| 2017 safest year for post-war civil aviation: industry agencies Posted: 02 Jan 2018 10:51 AM PST  Last year was the safest year for civil aviation since plane crash statistics were first compiled in 1946, two industry studies have found. President Donald Trump hailed the results on Tuesday, and credited his "very strict" stance on commercial aviation for the positive data in the United States. A total of 10 crashes of civil passenger and cargo planes claimed 44 lives, said the Aviation Safety Network in a statement published Monday.
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| 15 Stunning Engagement Rings That Aren't Diamonds Posted: 02 Jan 2018 10:15 AM PST  When it comes to the modern bride, the typical clear diamond is no longer the first stone of choice for her engagement ring.
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| Trump Attacks Justice Department As 'Deep State,' Calls For Jailing Top Clinton Aide Posted: 02 Jan 2018 07:38 AM PST  WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump on Tuesday renewed his attack on his "deep state" Justice Department, and said a top aide to 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton should be jailed.
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| Carrie Underwood 'Not Quite Looking The Same' After 50 Stitches In Face Posted: 02 Jan 2018 05:56 AM PST  Country star Carrie Underwood revealed Monday that there was a lot more to her November accident than a broken wrist.
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| Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'take economy flight to Nice for New Year celebrations' Posted: 02 Jan 2018 04:31 AM PST  Prince Harry whisked his fiancee, Meghan Markle, to the French Riviera for a New Year break, it has been claimed. The pair are said to have taken a scheduled, British Airways flight to Nice. In a bid to avoid being spotted by other passengers, they boarded first and headed straight to the back of the plane, next to the rear toilets. They also took up three rows of economy seats, either side of the aisle, even though there were only themselves and three "edgy and nervous" bodyguards in their party, according to the Daily Mail. Prince Harry, 33, sat next to the window with a baseball cap pulled over his face, while Ms Markle, 36, sat next to him in a black beanie hat. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for an official engagement photo Credit: Alexi Lubomirski via Getty Images The pair are said to have been met by armed officers from the French border police and are being protected during their stay by members of France's elite Service de la Protection, the police unit responsible for the protection of foreign dignitaries. One told the newspaper: "It would have been offered and would have been non-negotiable. "After what happened to his mother in this country and the issue of terrorism, it would be insisted on even for a private trip such as this." The couple, who are due to wed in May, are said to have hired catering firm Table Talk for their big day, which was also used by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for their 2011 wedding and by Pippa Middleton when she married last year. Kensington Palace declined to comment.
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| Customers queue as California allows sales of recreational marijuana Posted: 02 Jan 2018 02:17 AM PST  It wasn't exactly reefer madness on Monday as California launched the first legal retail sales of marijuana, but those who could find the drug celebrated the historic day, lining up early for ribbon cuttings, freebies and offerings ranging from joints to gummy bears to weed with names like Red Dragon. Jeff Deakin, 66, his wife Mary and their dog waited in the cold all night to be first in a line of 100 people when Harborside dispensary, a longtime medical pot shop in Oakland, opened at 6 am and offered early customers joints for a penny and free T-shirts that read "Flower to the People — Cannabis for All." "It's been so long since others and myself could walk into a place where you could feel safe and secure and be able to get something that was good without having to go to the back alley," Mr Deakin said. "This is kind of a big deal for everybody." Harborside founder Steve DeAngelo used a giant pair of scissors to cut a green ribbon, declaring, "With these scissors I dub thee free," before ringing up the first customer at a cash register. People waiting in line for the opening of Haborside marijuana dispensary in Oakland, California Credit: Reuters Sales were brisk in the shops lucky to score one of the roughly 100 state licences issued so far, but customers in some of the state's largest cities were out of luck. Los Angeles and San Francisco hadn't authorised shops in time to get state licences and other cities, such as Riverside and Fresno, blocked sales altogether. Licensed shops are concentrated in San Diego, Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Palm Springs area. California voters in 2016 made it legal for adults 21 and older to grow, possess and use limited quantities of marijuana, but it wasn't legal to sell it for recreational purposes until Monday. The nation's most populous state now joins a growing list of states, and the nation's capital, where so-called recreational marijuana is permitted even though the federal government continues to classify pot as a controlled substance, like heroin and LSD. US state rules on use of cannabis The signs that California was tripping toward legal pot sales were evident well before the stroke of midnight.California highways flashed signs before New Year's Eve that said "Drive high, Get a DUI," reflecting law enforcement concerns about stoned drivers. Weedmaps, the phone app that allows customers to rate shops, delivery services and shows their locations, ran a full-page ad on Sunday in the Los Angeles Times that said, "Smile California. It's Legal." The state banned what it called "loco-weed" in 1913, though it has been easing criminal penalties for use of the drug since the 1970s and was the first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes in 1996. Travis Lund, 34, said he'd been looking forward while working the graveyard shift to buy weed legally for the first time since he began smoking pot as a teen. "I'm just stoked that it's finally legal," he said after purchasing an eighth of an ounce of "Mount Zion" and another type of loose leaf marijuana at Northstar Holistic Collective in Sacramento, where the fragrance of pot was strong. "I'm going to home and get high — and enjoy it." Different varieties of marijuana on sale on Monday Credit: AP Mr Lund previously purchased marijuana on the black market through friends and said that may continue, given the high costs of the legal weed, which is heavily taxed. But he said he would indulge in retail pot occasionally because of controls being phased in to ensure a higher-quality product. Shops will be able to sell marijuana harvested without full regulatory controls for six months but will eventually only be able to sell pot tested for potency, pesticides and other contaminants, and products that have been tracked from seed to sale. The Bureau of Cannabis Control was not aware of any problems or complaints about the first day of sales, but it didn't have inspectors in the field, spokesman Alex Traverso said. Employees at the bureau on the holiday continued to process 1,400 pending licence applications for retail sales, distribution and testing facilities. Mr Traverso said they expect a flood of applications from LA and San Francisco after those are approved locally. Because Los Angeles is the biggest market in the state, some of those shops will be approved more quickly than others waiting in line, he said. The status of the Los Angeles shops highlights broad confusion over the new law. Los Angeles officials announced late last month that the city will not begin accepting licence applications until 3 January, and it might take weeks before any licences are issued. That led to widespread concern that long-established businesses would have to shut down during the interim. Lisa Masa shops at the Harborside marijuana dispensary Credit: AP Attorneys advising a group of city dispensaries have concluded those businesses can legally sell medicinal marijuana as "collectives," until they obtain local and state licences under the new system, said Jerred Kiloh of the United Cannabis Business Association, an industry group. It wasn't immediately clear how many of those shops, if any, were open. "My patients are scared, my employees are scared," said Mr Kiloh, who owns a dispensary in the city's San Fernando Valley area. In Orange County, shops in Santa Ana received the green light over the weekend to open and a steady flow showed up at ShowGrow. Ellen St Peter, 61, shopped with her son, Bryce St Peter, 23, both medical marijuana users. She said she smoked pot for years — at times taking great risks to get it — but stopped once she started having kids. "In high school my guy friends would fantasise about shops we could go into and just buy weed," she said. "I couldn't have dreamed of this place."
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| Oil posts strongest year opening since 2014 as Iran unrest pushes up crude Posted: 02 Jan 2018 01:39 AM PST ![Oil posts strongest year opening since 2014 as Iran unrest pushes up crude]( "Oil posts strongest year opening since 2014 as Iran unrest pushes up crude") By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices posted their strongest opening to a year since 2014 on Tuesday, with crude rising to mid-2015 highs amid large anti-government rallies in Iran and ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and Russia. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $60.63 a barrel at 0747 GMT, up 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, after hitting $60.74 earlier in the day, the highest since June 2015. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark, were at $67.18 a barrel, up 31 cents, or 0.5 percent, after hitting a May 2015 high of $67.29 a barrel earlier in the day.
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| Venezuela says soldier arrested for killing pregnant woman in line for pork Posted: 01 Jan 2018 10:34 PM PST ![Venezuela says soldier arrested for killing pregnant woman in line for pork]( "Venezuela says soldier arrested for killing pregnant woman in line for pork") Venezuelan authorities arrested a National Guard soldier over the weekend and accused him of shooting a pregnant 18 year-old during an incident that local media described as a melee over scarce pork. Alexandra Colopoy was gunned down by First Sergeant David Rebolledo, according to a tweet by the state prosecutor late Sunday night. No further details were provided, but critics of President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government seized on the incident, calling it a stark example of the oil-rich country's meltdown.
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| Kim Jong Un: North Korea's Nuclear Forces Are a Reality, Not a Threat Posted: 01 Jan 2018 09:00 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Monday that the United States should be aware that his country's nuclear forces are now a reality, not a threat
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| The Latest: Shooter in Colorado attack was lawyer, war vet Posted: 01 Jan 2018 07:44 PM PST  DENVER (AP) — The Latest on the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy in Colorado (all times local):
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