans, similar visions of the post-2016 future also are taking hold. A long Twitter exchange among conservative thinkers broke out this week, prompted by an assertion that those on the right shouldn’t fight President Barack Obama‘s pending executive order on immigration policy, in which he is expected to change deportation practices on his own authority and without congressional approval. Instead, the argument went, conservatives should grudgingly accept the precedent and wait until a  conservative president can do the same thing to unilaterally enact policies approved by those on the right.
That prompted Charles C.W. Cooke to respond with a piece on National Review that urged fellow conservatives to resist that urge, writing that “I can under no circumstances look forward to a system in which the executive may pick and choose which laws he is prepared to enforce.”
Still, no less an establishment figure than Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah expressed similar sentiments in a Washington speech late last week. Now that Republicans are in charge of the Senate, he argued, they shouldn’t revoke a procedure Democrats enacted that blocks filibusters on judicial and other executive branch nominees, one Republicans resisted mightily. Instead, Sen. Hatch argued, Republicans should instead win back the presidency in 2016 and use the new procedure to their advantage when a GOP president is the one making the nominations.
The prospect of a big and consequential 2016 election eventually will come to dominate political life. But for those who have a real stake in action now—and that includes President Obama as well as Republican congressional leaders Mitch McConnell in the Senate and John Boehner in the House—it appears one of their many challenges will be trying to convince their charges to put that off, at least for a while.

Synagogue Attack in Jerusalem Kills Five

 Two Palestinians Attacked Worshipers; 3 American-Israeli Rabbis Among Victims

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Israelis mourn during the funeral of Aryeh Kopinsky, Kalman Ze’ev Levine and Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, who were killed during the rampage. Reuters

Israeli security personnel ran next to the synagogue where four worshippers were killed. Reuters

Israeli forensic experts inspected the scene around the synagogue in Jerusalem where the attack took place. Two Palestinians stormed the synagogue, attacking worshippers praying inside, Israeli police said. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

An armed Israeli police officer stood outside the synagogue in Jerusalem where the attack took place. Reuters

An Israeli police officer aimed his weapon near the scene of the attack. The attackers were killed in a shootout with police. Reuters

A relative displays photos of cousins Ghassan, right, and Odai Abu Jamel at the family home in Jerusalem. The cousins allegedly attacked worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, killing three American-Israeli rabbis and a British-Israeli. Associated Press

Ultra-Orthodox Jews stood watching the scene by the synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Israeli emergency service volunteers carried the body of one of the two assailants who were shot dead while attacking a synagogue. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Two people look at bullet holes inside the synagogue after the attack. Associated Press

An ultra-Orthodox Jew mourns inside the synagogue following the attack. Reuters

Blood trails are seen on the floor near covered bodies at the scene of the Jerusalem synagogue attack in this handout picture released by the Israeli Zaka emergency response team. Zaka/Handout via Reuters

Ultra-Orthodox Jews mourn during a eulogy ahead of the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Twersky in Jerusalem. Rabbi Twersky, 59 years old, was the grandson of a noted rabbi from Boston and head of the Torat Moshe Yeshiva, a school for English-speaking students. European Pressphoto Agency

A young mourner is seen during the triple funeral of Aryeh Kupinsky, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg and Kalman Ze’ev Levine. Getty Images

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks past the synagogue, with bullet holes visible in the windows. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

A man cries during the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Twersky. Getty Images

Ultra-Orthodox Jews mourn over the bodies of three of the victims of the synagogue attack. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

