All eyes on Paris

December 01, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

Whatever the outcome, the Paris summit should remind the world that climate is no respecter of national boundaries.

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Roch Marc Christian Kabore was elected BurkinaFaso's president, according to preliminary results announced early Tuesday, replacing the transitional government put in place after the West African nation's longtime leader was toppled in a popular uprising last year. The country's electoral commission said results show Kabore, from the Movement of People for Progress party, won 53.5 percent of the vote, or more than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Zephirin Diabre came in second place with 29.6 percent of the vote, and Tahirou Barry came in third with 3 percent.

Pope Francis ventured into the volatile Muslim enclave of Central African Republic's capital on Monday and brought his message of reconciliation to the city's main mosque, insisting that Christians and Muslims have long lived peacefully together here and that religion can never justify violence. "Together, we say no to hatred, to vengeance and violence, especially that committed in the name of a religion or God," Pope Francis said. The chief imam at the mosque, Tidiani Moussa Naibi, thanked the pope for his visit, which he said was "a symbol which we all understand."

A Jerusalem court convicted two Israeli youths Monday in the grisly killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, whose slaying played into a chain of events that led to last year's Gaza war. The court at the same time delayed the verdict for the third suspect and alleged ringleader Yosef Haim Ben David, 31, in the case following a last-minute insanity plea, sparking claims that Israel is too lenient with Jewish assailants. The court found the two Israeli minors guilty of killing Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was burned to death in the early July 2014 attack. Their names were not released under Israeli law. The sentencing of the two is expected in mid-January.

In an effort to respond to security concerns after the Paris attacks, the Obama administration on Monday announced changes to the US program that lets tourists from nearly 40 countries into the country without a visa. The announcement comes as lawmakers from both parties point out that the “visa waiver” program could pose a greater security threat than the more hot-button issue of resettling Syrian refugees across the nation. The current program permits passport holders from 38 countries, including Belgium and France, to enter the United States without a visa and stay for up to 90 days.

Lloyd Reed, a Pennsylvania police officer responding to a domestic dispute, was fatally shot Saturday, making him the 116th US police officer killed in the line of duty this year. As communities publicly mourn the loss of their public servants, some have called for renewed protections, citing increased threats to officers in uniform following a spate of anti-police demonstrations across the country. However, police fatality data shows that officer deaths are actually on the decline. Over the past 10 years, an average of 157 officers have been killed on the job.

The start on Monday of the trial of a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of a black man while in police custody could mark a pivotal moment for a city that has been a flashpoint in the US debate on police brutality. Officer William Porter is the first of six officers slated for separate trials in Baltimore City Circuit Court for the death of Freddie Gray. If found guilty – facing charges of second-degree assault, misconduct in office, manslaughter, and reckless endangerment – Officer Porter could face more than 25 years in prison. The other officers face charges ranging from second-degree murder to misconduct.

A team of special prosecutors has nearly completed its investigation of the arrest and subsequent death of a black woman in a Texas jail, and it plans to finish presenting its evidence to a grand jury by the end of December, one of the prosecutors said Monday. Houston attorney Darrell Jordan was among five prosecutors tapped by the Waller County district attorney to review evidence after Sandra Bland was found dead in her Waller County jail cell on July 13. The Chicago-area woman was arrested three days earlier after a routine traffic stop turned contentious and ended with the white state trooper holding Bland on the ground.

More people this year chose to avail of holiday deals online instead of hitting the mall, suggesting a shift in consumer shopping habits that could lead to a gradual change in the nature of holiday hiring. The growing preference for online deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday – the two busy shopping days after Thanksgiving – is transforming the face of holiday retail, as retail website outages in the face of heavy consumer traffic slowly replace the frenzied crowds that once rushed into brick-and-mortar stores. The rise of online shopping could also mean a decline in in-store holiday jobs in favor of a demand for workers in delivery and e-commerce, some say.

More than Black Friday or Cyber Monday, The Salvation Army’s iconic and ubiquitous red donation kettles, accompanied by bell-ringing volunteers, signify that the holiday season is upon us. This year, the century-old tradition got a major boost by an anonymous and unprecedented donation: a $500,000 check slipped into a kettle over the weekend that was stationed in front of a grocery store in Rosemount, Minnesota. On a typical day, the kettle takes in about $30 an hour, says the charity, which raised $2 billion in donations worldwide last year and spent 81 percent of its expenses on programs, according to The Christian Science Monitor rankings.

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