How often you hold your baby actually affects their DNA, study finds

A loving mother’s caress is more than simple comfort to an infant. Scientists have known for decades that touch is critically important for a child’s healthy development, according to an article in the journal Pediatric Child Health.

But now a new study shows that the amount a baby is touched can leave lasting, measurable effects — not just on behavior or growth, but all the way down to the molecular level of the DNA. Those changes, the scientists speculate, could have negative effects on the way the child grows and develops.

"A protector": Trial opens in death of teen who shielded girls from gunfire

A prosecutor said Tuesday at the start of the murder trial of three young men that at least 34 shots were fired in an attack that killed a Tennessee high school student who was posthumously lauded for courageously shielding two girls from the gunfire. Christopher Drone Bassett, Kipling Deshawn Colbert and Richard Gregory Williams III all face first-degree murder charges in connection with the Dec. 17, 2015, death of 15-year-old Zaevion Dobson in Knoxville.

Dobson's decision to protect his two friends was later hailed by then-President Barack Obama as an act of bravery.

Knox County Assistant District Attorney Phil Morton said Dobson was killed in an attack during a series of connected gang-related shootings in Knoxville that day. Morton said Dobson and his friends had gathered on a back porch after attending an evening high school basketball game when the shooters approached, firing shots from at least four weapons.

Former congresswoman Corrine Brown steals charity money from impoverished kids; sentenced to five years in prison

Former Congresswoman, Corrine Brown was yesterday sentenced to serve five years in prison for using charity donations meant for underprivileged students for personal use.

Brown was convicted months ago by a jury but on Dec 4th a federal judge sentenced her. Brown faced several allegations including fraud, lying on tax forms as well Congressional disclosures; which ended with Brown losing her seat. Amid the scandal, she also lost the primary election last year.

According to the Associated Press, officials accused Brown of using $800,000 of impoverished children’s charity money for her own. She stole money from a bogus charity, One Door For Education, which purported to give scholarships to poor children but instead filled the coffers of Brown and her associates.

Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics over doping scandal

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday that it has suspended Russia's Olympic team from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics over the country's doping scandal. The committee said it will allow athletes from the country to compete as neutrals at Pyeongchang Games.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic committee and IOC member Alexander Zhukov, and also banned Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vilaty Mutko from the Olympics for life. Mutko was the sports minister in 2014 and is the head of the organizing committee of soccer's next World Cup.

The Russian Olympic committee was also fined $15 million to pay for the investigation and future anti-doping work. The sanctions could be challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Woman Who Disappeared After Tinder Date Found Dead

A 24-year-old Nebraska woman who went missing after an online date has been found dead three weeks after she disappeared.

The family of Sydney Loofe made the announcement Monday night on a Facebook page they’d created to help raise awareness about Loofe’s disappearance.

“It’s with heavy hearts that we share this most recent update with you all,” the message reads. “Please continue to pray for Sydney and our entire family. May God grant eternal rest unto thee. We love you Sydney.”

The Antelope County Sheriff’s Office also shared the news on its official Facebook page, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Loofe family … No other details are known at this time.”

According to Randy Thysse, special agent in charge of the Omaha division of the FBI, Loofe’s body was discovered Monday afternoon in an “open area” of rural Clay County. The location is roughly 90 miles southwest of Lincoln.

“On behalf of the FBI, we extend our deepest heartfelt condolences to Sydney’s parents, George and Susie, her brother and sister, her friends, an all that were very fortunate enough to know her,” Thysse said during a press conference.

Police in urgent appeal to find schoolgirl, 15, missing since she left a friend's house without mobile phone

Serious concerns have been raised about the welfare of a teenager who has not been seen for two days.

Kasey Herron, 15, hasn't been seen since Sunday evening when she was last seen leaving a friend's house in Bransholme, Hull, at around 8pm.

She was on her way to see her sister who lives in Tenterden Close, which is also in Bransholme.

It's thought Kasey was not carrying a mobile phone or any money at the time she went missing and a police appeal has been launched.
A spokesperson for Humberside Police said: "We are concerned for the safety of 15-year-old Kasey Herron from Hull who has been missing since the weekend.

Angelina Jolie opens up about working with Brad Pitt and why she thought it would help their marriage

Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016.
The couple had been married for two years.
Jolie spoke candidly about her relationship with Pitt while on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast.
The actress said she thought working with her husband on her movie, "By the Sea," would help them communicate.

After splitting from husband Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie is reflecting on their relationship and the importance of communication.

The 42-year-old actress appeared on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast and described how she believed working on "By the Sea" with her husband would help their marriage.

"We had met working together and we worked together well ... I wanted us to do some serious work together," she said. "I thought it would be a good way for us to communicate. In some ways it was, and in some ways we learned some things."

American Airlines says it no longer faces a pilot crisis Christmas week

American Airlines has reached an agreement with pilots to fill 15,000 unmanned flights between Dec. 17 and 31.
A computer error had allowed pilots to opt out of some of the holiday flights, an option they usually don't have.
Rather than face mass cancellations and refunds, the airline has agreed to pay pilots double their normal rate for taking one of the previously unmanned flights.