By

Joshua Mitnick,

Nicholas Casey and

Sara Toth Stub

Updated Nov. 18, 2014 7:59 p.m. ET 

JERUSALEM—Two Palestinians attacked a synagogue in Jerusalem, killing three American-Israeli rabbis, a British-Israeli rabbi and a policeman and shifting the focus of violence to deep within the heart of the Jewish half of the city.
It was the deadliest attack on Israelis in Jerusalem in six years.
The assailants, armed with a rifle and butcher knives, targeted the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue in the Ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Har Nof on Tuesday. The area is far from the line that divides Jerusalem’s Arab and Jewish halves, which has been the focus of a raft of other attacks since July. Police said they traded gunfire with the attackers for several minutes before killing them.
The scale and the targeting of worshipers in a synagogue rattled Israelis more deeply than any other attacks recently in the city. Jerusalem has been roiled by unrest for more than four months, fanned by a feud over the city’s most sensitive holy site, the Temple Mount.
The two attackers entered the synagogue at about 7 a.m. as some 30 people were praying, and began stabbing worshipers before opening fire, the foreign ministry said. As witnesses entered the synagogue, they found worshipers dead, wrapped in prayer shawls sprawled on the floor in pools of blood.

Two Palestinians burst into a Jerusalem synagogue during morning services and attacked worshipers with a gun and ax, killing four Israelis and wounding six, Israeli police said. Photo: AP

“I felt like I was in a butcher shop,” said Albert Albukai, a medic who heard the gunshots while praying at a neighboring synagogue. He said he saw worshipers who had been stabbed in their necks.
“They were all slaughtered; at least four were dead. We could do nothing for them.”
Israeli and Western leaders and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack.
“There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians,” President Barack Obama said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the attackers acted alone or on behalf of an organization.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an armed faction that is smaller but more radical than the Islamist group Hamas, said the attackers were members, but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Israel police said they believed they acted alone. The daily Haaretz quoted Yoram Cohen, the chief of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service, telling lawmakers that the attackers had no previous links to militant groups.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, praised the attack and said it was a response to “continued Israeli crimes, the killing, desecrating Al Aqsa,” a reference to the mosque which sits atop the Temple Mount.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas but also accused the more moderate Mr. Abbas of inciting the violence.

“We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were met by reprehensible murderers,” he said, threatening to destroy the homes of the attackers. Underscoring concerns about the potential for Jewish vigilantes to take revenge, the police chief warned Israelis not to take the law into their own hands.
In the evening, hundreds of right-wing Israeli demonstrators chanted “Death to Arabs” and blocked streets at the main entrance to Jerusalem as well as at the light rail line. A far right Israeli politician, Michael Ben Ari called for the “transfer” of Palestinians from Israeli control The Israeli police said they arrested more than two dozen demonstrators.
In the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, the home of the attackers, Israeli riot police clashed with Palestinians who shot firecrackers at them.
The unrest in Jerusalem was initially triggered in July by the killing of a Palestinian teen by Israelis seeking revenge for the killing of three Israeli teenagers.
In the last two months, six Israelis, including an infant, have been killed in car rampages and knife attacks—an escalation of violence that reminds many of two Palestinian uprisings in the late-1980’s and early 2000s.
The killings at the synagogue came a day after an Arab bus driver was found hanged in a commuter bus. Israeli authorities described it as a suicide but Palestinians disputed that, alleging that Israelis were responsible. In the hours after the body was found, rioting broke out briefly in several Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

Timeline: Tensions Rise in Jerusalem Since the end of the 50-day conflict in Gaza in August, pressure has been building in Jerusalem in a series of tit-for-tat attacks.  

