President Trump Blamed Write-In Votes for Roy Moore's Loss. How Likely Is That - TIME

12/12/2017

President Trump Blamed Write-In Votes for Roy Moore's Loss. How Likely Is That

By ALANA ABRAMSON

After Doug Jones was projected as the winner of the Alabama Senate race, President Trump offered his congratulations — with one key caveat.

In a tweet congratulating the Democratic senator-elect Tuesday night, Trump argued that “the write-in votes played a very big factor” in the results.

@realDonaldTrump

Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!

3:08 PM - Dec 13, 2017

From a strictly numerical perspective, Trump has a point that people who voted for a write-in candidate could have swayed the outcome.

As of 11:59 p.m. Eastern, Jones was ahead of Trump-backed Republican candidate Roy Moore by 20,715 votes — or about 1.5 percentage points, according to data from the New York Times. By comparison, there were 22,819 write-in votes, which comprised 1.7 percentage points.

But for that to have made a difference, nearly all of the people who voted for a write-in candidate would have had to vote for Moore instead, which is unlikely.

Furthermore, the fact that the race was that close in the first place was an anomaly in deeply conservative Alabama, which voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the 2016 election, 62.1 percent to Hilary Clinton’s 34.4 percent and had not elected a Democratic Senator in over two decades.

Finally, the write-in campaigns in the race were not as substantial as in some other Senate elections. Lee Busby, a retired Marine colonel, mounted a last-minute campaign, but he was hardly a major figure in the state. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby also said on Sunday that he would vote for a write-in candidate. In Alabama, voters have to physically write in the candidate’s name, which adds yet another hurdle to an already steep climb.

“I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore,” Shelby said. “The state of Alabama deserves better.”

Jerusalem latest: Palestinians will not accept any US role in peace process 'from now on', says Mahmoud Abbas - Independent

13/12/2017

Jerusalem latest: Palestinians will not accept any US role in peace process 'from now on', says Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian leader denounces US' allyship after decision to recognise holy city as Israeli capital and months of mounting pressure to accept terms of an unfavourable peace deal

Bethan McKernan Beirut @mck_beth

A protester burns tyres during clashes with Israeli troops following a protest against the US President’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Palestinians will no longer accept any American role in the Middle East peace process after US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Mr Trump's announcement was a "crime" that threatens world peace, the Palestinian Authority leader said on Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to revamp the stalled mechanism now that the US is "unfit" for leading peace efforts.

While Palestinians remain committed to peace, Washington can no longer be accepted as a "fair negotiator", he said, having provoked Muslim and Christian sentiments over the future of the holy city.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Jerusalem decision not a sign that US is pulling out of peace process

He added that new measures are needed to protect the identity of the divided city, which is claimed by both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and that in the light of the US' move in Israel's favour, the world must accept the legitimacy of a Palestinian state

Mr Abbas spoke at an extraordinary Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, a 57-member strong conference expected to hammer out a unified response from the Muslim world to the US' unprecedented move.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day war, a move that was never internationally recognised. Control of it remains one of the core stumbling blocks to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Like many presidential hopefuls before him, on the campaign trail Mr Trump promised to recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Over the last year, the new administration has delayed a decision on the issue.

Mr Trump's announcement last week, however, upends decades of US policy: the previous US position had been to recognise the status of Jerusalem in a final peace agreement as per the terms of the 1993 Oslo accords.

The move was met with condemnation from the international community and outrage in the wider Muslim world: in the West Bank and Gaza four Palestinians were killed in ensuing clashes and protests have smouldered worldwide for days.

The president, who has proved unpredictable on foreign policy matters, has repeatedly conveyed a desire to broker peace in the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, a goal he has described as "the ultimate deal".

The US has been seeking to resurrect talks between Israel and the Palestinians since Mr Trump took office, with the help of ally Saudi Arabia.

In recent months there has been mounting pressure on the Palestinian leadership from Riyadh and Washington to accept the terms of a less than favourable peace deal. The blueprint is understood to contain steps leading to a two state solution, but without the right to return for Palestinian refugees or full sovereignty.

The US has reiterated it is committed to the peace process despite the decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israeli.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week it is still be up to the Israelis and Palestinians to hammer out all other issues surrounding the city in future talks.