A computer error threatened to ruin the holidays for American Airlines and its passengers, but the airline has reached an agreement with pilots to avoid a disaster.
Last week, pilots learned that a scheduling glitch had allowed them to opt out of some flights between Dec. 17 and 31. Pilots often don't have that option during the holidays.
The glitch left around 15,000 flights without a pilot. The airline first attempted to staff the flights with reserve pilots, but that would have been risky, as reserve pilots are typically meant to fill in for isolated incidents, rather than large, system-wide errors, according to Yahoo.

Almost 200 paedophiles arrested in one week in crackdown on live-streaming apps including Facebook and Instagram

Almost 200 paedophiles were arrested in just one week for grooming children online, according to reports.
It came during a crackdown on apps that offer live-streaming services including Facebook, Instagram and Live.me
Around 30 per cent of suspects worked in a position of trust, including teachers, civil servants, military personnel and police officer.

The swoop saved 245 children from exploitation.
Sick perverts pose as other children and convince targets to expose themselves or perform sex acts online.
Often they then use the pictures or video as blackmail to force children into even more degrading acts.

'The threat is very real': Millions in Tokyo to take part in North Korean nuclear attack exercise

Millions of residents of Tokyo are to take part in evacuation drills simulating a North Korean nuclear attack on the Japanese capital.

The national and city governments are to carry out a series of exercises between January and March to prepare for a potential attack on Tokyo, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported, the first time that a major Japanese city will have carried out responses to a simulated attack.

Towns facing the Korean Peninsula have in recent months conducted similar drills, with residents instructed to seek shelter in response to sirens warning of an imminent missile strike.
But the Japanese government has until now resisted calls for major cities to carry out similar exercises on the grounds that they would alarm the public.

How to Make The People You Love Feel Loved

When it comes to love, it seems there is some truth behind actions speaking louder than words.

Feeling loved can impact overall well-being, making it more important than we typically give it credit for. A team of researchers wanted to know if people mostly agree on what makes them feel loved, or if it’s a totally personal thing.

Not only do we agree, they found, it’s easier than you might think to make the people you love feel loved.

All the small things

The researchers, headed up by Penn State’s Saeideh Heshmati, asked nearly 500 U.S. adults how loved they’d feel in 60 different positive, negative and neutral scenarios—being greeted by a pet, feeling close to nature and interacting with a possessive partner, for example.

Ferrari 'thief' arrested after being caught begging for petrol money in supercar he didn't know how to fill up

A suspected Ferrari thief was arrested after he was found begging for money to buy petrol, police said.

Israel Perez Rangel denies stealing the $300,000 car, despite allegedly not knowing how to fill the vehicle up.

Police in Santa Ana arrested the 38-year-old after spotting him begging for money to put petrol in the 458 Spider.

Officers noticed the supercar was trashed, with cracked fins, a destroyed gearbox, emblems torn from the engine and body and missing paddle shifters.

Mystery over drowned hedge fund tycoon Michael Treichl's 'lost millions' after he left just £325,000 behind in his will following police quiz over the fire that destroyed his 500-year-old mansion

With the mystery surrounding the death of 69-year-old hedge fund tycoon Michael Treichl and the fire at his Grade I-listed family home still unsolved, a further enigma has now emerged – the whereabouts of his multi-million-pound fortune.

Lawyers for Treichl last week gained a grant of probate, and revealed he left less than £325,000, despite years of deal-making.
Treichl, who comes from one of the wealthiest families in Austria, was found drowned in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, in June – weeks after being arrested and questioned by police over the blaze which destroyed 500-year-old Parnham House.

He had spent a rumoured £10 million restoring the Dorset mansion, which he had bought for £4 million in 2001.
There have been suggestions that he dramatically burned down the house and then took his own life.

Germany's most famous women's rights activist Alice Schwarzer at 75

She has spent her life fighting for women's equal rights, writing and publishing the magazine "Emma." A look at the life of Alice Schwarzer, Germany's best known — and most controversial — feminist, as she turns 75.
"The engine driving everything I do is fairness. Anything else would have, for me, been a misuse of my life."
Taken from Alice Schwarzer's autobiography, "Lebenslauf" ("Curriculum Vitae"), published in 2011, that sentence could be viewed as something of a life motto for a woman who changed German society. Schwarzer writes further of herself, saying, "I am not a person who prefers to focus on myself, hunched over my sensitive predilections. I find the world much too exciting for that."
The worst insult at home: parochialism
It could be that Schwarzer's rebellious nature was already predetermined before she even hit the cradle. She was born out of wedlock on December 3, 1942. That normally would have been a scandal for the time, but it was overlooked at the height of a war that gave people other, more pressing worries.

Republicans may regret this tax bill

Josh Barro has an interesting piece laying out in words a thesis that so far I've only heard in whispers and tweets: In some ways, Democrats might be better off if the GOP tax bill passes.

The logic is this: After the Affordable Care Act's passage, one path forward (emblematized by Barack Obama's "pivot to deficits" and the search for a grand bargain) was to declare the American welfare state substantially complete. But the pivot failed, the grand bargain failed, and the energy in the party shifted strongly to the left. Now Democrats have a vision of continued welfare state expansion that's basically not going to work if polling-friendly tax hikes on the superrich are the only thing on the table. In the new Demutopia, rich people will pay more — but the middle class will need to pay more too.