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Palestinian leaders to condemn the attack.
“To have this kind of act, which is a pure result of incitement…is unacceptable,” he said.
As tensions spiraled, the Obama administration moved swiftly both to condemn the attack and to exhort both sides to work to end the violence, fearing a wider cycle of unrest and further destabilization.
Mr. Kerry spoke Tuesday with Mr. Netanyahu to offer condolences and U.S. support. Mr. Kerry also spoke with Mr. Abbas, approving of the Palestinian leader’s condemnation of the attack, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said.
The White House, which for days has voiced growing concern over tensions in the area stemming in part from stepped-up Israel construction in disputed areas, called for calm.
Among U.S. concerns are increased tensions from Israel’s practice of punitive home demolitions for attackers. Mr. Rathke said the U.S. view is that such measures “are counterproductive to the cause of peace,” a view Mr. Kerry has expressed to Israeli officials.
An Israeli police official said three of the victims were rabbis who had emigrated from the U.S. to Israel.
The British government confirmed that the fourth victim was a British-Israeli national.
Among the Americans killed was a well-known rabbi, Moshe Twersky, who was 59 years old. Raised in the Boston area, Mr. Twersky came from a prominent Jewish family. His father founded Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies, and a grandfather, Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who was a key figure in modern orthodox Judaism.
Seven people, two of them policemen, were injured, Israeli police said. One of the two policemen died of his wounds later Monday night.
The wave of violence in Jerusalem pits Arab residents against Jewish neighbors.
Unlike past waves of violence that came from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, these attacks are originating from places Israel considers within its territory.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews grieved in Jerusalem for Rabbi Moshe Twersky, who was killed in a synagogue attack Tuesday morning. European Pressphoto Agency

More than 250,000 Palestinians live in East Jerusalem, territory Israel conquered in the 1967 Middle East war and subsequently annexed—a move that was never recognized by many countries including the U.S. While Arab residents of East Jerusalem weren’t granted Israeli citizenship, they enjoy free movement throughout the country, carry Israeli identification cards and can vote in municipal elections.
Michael Oren, a historian and former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., compared the attacks in Jerusalem to homegrown terrorists in Western countries.
“For Israeli security forces, this is a different type of challenge,” he said. “We’re also dealing with copycat attacks now and stabbings that can be at random and spontaneous. That is difficult from a security standpoint to predict and interdict.”
Ofer Shelah, a Knesset member who heads the parliament’s defense and security committee said the attackers likely carried the same identity cards as he did.
Ghassan Al Khatib, a former Palestinian minister, said the internal threat Israel is now encountering was a product of its own making. While the country granted some privileges to Palestinians living in Jerusalem, he said Israel never followed through with equal treatment of them, breeding animosity unseen even in the West Bank.
“After 40 years of attempts to annex East Jerusalem by Israel, we’re seeing resistance to it still,” he said.
The foreign ministry identified the victims as Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 43; Rabbi Abraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68; Rabbi Kalman Ze’ev Levine, 55; and Rabbi Twersky. A spokesman for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department said a dual Canadian-Israeli citizen was among those injured, but didn't identify the person or say how severe the injuries were.
Local Palestinian residents identified the attackers as Ghassan Abu Jamel, 27, and Odai Abu Jamel, 22, cousins from Jabel Mukaber, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Yosef Posternak said he was in mid-prayer in a room with about 20 others when he heard shots.
“I turned around and I saw a man with a gun start to fire on people at point-blank range, and immediately afterward a person with a butcher’s knife entered and went on a rampage in all directions,” he said.
—Peter Stiff, Paul Vieira and Felicia Schwartz contributed to this article.

Indonesia raises fuel prices by over 30%

 

The Indonesian government has raised fuel prices by over 30% 

The Indonesian government has increased subsidised fuel prices by over 30% in an attempt to save the economy more than $8bn (£5bn) in 2015.

Prices were raised by 2,000 rupiah ($0.16; £0.10) per litre, with gasoline now costing 8,500 rupiah and diesel 7,500 rupiah.
Fuel prices in Indonesia are among the cheapest in the world.
The unpopular move sparked small protests and long queues at petrol stations in the capital, Jakarta.
Previous price increases have sparked violent protests and reports said young people had clashed with police at a demonstration hotspot before the announcement on Monday.
New President Joko Widodo, who took office last month, said the increase would bolster government finances and help with the nation's trade imbalance.
"The country has needed a budget for infrastructure, healthcare and education but instead spent it on subsidising fuel," he told reporters on Monday.
Indonesia's $23bn fuel subsidy bill is the main reason behind its budget deficit. It is also behind the nation's trade imbalance as Indonesia imports much of its fuel.
The economy also grew at the slowest pace in five years in the third quarter at 5.01%, compared to a year ago.
Taming inflation The rise in fuel prices could push up inflation to 7.3% this year and the impact would last until next year February, the government said.
Inflation jumped to nearly 10% in mid 2013, after fuel prices were increased.
Consumer prices rose to 4.8% in October from a year earlier.
The country's central bank, Bank Indonesia, may need to increase interest rates this month to cope with the rising inflation, according to economists.
Bank Indonesia has not changed the benchmark rate since November of last year.