CEO of La Colombe coffee company speaks out against new tax bill - ABC News

CEO of La Colombe coffee company speaks out against new tax bill

By AMNA NAWAZALYSSA LAPERTOSA Dec 12, 2017, 1:36 PM ET

Matt Rourke/AP

CEO of La Colombe coffee: 'I don't want this tax cut'

Todd Carmichael is one of the few chief executives in America to publicly condemn Republicans’ plans to slash the corporate tax rate and rewrite the tax code.

Why bash a plan that would be a boon for his shareholders? Carmichael says he’s willing to declare what other executives won’t: the bill may be good for his business, but it’s bad for the country.

Carmichael said he defines his own success by doing right by the people around him. His primary responsibilities as the Chief Executive Officer of La Colombe Coffee Roasters are to scale up his company and make money for his shareholders; he wants to redefine how Americans drink their coffee. He said it wasn’t in his plans to be a voice for political change.

"When events started unfolding the way they did," he said, he realized, "I’m going to have to come out of the boardroom and I’m going to have to use my voice."

Carmichael’s biggest concern over the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” is that it’s giving a large tax break to corporations at a time when they don’t necessarily need it. Drawing on comparisons from the way his grandparents stockpiled goods during The Great Depression, he explains why he believes giving a tax break to corporations now is bad.

"A stimulus package is like a bunker," he said. "It's the soups and crackers and all those things that are in your basement in case something goes wrong. The fact that we're eating that for dinner is dangerous. Because in years we might need it. And it won't be there."

Though he recognizes that it’s his responsibility as a CEO to take any gains from the tax cut and pass them onto his shareholders, Carmichael strongly disagrees with the idea that those gains for investors will eventually trickle down to the American people. He said other CEOs he knows agree.

"CEOs are looking each other and going, ‘What's happening? We didn't ask for this and we know it won't work,'" he said. "And we don't have a choice ultimately either, our shareholders want that money."

It's the long-term effects that concern him most, Carmichael said.

"We realize this is going to damage the economy over time, and it puts us in a very difficult situation," he added.

Carmichael said he didn’t ask for permission from his shareholders to speak out, and that his plan is to "just keep going until someone says something."

He felt compelled to speak out, he said, to help those who want change.

“I've seen this unraveling of a country that I didn't think I lived in," Carmichael said. "I didn't think that this country just favored the rich, and just favored the affluent, or favored the white, or favored the straight. I don't want to live in a country like that. So it's up to me to either move or change it. And I'm not going to move. So I'm going to do what I can to change it."

Check out the full conversation on this week’s episode of "Uncomfortable."

Download and subscribe to the "Uncomfortable" podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Stitcher, and ABC News podcasts.

Carmichael was interviewed as part of a series called 'Uncomfortable," hosted by Amna Nawaz, that offers in-depth honest conversations with influential leaders about issues dividing America.

The difference between Bitcoin and blockchain for business - IBM Blockchain Blog

The difference between Bitcoin and blockchain for business

May 9, 2017 | Written by: Matt Lucas

Categorized: Blockchain Education | Blockchain Explained | Blockchain Identity | Blockchain in Financial Services | Supply Chain

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Are Bitcoin and blockchain the same thing? No, they aren’t. However, they are closely related. When Bitcoin was released as open source code, blockchain was wrapped up together with it in the same solution. And since Bitcoin was the first application of blockchain, people often inadvertently used “Bitcoin” to mean blockchain. That’s how the misunderstanding started. Blockchain technology has since been extrapolated for use in other industries, but there is still some lingering confusion.

How are Bitcoin and blockchain different?

Bitcoin is a type of unregulated digital currency that was first created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Also known as a “cryptocurrency,” it was launched with the intention to bypass government currency controls and simplify online transactions by getting rid of third-party payment processing intermediaries. Of course, accomplishing this required more than just the money itself. There had to be a secure way to make transactions with the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin transactions are stored and transferred using a distributed ledger on a peer-to-peer network that is open, public and anonymous. Blockchain is the underpinning technology that maintains the Bitcoin transaction ledger. Learn more here and watch the video below for an overview:

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

How does the Bitcoin blockchain work?

The Bitcoin blockchain in its simplest form is a database or ledger comprised of Bitcoin transaction records. However, because this database is distributed across a peer-to-peer network and is without a central authority, network participants must agree on the validity of transactions before they can be recorded. This agreement, which is known as “consensus,” is achieved through a process called “mining.”