Charles Manson 'marriage': US murderer 'granted licence'

 

Manson's death sentence for the 1969 murders was later commuted after California banned the death penalty American mass murderer Charles Manson, 80, has reportedly been granted a licence to marry a 26-year-old woman who has been visiting him in prison.

The marriage licence was issued 10 days ago for Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, the Associated Press reports.
Ms Burton moved to Corcoran, California, nine years ago in order to be nearer Manson's prison, it adds.
Manson is serving a life sentence for the murders of seven people and one unborn child in Los Angeles in 1969.
Their victims included pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski.
Ms Burton, who calls herself Star, told AP that she and Manson would marry next month. The licence is reportedly valid for 90 days.
"Y'all can know that it's true... It's going to happen," she told the agency.
"I love him," she added.
The cult leader and his followers, known as the Manson Family, stabbed and shot seven people in Los Angeles over two nights in August 1969 in an attempt to start a race war.
Manson and three women accomplices were sentenced to death for the killings, but that was commuted in 1972 when California temporarily outlawed the death penalty.
In 2012, Manson was refused parole by a Californian prison panel - it was the 12th time he had made a bid for freedom.
He is not eligible to apply for parole again until 2027.

Islamic State Kassig murder: Parents pay tribute to son

 The parents of murdered hostage Kassig believe that "good will prevail" 

The parents of a US medic beheaded by Islamic State (IS) militants have paid tribute to their son, saying they will learn in time to forgive his captors.

"Our hearts are battered, but they will mend. The world is broken, but it will be healed," said Ed and Paula Kassig, parents of Abdul-Rahman Kassig.
Mr Kassig, 26, is the fifth Western hostage to be killed by IS.
Western intelligence officials are working to identify militants seen in a video showing his beheading.
A French prosecutor said one militant was Maxime Hauchard, 22, and another Frenchman might have been present. A third militant was reported to be a Briton.
"Our beloved son... no longer walks this earth," Ed Kassig told reporters on Monday. "Our hearts, though heavy, are held up by the love and support that has poured into our lives these last few days."
The couple asked for prayers for their son on Monday, as well as for those held against their will in Iraq, Syria and around the world.

  An undated family photo from Kassig's youth

Kassig with his father, fishing on the Ohio River in Indiana in 2011

"Lastly, please allow our family the time and privacy to mourn, cry, and yes, forgive, and begin to heal," Mr Kassig added.
The IS video released on Sunday shows a masked man standing over a severed head, which the White House later confirmed was Kassig's.
He was captured by IS, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, in October 2013 while travelling to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria.

Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent
The 16-minute video posted online by IS, while graphically sadistic, also reveals a wealth of detail about the perpetrators and their whereabouts. This is deliberate. IS is effectively taunting the Western-led coalition that is arranged against it, saying this is who we are, come and get us if you dare.
Intelligence agencies will be using facial recognition software to identify those involved in the mass beheading, matching their real names and origins to their adopted battle names. IS has even put a place name on the video, Dabiq in northern Syria - a place where according to Islamic hadith, an apocalyptic battle will be fought between Muslims and non-Muslims.
The one person who keeps his identity concealed is the suspected British jihadist known in the UK media as "Jihadi John". He is believed to be from London and both the FBI and MI5 almost certainly know who he is but for reasons known to them, they are not revealing it.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Washington: "[IS] leaders assume that the world will be too intimidated to oppose them. But let us be clear: We are not intimidated."
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that he was "sickened" by the news of the killing.
"[IS] will be defeated, and these sick and barbaric terrorists will face the justice they deserve" he said at a speech in London on Monday.
The latest IS video also shows the beheading of 18 Syrian captives, who are identified as army officers and pilots.
They are said to have been taken from Tabqa air base last August. They are mostly from the Alawite religious sect and come from Latakia and Tartous, according to UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Unlike previous videos released by IS, the latest shows the faces of many of the militants and specifies its location - Dabiq in Syria's Aleppo province.

Nasser Muthana (centre) appeared in an earlier video, aimed at recruitment

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said earlier that Maxime Hauchard, who was born in 1992 and was originally from the Eure region, "had gone to Syria in August 2013 after a stay in Mauritania in 2012".
A third militant was reported to be a Briton, although the father of Nasser Muthana, 20, denied it was his son.
The Daily Mail had earlier reported Ahmed Muthana as saying "it looks like my son".
The man in question stands to the right of another man, who is suspected to be British militant nicknamed "Jihadi John".
He is dressed in black with a balaclava, while the rest of the militants wear army fatigues.
"Jihadi John" has been shown in previous IS videos of the beheadings of the other Western hostages - Britons Alan Henning and David Haines, and US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Michael Brown: Missouri governor activates National Guard

Rebecca Maldonado of Chicago, Illinois, and Aaron Jeremiah of Houston, Texas visit a memorial to Brown 

The governor of the US state of Missouri has activated the state's National Guard in anticipation of a grand jury decision over the killing of an unarmed black teenager.

In a statement, Jay Nixon said the guard will "support law enforcement's efforts to maintain peace".
A panel is deciding whether to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the August death of Michael Brown, 18.
No specific date for the jury's decision has been given.

The St Louis County prosecutor has said he expects the grand jury to reach a decision in mid-to-late November. Mayor of St Louis, Francis Slay: "We are going to be prepared... to make sure that people and properties are safe"

Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Mr Wilson in August after a confrontation in Ferguson, a majority-black suburb of St Louis.
Witnesses say Brown had his hands up in apparent surrender to the officer when he was shot.
Police have said there was a struggle between the teenager and the officer before the shooting.
His death set off protests, sometimes violent, in the area. Ferguson police and other law enforcement were criticised for being heavily armed and using excessive force during protests.
Mr Nixon signed an state of emergency order on Monday, activating Missouri's National Guard.
"As part of our ongoing efforts to plan and be prepared for any contingency, it is necessary to have these resources in place in advance of any announcement of the grand jury's decision," the governor said in a statement.
The order also puts the St Louis County police department in charge of policing protests, instead of Ferguson police.
Protests have continued in the area over the past few days in anticipation of a grand jury decision, including several dozen who marched in freezing temperatures in Clayton, where the grant jury is meeting, on Monday.
"Something about the way Mike Brown was killed started a fire in me that I can't ignore," organiser Dhorbua Shakur said.
He told Reuters news agency he did not have sympathy for those tired of the protests.
"They can turn this off and on with a TV screen. But this is my reality. This is my life."

Some protesters were seen throwing Molotov cocktails at the police in August

But most protesters were peaceful

Heavily armed riot police moved in to disperse protesters after they ignored a plea to return to their homes in August

Good news: more people are quitting their jobs

Americans are quitting their jobs at the fastest pace since early 2008. And that's very good news for the economy.

That's because the saying "quitters never win" doesn't apply to the job market.
People typically quit their jobs when they're more confident in finding a new job or already have a offer in hand. The new role usually comes with a higher wage and better prospects.

So an increase in the number of Americans voluntarily quitting can be a sign wages may be improving at last.
Average earnings have remained stubbornly low despite improved hiring by employers and a sharp decline in unemployment in recent years. The U.S. is on track for its best year of job gains since 1999.
About 2.8 million people quit their jobs in September, according to a Labor Department report Thursday.
That's up nearly 10% from August and works out to 2% of U.S. workers who have jobs leaving them because they want to. The quit rate hasn't been that high since April of 2008 -- several months before the financial crisis.
The number of people leaving their jobs voluntarily also dwarfs the 1.6 million who were forced to quit their jobs due to layoffs or terminations. The rate of those being fired has stayed very steady for the last two years.
The report also showed 4.7 million job openings in September, near the 13-year high the economy reached in August.

Amazon and Hachette settle bitter fight over e-book pricing

 An extraordinary seven-month dispute between Amazon and book publisher Hachette is over. A deal, announced Thursday morning, resolves a bitter battle over e-book pricing, just in time for the holiday shopping season. (And that timing is probably not a coincidence.)

During the dispute, Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) -- the world's largest seller of books -- made it difficult and in some cases outright impossible to buy Hachette books.
Those penalties will disappear "immediately," according to a joint statement by the two companies, "and Hachette books will be prominently featured in promotions."
"Phew! Glad that's over," proclaimed the Twitter account of Twelve Books, one of Hachette's imprints.
Related: Amazon delaying delivery of Hachette books
So which side won? Well, Michael Pietsch, the CEO of Hachette, told the company's authors that the deal "gives us full responsibility for the consumer prices of our e-books." This means that Hachette can raise or lower book prices on the fly "to maximize sales."
Amazon had reportedly been seeking lower prices for e-books, believing that cheaper books would stimulate more sales, helping all parties involved.
And the retailer indicated that it had made progress on that front: "We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike," David Naggar, a vice president of Amazon's Kindle division, said in a statement.
The resolution comes a few weeks after a deal between Amazon and another major publisher, Simon & Schuster, a unit of CBS (CBS). Simon & Schuster had been in negotiations with Amazon for upwards of three months, but had not seen its books be penalized by Amazon the way Hachette's books were.
In the Simon & Schuster deal, too, Amazon said that the agreement included "a financial incentive for Simon & Schuster to deliver lower prices for readers."
The results may show up soon on Amazon's sprawling site.
The dispute between Amazon and Hachette sent a collective chill through the publishing industry and highlighted the unique power of Amazon in the marketplace. Some Hachette titles suffered because Amazon disadvantaged them, either by restricting pre-orders or delaying shipments.
(Full disclosure here: I experienced this first-hand because Hachette published my book "Top of the Morning" in 2013.)
Hachette urged customers to order books elsewhere, but there was only a little bit of evidence that Amazon was hurt as a result.
On Thursday Pietsch acknowledged in his email to authors that "the past several months have been difficult ones," and thanked them for patience and support.
"I feel strongly that this new contract reestablishes our positive relationship with Amazon, an important retailer and industry leader, and that this strong relationship will benefit the writers we publish for many years to come," he wrote.

3 reasons you'll likely get a raise in 2015

 

American workers should be feeling their best since the start of the Great Recession. Unemployment is at its lowest level since 2008.

Yet while jobs have returned, wages have remained relatively stagnant, rising just 2% in the past year. More people may be clocking in, but a sense of "just getting by" continues to permeate the national mindset.

Beth Ann Bovino

Luckily, 2015 will almost certainly usher in some much needed wage growth for U.S. workers. We expect wage growth next year to get close to 2.5% growth by year-end. This is well below the peak 3.5% rate seen before the crisis, but a step above the sluggish wage gains we've seen through most of the recovery.
Empresas de carpeta Republica Dominicana
Here are three reasons wages are likely to rise next year:
1. People are finding jobs
Short-term unemployment, which tracks workers who are out of the job market for six months or less, is at its lowest since the start of the recession. This shows a strong market for workers who come with readily available skills and can often demand higher wages.
Conventional economic models often use the total U.S. unemployment rate (currently 5.8%) as the measure of labor market tightness. But the long-term unemployed make up a large share of the overall jobless rate. With diminished job opportunities and a greater chance of leaving the work force all together, the long-term unemployed have less influence on wages, meaning overall unemployment may have been less accurate as a predictor for salary increases.
Don't get me wrong, the long-term unemployment and total rate are critical in gauging the overall health of the labor market. But the short-term unemployment drop is a positive sign for wages.

2. Workers are feeling confident enough to quit
The so-called job "quit rate" has hit its highest level in four years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' August job openings and labor survey.
Workers who start voting with their feet are a good thing for wage appreciation. It signals the labor force feels confident they can quit in to look for new jobs at potentially higher salaries.
3. Labor costs are going up
U.S. employers' labor costs are on the upswing, and that's yet another sign that worker pay could finally break out of its post-recession pattern of sluggish growth.
The Employment Cost Index (ECI), a broad gauge of wage and benefit expenditures, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in the second and third quarters as compared to 0.3% in the first quarter. Early on during the recovery much of the overall gain in the ECI was from a jump in benefits, this time wages and salaries, which account for roughly 70% of compensation costs, jumped 0.8%.
All that said, the news on wage growth will not be good for all. While certain jobs require higher and higher salaries, a large number of American workers aren't seeing any, or very little, wage growth.
What's more, while the short-term unemployed are finding jobs, many of the long-term unemployed often remain without work, or leave the jobs market altogether, ultimately ending up of causalities of the Great Recession.
After five years of relatively high unemployment and wage stagnation, however, these indicators can help keep the U.S. from slipping back into the doldrums of a tough recession as Europe is.
If the higher wages do take hold, workers may start spending more, which means businesses will feel more apt to hire, and a positive cycle can ensue.
If this scenario plays out, it may finally be time to walk into your boss's office and ask: 'how about that raise?'

youTube Introduces a Paid Service Called Music Key

 

For nearly a decade, YouTube has been a smorgasbord of free music online, making just about every song imaginable — Top 40 hits, bedroom ukulele covers — available at a click. But soon the site will start asking users to pay for additional perks.

On Wednesday, YouTube announced YouTube Music Key, a long-awaited upgrade of its music offerings that will include higher-quality audio and also give its users the option of paying $7.99 a month for extra features, chief among them removing YouTube’s ubiquitous ads.

The change has been in the works for more than a year and is in part a concession to the music industry, which tends to view YouTube as a phenomenally useful promotional platform whose royalty payouts have remained frustratingly low. The site, which is owned by Google, says that it attracts one billion unique users each month around the world, and music videos of various kinds have long been one of its biggest attractions. Related Coverage “We want to give fans more ways to enjoy music on YouTube, but also give artists more opportunities to connect with fans and earn more revenues,” Christophe Muller, YouTube’s music partnerships director, said in an interview.

Music Key will become available in the coming days to users in the United States, Britain and a handful of other European countries. Following Google’s preferred pattern of introducing new products through “beta” testing, the service will at first be available by invitation only and is expected to be offered to all users by next year. For the first six months, access will be free and then go up to $7.99. The charge will be $9.99 for people who are not invited but sign up next year.

YouTube has charged for access to some content before, including a small number of special channels. But this is the first time that the site has instituted such a broad payment plan across the site, and for Google it is partly a test of the subscription model itself, something that its executives have said the company is considering generally as an addition to its free offerings.

As part of the introduction of Music Key, YouTube’s music catalog is getting a makeover for all users, paying or not. The site will now offer complete albums, adding static video files with high-quality audio where no official videos are available. For paying subscribers, YouTube will add two features that will be especially attractive to users on mobile devices: the ability to play songs in the background while using other apps and to save songs for offline listening.

As a bonus, paying users will also get Google Play Music, the on-demand audio service that has been Google’s main competitor to Spotify. (As part of the change, that service will change its name from the rather unwieldy Google Play Music All Access.)