After someone uses Bitcoins, miners engage in complex, resource-intense computational equations to verify the legitimacy of the transaction. Through mining, a “proof of work” that meets certain requirements is created. The proof of work is a piece of data that is costly and time-consuming to produce but can easily be verified by others. To be considered a valid transaction on the blockchain, an individual record must have a proof of work to show that consensus was achieved. By this design, transaction records cannot be tampered with or changed after they have been added to the blockchain.

How is blockchain for business different?

The blockchain that supports Bitcoin was developed specifically for the cryptocurrency. That’s one of the reasons it took a while for people to realize the technology could be adapted for use in other areas. The technology also had to be modified quite a bit to meet the rigorous standards that businesses require. There are three main characteristics that separate the Bitcoin blockchain from a blockchain designed for business.

Assets over cryptocurrency

There is an ongoing discussion about whether there is value in a token-free shared ledger, which is essentially a blockchain without cryptocurrency. I won’t weigh in on this debate, but I will say this: blockchain can be used for a much broader range of assets than just cryptocurrency. Tangible assets such as cars, real estate and food products, as well as intangible assets such as bonds, private equity and securities are all fair game. In one business use case, Everledger is using blockchain to track the provenance of luxury goods to minimize fraud, document tampering and double financing. Now, over one million diamonds are secured on blockchain.

Identity over anonymity

Bitcoin thrives due to anonymity. Anyone can look at the Bitcoin ledger and see every transaction that happened, but the account information is a meaningless sequence of numbers. On the other hand, businesses have KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) compliance requirements that require them to know exactly who they are dealing with. Participants in business networks require the polar opposite of anonymity: privacy. For example, in an asset custody system like the one being developed by Postal Savings Bank of China, multiple parties, including financial institutions, clients, asset custodians, asset managers, investment advisors and auditors are involved. They need to know who they are dealing with but one client or advisor doesn’t necessarily need to be able to see all transactions that have ever occurred (especially when those transactions relate to different clients).

Selective endorsement over proof of work

Consensus in a blockchain for business is not achieved through mining but through a process called “selective endorsement.” It is about being able to control exactly who verifies transactions, much in the same way that business happens today. If I transfer money to a third party, then my bank, the recipient’s bank and possibly a payments provider would verify the transaction. This is different from Bitcoin, where the whole network has to work to verify transactions.

Why will blockchain transform the global economy?

Similar to how the internet changed the world by providing greater access to information, blockchain is poised to change how people do business by offering trust. By design, anything recorded on a blockchain cannot be altered, and there are records of where each asset has been. So, while participants in a business network might not be able to trust each other, they can trust the blockchain. The benefits of blockchain for business are numerous, including reduced time (for finding information, settling disputes and verifying transactions), decreased costs (for overhead and intermediaries) and alleviated risk (of collusion, tampering and fraud).

Merkel ally says Brexit talks have raised UK support for second referendum - Guardian

Merkel ally says Brexit talks have raised UK support for second referendum

Manfred Weber, who heads largest party in European parliament, said UK was realising Brexit means losing many things and gaining nothing

Manfred Weber

Manfred Weber said recent statements by David Davis about the Brexit talks were ‘not helpful’.

Daniel Boffey in Brussels

Wednesday 13 December 2017

A key ally of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has claimed that a growing awareness of the damaging terms of a future Brexit deal has led to a rise in support in the UK for a second referendum on EU membership.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest party in the European parliament, said a row over the ineligibility of Britain’s cities in the European capital of culture competition was just the latest example of the UK’s losses hitting home.

“An opinion poll showed 50% of the British people are in favour of a new referendum,” Weber, who leads the centre-right European People’s party, told MEPs in Strasbourg. “The British people realise that Brexit means losing many things, but not gaining anything.”

The German MEP suggested that the latest twist in the Brexit negotiations showed that, unlike for previous generations, when Ireland was dictated to by the UK, the Republic “is much more stronger because it belongs to the European Union”.

On Tuesday, the UK’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, called the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, to reassure the former Belgian prime minister that British promises on the opening issues of citizens rights, the financial settlement and the Irish border could be depended upon.

His earlier suggestion that the concessions made by the UK in a joint agreement struck last week with the European commission to move the talks on was merely a “statement of intent” caused uproar in Brussels and Dublin.