To build the new service, YouTube has been negotiating with record companies and music publishers for well over a year to grant new and more extensive licensing deals. It closed its deals with the three major record labels, Universal, Sony and Warner, last year, but the service was delayed in part over a negotiating dispute with independent labels, which complained that YouTube was offering unfair contracts.

That dispute ended recently when YouTube signed an agreement with Merlin, an organization that represents thousands of small labels.

China’s Climate Change Plan Raises Questions

 

President Obama and President Xi Jinping drank a toast at a lunch banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. Credit Pool photo by Greg Baker

BEIJING — When the presidents of China and the United States pledged on Wednesday to reduce or limit carbon dioxide emissions, analysts and policy advisers said, the two leaders sent an important signal: that the world’s largest economies were willing to work together on climate change.

“This is a very serious international commitment between the two heavy hitters,” said Li Shuo, who researches climate and coal policy for Greenpeace East Asia.

Still, many questions surround China’s plans, which President Xi Jinping announced in Beijing alongside President Obama after months of negotiations. In essence, experts asked, do the pledges go far enough, and how will China achieve them? 

Mr. Xi said China would brake the rapid rise in its carbon dioxide emissions, so that they peak “around 2030” and then remain steady or begin to decline. And by then, he promised, 20 percent of China’s energy will be renewable. Analysts said that achieving those goals would require sustained efforts by Beijing to curb the country’s addiction to coal and greatly increase its commitment to energy sources that do not depend on fossil fuels.

 

The possible effects for the coal and automobile industries of the landmark agreement between the United States and China.

Video by Carrie Halperin on Publish Date November 12, 2014. Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images.

Many scientists have said that 2030 may be too long to wait for China’s greenhouse gas emissions to stop growing, if the world is to keep the average global temperature from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the preindustrial average. That goal was adopted by governments from around the world at talks in Copenhagen in 2009.

Almost no country has done enough yet to reach that goal, but because of its size and industrial development, China is crucial to any effort to even come close. (So is the United States, which promised on Wednesday to emit 26 percent to 28 percent less carbon dioxide in 2025 than it did in 2005.)

Some experts said that China should try to halt the growth of its emissions much sooner than it has pledged, by 2025 rather than 2030.

“Based on China’s current coal consumption numbers, they can do much more,” Mr. Li said on Wednesday. He said of the pledges made on Wednesday that “this should be the floor on which they work, rather than a ceiling.” Ireland

It is such a sad and amoral world when the interests of big business triumph over doing the right thing on what is without doubt the defining issue of our generation.

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People involved in the internal Chinese debates said the seeds of Mr. Xi’s announcement could be found in public anger over rising levels of toxic smog in China. Over the past two years, Chinese cities have recorded some of the worst air pollution readings in the world.

To address the problem, Chinese leaders have turned their attention to cutting back the country’s reliance on coal, a main pillar of the economy but also a major source of pollution. That led to discussions about how weaning Chinese industries off coal would not just clean the air, but would also permit China to make global commitments in the battle against climate change, the insiders said.

Last month, the departing European Union climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, said that halting the growth in Chinese carbon dioxide emissions much sooner than 2030 would “be a very important gift from China to the whole world,” according to a report by Agence France-Presse.

Policy makers and climate experts inside and outside China face the task of assessing the trajectory that China’s emissions are on now, and whether China must do more to change course.

Internally, Chinese scientists and officials have been crunching data to try to pinpoint when carbon emissions will peak and how high that peak will be, given current economic growth projections and energy policies, but their estimates have varied. Foreign scientists and policy makers are also trying to judge whether Mr. Xi’s 2030 pledge represents a genuine campaign by the Chinese government to fight climate change, or just a business-as-usual date when emissions would probably have leveled off anyway.

A 2011 study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that it is not far from business as usual. Economic trends and government policies in China, the study said, had already put the nation on course to reach a peak sometime between 2030 and 2035, with an annual output of 12 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2033. More aggressive measures, it said, might limit the peak to about 9.7 billion metric tons and advance the date to about 2027.