Verhofstadt told the European parliament: “Yesterday, I spoke to [Davis] on the phone and he assured me that it is absolutely not his intention nor that of the British government to backtrack on their commitments.

“I take note of this and I think that the best way to assure this, is that today, as we mention in our resolution, we immediately transpose all the commitments of the report into the legal text of the withdrawal agreement.”

Weber said on Wednesday: “We Europeans have secured the Irish interests in the negotiations in the last weeks … I have to say that the last statements from David Davis about what the outcome means now practically was not helpful to secure this trust building approach. We ask the British prime minister to clarify [by] Thursday that the outcome of the first phase is binding for both sides.”

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told MEPs he was confident the UK would “rapidly” turn the agreement into a legal document.

“We will not accept any going back on this joint report,” he said. “This progress has been agreed and will be rapidly translated into a withdrawal accord that is legally binding in all three areas and on some others that remain to be negotiated.”

Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you

The European parliament is due to vote on Wednesday on a motion urging EU leaders to allow the next phase of EU negotiations to start, albeit with a line criticising Davis.

Barnier said many more steps were required to secure an orderly withdrawal. “We are not at the end of the road, neither regarding citizens’ rights nor for the other subjects of the orderly withdrawal. We remain vigilant,” he said.

The next phase of talks, he said, would focus on a “short and defined” transition period and initial discussions on a future relationship, which he stressed would not erode the EU single market and its four freedoms, including free movement of people.

Muslim leaders reject Trump's decision on Jerusalem - Al Jazeera

13/12/2017

Muslim leaders reject Trump's decision on Jerusalem

Mahmoud Abbassaid he will seek a UN Security Council resolution to nullify Trump's Jerusalem decision [Kayhan Özer/Anadolu]

Mahmoud Abbas said he will seek a UN Security Council resolution to nullify Trump's Jerusalem decision [Kayhan Özer/Anadolu]

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has rejected the United States' decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the group's secretary general announced.

Yousef al-Othaimeen, speaking on Wednesday at the opening of an OIC summit in Istanbul, urged Muslim leaders to work together to present a united response to the move.

"The OIC rejects and condemns the American decision," he said. "This is a violation of international law ... and this is a provocation of the feelings of Muslims within the world ... it will create a situation of instability in the region and in the world."

Speaking ahead of Othaimeen, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the US has "disqualified" itself from future Israel-Palestine peace talks after proving its "bias in favour of Israel".

Founded in 1969, the 57-member OIC bills itself as "the collective voice of the Muslim world".

President Donald Trump announced on December 6 that the US formally recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will begin the process of moving its embassy to the city, breaking with decades of US policy.

The decision violated international law, according to Abbas.

"We shall not accept any role for the United States in the peace process, they have proven their full bias in favour of Israel," he said.

"Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine."

Palestinians envisage East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel says Jerusalem, which is under Israeli occupation, cannot be divided.

Abbas' comments were seen as his strongest yet on the issue.

@JamalsNews

Replying to @JamalsNews @rterdogan_ar

#Turkey’s President @RT_Erdogan also used this image of a young Palestinian boy, blind folded and beaten by 20 Israeli soldiers to demonstrate the brutality of s occupation. pic.twitter.com/dfjmq4MqE

@JamalsNews

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces in no uncertain terms that the PA “will not accept or allow for the #US government to play a role in mediating a peace deal”. His strongest statement since @realDonaldTrump decision on # pic.twitter.com/nQsoh4Y73k

8:11 PM - Dec 13, 2017

The extraordinary OIC summit was called for by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following Trump's announcement.

Speaking at the meeting, Erdogan accused Israel of being a "state of terror" and said the US' recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been rebuked by the international community.

"It is null and void … except Israel, no country in the world has supported [this decision]," he said.

"Anyone who walks a few minutes in the streets of Jerusalem will recognise this city is under occupation."

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Istanbul, said Erdogan was seeking to "unite the Muslim world" and "come up with a concerted response" to the US' move.

"He faces a daunting task," our correspondent said. "In the hall that he was addressing, there were countries who are not willing to go beyond rhetoric opposition at the expense of sacrificing their relationship with the United States," he said.

Trump's move has provoked a wave of protests from Asia, through the Middle East, to North Africa, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in recent days to denounce his decision.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS