When it comes to Tom Cruise’s daredevil stunts, the sky is literally the limit. On Sunday, the 60-year-old Hollywood action hero shared a video of himself thanking fans for making “Top Gun: Maverick” a box office hit –while flinging himself out of a plane. “Hey everyone, here we are over stunning South Africa, and we’re filming ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ parts one and two,” Cruise yells to the camera, while hanging out the door of the plane. “I didn’t want the year to end without thanking you all for coming out to the theaters, and thank you for supporting ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’” The camera then pans to reveal director Christopher McQuarrie, who returned to the action franchise to helm “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.” McQuarrie, who also co-wrote the screenplay for “Top Gun: Maverick,” reminds the leading man that they are on set – “gotta get the shot” – before declining Cruise’s invitation to join him in his skydive. [caption id="attachment_32709" align="alignnone" width="906"] Tom Cruise went into free-fall over South Africa.[/caption] Cruise, who is known for performing his own stunts, then jumps from the plane, before turning back to the camera as he free-falls. “Thank you for allowing us to entertain you. It truly is the honor of a lifetime,” he tells fans. “I’m running out of altitude, so I have to get back to work – we have to get this shot – you have a very safe and happy holiday, we’ll see you at the movies.” “Top Gun: Maverick,” released in May this year, saw Cruise reprise the famous role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, to return to the Top Gun academy to train fighter pilots. The sequel to the 1986 blockbuster became the first of Cruise’s films to reach the billion-dollar milestone at the box office. And fans definitely appreciated Cruise going to great heights to deliver his thank you message. One wrote under his post on Instagram: “Forget Marvel! @tomcruise is the real action hero! Thanks for making going to the movies a thrill again!” Another said: “Tom Cruise saving the whole movie industry with risking his own life to entertain..! Rest of the movie world, take a note!” A third added: “He’s a madman, in the best way.” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One,” is scheduled for release in July next year. Source: CNN News

The original mechatronic model of the little alien from Steven Spielberg's 1982 sci-fi classic "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" sold over the weekend for a staggering $2.56 million, according to the auction organizers. The filming model, created by Oscar-winning special effects master Carlo Rambaldi in 1981, went under the hammer as part of the "Icons and Idols: Hollywood" sale put on by Julien's Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). (TCM , like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Disovery.) "Considered an engineering masterpiece, this one-of-a-kind animatronic figure, featuring 85 points of articulation, pre-dates the advent of CGI (Computer Graphic Imagery) effects in filmmaking, and was designed, developed and engineered in 1981," the lot description read. The big-eyed alien, whose movements included facial expressions, neck movements, as well as the famous pointing of its glowing finger, was brought to life by a team of animators using electronic and mechanical elements. According to the auction listing, Spielberg described the E.T. model as "the eighth wonder of the movie world." A maquette of E.T., made for Spielberg to approve the character's design, also sold for $125,000, while the Kuwahara BMX bike ridden by the character "Greg" in the film was bought for $115,200. The sale of the E.T. memorabilia coincides with the 40th anniversary of the film's release. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," starring Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore, told the story of a friendly alien's bid to return home after getting stranded in a suburban US neighborhood. E.T.'s childlike innocence melted hearts across the globe, and the film won four Oscars at the 1982 Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects. According to website Box Office Mojo, by the end of its theatrical run, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had grossed more than $359 million at the US box office. "It speaks to our universal human compassion," Thomas told CNN in October this year. "And we all have that. We all have the nurturer inside of us, right? So I think it speaks to that. It brings us back to being young." Other highlights from the "Icons and Idols: Hollywood" auction, which offered more than 1,300 artifacts from Hollywood, included the staff that Charlton Heston used to part the Red Sea in the Cecil B. DeMille classic "The Ten Commandments," which sold for a thumping $448,000. A black wool dress owned by Marilyn Monroe went for $256,000. Source: CNN News

East New Britain (ENB) Province has a gold mine of war relics and history; it is a province whose tourism potential is untapped, says the Vice Minister for International Trade and Investment, Kessy Sawang. Vice Minister Sawang made this comment during her recent visit to the province on Sunday with the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru and the Japan Development Institute (JDI) Expert team. Vice Minister Sawang also shared her experience of her recent visit to the war museums in the United States of America (USA) which are a huge tourist attraction. “In those war museums (in the USA), there were pieces of war relics like a wheel of a vehicle, a wing of a plane or a boot preserved there with all their information and stories digitalized. So, when you walk in, the history is there, already digitalized and you decide whether to watch the videos or read about them. East New Britain has a gold mine of war relics because it does not have part of a war plane; it has the whole plane. We have to preserve our war relics in a museum, and though we are a storytelling society, we now have to start digitalizing these stories about the war relics that we have,” “It is obvious that ENB is set to something greater in the future, and it will need political will and support,” she added. Minister Maru also added that ENB was one of the provinces in the country with the highest potential, especially in tourism. “East New Britain has hospitable people, fertile land, rich culture and all the war relics. It has the war relics, the Japanese barges and caves, volcano, hot spring and the package is much better than those that are offered in any other tourism destinations, but why have we not reached our potential? It comes down to leadership, vision, unity between the National and Provincial Government to work together with a target to come up a vehicle to unleash ENB’s potential,” said Minister Maru. “We cannot live in the past; let’s see what the rest of the world has done, get the ideas from them and let’s make it happen for ourselves. In 5 to 10 years, we can develop our infrastructures and facilities. The ENB Provincial Government and all MPs must work together with the National Government to come up with a plan and look at how we can build the tourism potential of this province." "This means there should be a wharf just for cruise ships, the road must be upgraded to world standard, we must have the hotels and all the facilities like a convention centre, and the airport at Tokua must be redeveloped to world standards so we can have direct flights from Japan and other countries. We need to have a package; that is what has been missing and need to develop it now.” “I will be reaching out to Tourism Promotion Authority and the National Cultural Commission to put together a plan on how we can digitalize all our history, especially our war history. I will also discuss with them on how we can preserve our history as there is currently no preservation work done on the Japanese barges and the bunkers, and all other war relics that we have,” Minister Maru said. Minister Maru added that ENB and Japan should have a very close relationship but it does not exist. “Every Japanese know Rabaul but they are not coming here. There are millions of Japanese tourists leaving Japan every year and none of them come here. We should create a little Japan here. I want to make sure that by the end of next year, there should a province in Japan that would be a sister province to ENB, and there will be a city in Japan that will be a sister city to Kokopo and Rabaul,” said Minister Maru. East New Britain was identified by the government as one of the 18 potential Special Economic Zone (SEZ) locations, specifically a tourism SEZ, hence the visit by the JDI Experts on Sunday. “I want to see two SEZs in East New Britain Province- one in Tokua and Kokopo, and another one in Rabaul. The package for Rabaul will be different from Tokua and Kokopo because of the volcano and that is the only way that we can reconstruct our town of Rabaul,” said Minister Maru. “There is also a possibility of establishing hotel facilities at the old airport in Rabaul, especially to offer natural hot spring baths which is a major tourism attraction in Japan where they have hundreds of such facilities. JDI is willing to assist the East New Britain Provincial Government and the State to develop such facilities in Rabaul. It will be a major attraction for international tourists and also local tourists who would like to receive healing from the use of natural steam baths,” said Minister Maru. Minister Maru encouraged the ENB Provincial Government to hold discussions with the landowners of Matupit to find a way forward to establish a 50megawatt energy project in Mt. Tavurvur. “East New Britain has the raw potential, it always had. If there was a time in ENB history where it was exciting, this is the time,” Minister Maru said. Meanwhile, the JDI CEO and Chairman, Dr. Shoichi Kobayashi, after visiting the tourism sites in Rabaul and Kokopo said that there was so much opportunity in East New Britain Province. “I see that there is a possibility for tourism SEZ here; there is a great opportunity in ENB. We (JDI) have been involved in many tourism SEZ development in other countries, and from what I see, East New Britain Province can be a second Bali. Bali was developed from nothing to where it is now and I think this province can be developed too as a major tourism destination, with its war relics as an attraction for the tourists,” said Dr. Kobayashi.

The Thai navy says 31 sailors are missing after a warship carrying more than 100 crew capsized and sank during a storm in the Gulf of Thailand. HTMS Sukhothai sank after water flooded its power controls on Sunday night. Images shared by the navy showed some crew who survived in a life raft. On Monday, authorities said they had rescued 75 sailors, but 31 were still missing in rough seas. "We will keep looking," a navy spokesman told the BBC. Search crews worked through the night to find survivors, with the operation continuing on Monday with air force assistance. The navy also announced an investigation into the cause of the disaster. "This has almost never happened in our force's history, especially to a ship that is still in active use," spokesman Admiral Pogkrong Monthardpalin told the BBC. Footage shared by the navy on Twitter showed crew members wrapped in blankets and receiving treatment after they had been rescued. Some were being airlifted to hospital. Other images showed sailors from the Sukhothai in a life raft, having jumped from the sinking vessel. One unnamed crew member said he had been in the water for several hours before he was rescued. "The waves were quite high, about three metres when the ship sank," he said in a clip shared on local media. "I put on the life jacket and jumped. I swam for three hours." Officials said the ship went down after it took on water, which flooded its hull and short-circuited its power room. With the power lost, the crew battled to retain control of the ship which listed on to its side before sinking around 23:30 local time Sunday (16:30 GMT). The ship had been on a patrol 32km (20 miles) east of Bang Saphan, in the Prachuap Khiri Khan province, when it got caught in the storm on Sunday. Dramatic pictures posted on the Thai Navy's Twitter account show the vessel listing onto its side, and back-up rescue ships trying to find survivors in choppy waters. Three naval ships and helicopters were sent to assist, but only warship HTMS Kraburi reached the vessel before it sank. The frigate picked up most of the Sukhothai's crew, the navy said. Sailors wearing life jackets were found in the water and in life rafts. The navy has disclosed scant detail on their condition. Local media published pictures showing medical personnel at the dock taking crew members off in stretchers. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha released a statement on Monday confirming officials were investigating the disaster. "I am following the news closely - about five people are seriously injured," he said. Source: BBC

Nations have agreed to protect a third of the planet for nature by 2030 in a landmark deal aimed at safeguarding biodiversity. There will also be targets for protecting vital ecosystems such as rainforests and wetlands and the rights of indigenous peoples. The agreement at the COP15 UN biodiversity summit in Montreal, Canada, came early on Monday morning. The summit had been moved from China and postponed due to Covid. China, which was in charge of the meeting, brought down the gavel on the deal despite a last minute objection from the Democratic Republic of Congo. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres hailed the deal and said: "We are finally starting to forge a peace pact with nature." The main points include: Maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecosystems, including halting species extinction and maintaining genetic diversity "Sustainable use" of biodiversity - essentially ensuring that species and habitats can provide the services they provide for humanity, such as food and clean water Ensuring that the benefits of resources from nature, like medicines that come from plants, are shared fairly and equally and that indigenous peoples' rights are protected Paying for and putting resources into biodiversity: Ensuring that money and conservation efforts get to where they are needed. "It is truly a moment that will mark history as Paris did for climate," Canada's Minister for the Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault told reporters. The Paris climate deal saw nations agreeing in 2015 to keep world temperature rise below 2C. The summit in Montreal had been regarded as a "last chance" to put nature on a path to recovery. Throughout the talks there was division over the strength of ambition and how to finance the plans. One big sticking point was over how to fund conservation efforts in the parts of the globe that harbour some of the world's most outstanding biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to all the Earth's living things and the way they are connected in a complex web of life that sustains the planet. A new text of the agreement was released by China on Sunday. Delegates convened a full session of the summit early on Monday morning after hours of delays, but then agreed to the text quickly. The president of COP 15, Minister Huang Runqui, declared the deal approved despite objections from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which said it couldn't back the deal. Georgina Chandler, senior international policy advisor for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said people and nature should both be better off thanks to the deal struck in Montreal. "Now it's done, governments, companies and communities need to figure out how they'll help make these commitments a reality." Sue Lieberman of the Wildlife Conservation Society said the agreement was a compromise, and although it had several good and hard-fought elements, it could have gone further "to truly transform our relationship with nature and stop our destruction of ecosystems, habitats and species". The agreement follows days of intense negotiations. On Saturday, ministers made impassioned speeches about the need to agree on clear goals to put nature on a path to recovery by the end of the decade. The UN Development Programme said the "historic agreement" meant people around the world could hope for real progress to halt biodiversity loss. Scientists have warned that with forests and grasslands being lost at unprecedented rates and oceans under pressure from pollution, humans are pushing the Earth beyond safe limits. This includes increasing the risk of diseases, like SARs CoV-2, Ebola and HIV, spilling over from wild animals into human populations. A key sticking point has been finance. In echoes of the climate summit, COP 27, in Egypt, some countries have been calling for a new fund to be set up to help preserve biodiversity, but this was rejected by others.   Source BBC

Featherstone Rovers have added Papua New Guinea international prop McKenzie Yei to the squad ahead of the 2023 season, as well as having retained the services of club captain James Lockwood.  Yei joins from Queensland Cup side Central Queensland Capras having previously played for PNG Hunters and was rated highly for his efforts during this year’s Rugby League World Cup where he made an impact in both defence and attack. “I am really pleased that we have secured McKenzie’s signature, it’s a real coup for us. I’ve watched him over the last three years both at international and club level and he will add some real punch to our squad.” Said Head Coach Sean Long commenting on his latest recruit. The 25 year old will join up with Sean Long’s side in the new year and is excited about the prospect of joining the club: "I am looking forward to a new career in the UK with a progressive club like Featherstone Rovers. "I enjoyed playing in the UK during the World Cup and I was fortunate enough to meet the coach Sean Long, I am really excited to be working with him and carrying on a strong tradition of PNG players at Featherstone Rovers.  "I am looking forward to working hard and playing my part in pushing for promotion to Super League in 2023 and I appreciate the opportunity to be part of this club.” Rovers CEO Martin Vickers added: “I think McKenzie is the missing piece of the puzzle that we have been looking for, he was clearly a threat to opponents during the World Cup and I’m pleased we’ve been able to land his signature. "I have to highlight the fact that this signing has only been possible because of the immense show of support we’ve received from Featherstone supporters, be that through membership purchases or retail purchases, the dedication of our fans never ceases to amaze me, thank you.” Rovers can also announce the retention of club captain James Lockwood, the enduring prop has committed for another year and is a big part of the head coach’s plans for 2023. Long spoke on retaining Lockwood's services saying: “I coached James when I was here in 2013, he is an exceptional leader and radiates all the qualities that we associate with this club; toughness, doggedness and determination.” Lockwood commented: “I’m really pleased to be staying on for another season, I’m excited at the prospect of playing under Sean once again.  "I have worked hard on my fitness over the off season and feel as fit and ready as I ever have, we were disappointed as a squad with the way we ended last season and I want to be part of putting that right.” Source: featherstonerovers.co.uk

Prime Minister James Marape, MP, officially launched the Hiri Koiari Five Year Development District Plan yesterday at the APEC Haus, in Port Moresby. The Prime Minister said the Marape-Rosso Government wants to bring leadership closer to the people at the District Level that is why his Government approved seven new districts from the twelve recommended by the Electoral Boundaries Commission for the 2022 Elections and Hiri-Koiari was one of the seven. Prime Minister Marape said the seven electorates were not just picked for the sake of picking. They were strategic economic electorates and they were big so we needed to split them to ensure that leaders were closer to the people. He said there was Hiri-Koiari, the electorate that supplies water and power into Port Moresby and hosts the PNG LNG Plant site. We also spilt Middle Fly, North Fly and Central Fly electorate that hosts P’nyang and OK Tedi Gold Project. The split of Komo-Margarima that hosts the upstream of PDL 1. We have the split of Laigap-Porgera that hosts the Porgera Gold Project. We split Wau-Bulolo that hosts the Hidden Valley Gold project and coming up is the Wafi-Golpu project as well as forestry and agricultural projects and we split Talasea, that hosts one of the big Oil Palm project in the country that also has subsidiary in Ijivitari, Oro Province. The Prime Minister went on to commend the Member for Hiri-Koiari Hon. Keith Iduhu for stepping up in his role as the leader of the people of Hiri- Koiari and becoming the first District to hand in their five year development plan and to get the ball rolling on the plan, the government has remitted K5 million to the District Treasury at the time of the launching of the plan. “Let me say thank you to the Hon. Keith Iduhu for your foresight and your aggressive focus in ensuring that the new electorate that myself and the leaders of the last parliament were able to construct for our people of Hiri and Koiari,” Prime Minister Marape said. “As the Prime Minister who delivered the new electorate, I was very interested to see the leader who would emerge for the new electorate during the 2022 National General Elections and the Hon. Keith Iduhu emerged and is showing the qualities of a strong and assertive leader.” The Prime Minister said the new electorates emerged against a back drop of criticism that it is not feasible nor is it sustainable but the critics forget that our population is increasing and the National Government needs leaders to be closer to the people to better understand the needs of the people in the electorate for funding support. He said the electorate Kairiku-Hiri at that time was quite big therefore we needed to have a split to better serve the people. Prime Minister Marape said the 11th National Parliament and beyond is the time for leadership in the districts to shape the future of our people and there will be a greater drawn down of power for the National Government to the lower levels of government. He said the Government has already started putting more money into the districts for 2012 and with the increase of the budget from K18.7 billion in 2020 to K19.6 billion in 2021 than K22.2 billion in 2022 and now a record K24.56 billion in 2023, more funding will be drawn down to the district to ensure the economic space is opened up and not focused on urban centres only. The Prime Minister also called on all other districts in the country to draw up their development plans, including scope of works (especially number of kilometres of road) and costings for the road works they want done in their electorates or the number of aid-post they want built so appropriate funding that be given for then projects. He emphasised that we do not want to leave anyone behind. No Local Level Government District or province, including their people must be left behind. We must all pickup together and move forward together into the future.

Twitter's owner Elon Musk is asking users of the social media platform to vote on his future as its chief executive officer. In a poll to his 122 million followers, he tweeted: "Should I step down as head... I will abide by the results..." The technology tycoon, who also runs Tesla and Space X, has faced tremendous criticism since taking over Twitter. After a major legal battle, Mr. Musk took control of the company in October in a $44bn (£36bn) deal. It comes as Twitter says it will shut down accounts solely designed to promote other social media platforms. The measure would also affect accounts that link off to or contain usernames from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post, the company said in a tweet. But cross-content posting from other sites will still be allowed. Former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, who recently invested in Nostr, replied to the Twitter post with one word: "Why?". In a reply to another user posting about the Nostr promotion ban, Dorsey said, "doesn't make sense". On Saturday, Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz was suspended for breaking the new rule before it had been formally announced. After being reinstated on Sunday she posted a link to the tweet she claimed got her barred. Twitter had already blocked users from sharing some links to Mastodon, the platform many Twitter users moved to after Mr Musk's takeover. But in a series of tweets on Sunday Twitter said: "We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter. "Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames for the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post." Examples of possible violations could include tweets such as "follow me @username on Instagram" or "check out my profile on Facebook - facebook.com/username", it said in a blog setting out the details. Any attempts to bypass the restrictions would also be a breach, it added. Those who break the rules for the first time or as in an "isolated incident" could be asked to delete the offending tweets or be temporarily locked out of their accounts. But any subsequent offenses "will result in permanent suspension", it said. Users can continue to post content to Twitter from prohibited platforms, however, and paid adverts from those sites will still be allowed. A few hours after the announcement, Mr Musk appeared to contradict it by tweeting that "casually sharing occasional links is fine, but no more relentless advertising of competitors for free, which is absurd in the extreme". Meanwhile, the boss of Post, one of the prohibited platforms, promoted his site in a tweet following the announcement. "We make it easy to add all your social media links to your profile since none of us only use one platform," Noam Bardin tweeted, adding "Freedom = Choice." There has been flurry of controversial changes at Twitter since Mr Musk bought the social media site for $44bn (£36bn) in October. He has fired around half of its staff and attempted a chaotic rollout of Twitter's paid-for verification feature before putting it on pause. The feature was relaunched last week. The billionaire's approach to content moderation has also been criticised, with some civil liberties groups accusing him of taking steps that will increase hate speech and misinformation. On Friday, he reinstated a number of journalists he had suspended for allegedly sharing location data about him after the EU and UN called it an attack on press freedom. Reporters for the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were among those locked out of their accounts. Source: BBC

Brittney Griner is opening up about her return home for the first time. The WNBA star, who returned to the U.S. last week after a prisoner swap with Russia, was detained in the country for 10 months. On Friday, Griner shared a long Instagram post about her return to the U.S. and her plans for the future. "It feels so good to be home! The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn," she wrote. "I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help." Her post included photos of her stepping off the plane and embracing her wife, Cherelle. Griner, a center for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, said she intends to return to play for the team this season. She was in Russia to play in the country's basketball league during the WNBA offseason when she was detained at an airport in February. She later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the discovery of cannabis-derived oil cartridges in her luggage. Griner said she didn't mean to bring the cartridges with her when she traveled to the country, but was sentenced to nine years in prison. She was released last week in a one-for-one prisoner swap for notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout, bringing an end to an ordeal that sparked intense high-level negotiations between the Washington and the Moscow to secure her freedom. In her Instagram post, Griner thanked her wife, family, lawyers, the WNBA and its players, the Biden-Harris administration, as well as the activists and organizations who helped campaign for her safe return from Russia. To secure Griner's release, President Biden signed a commutation order for Bout, cutting short his 25-year federal prison sentence. CBS News was first to report the swap, which took place in the United Arab Emirates. On Friday, Griner thanked Mr. Biden for not only bringing her home, but for being committed to bringing home Paul Whelan and other Americans detained overseas. She vowed to use her own public stature to assist in that effort. "I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole," Griner wrote. Whelan, a Marine veteran, has been held in Russia since 2018, and efforts to include him in the swap with Griner were rebuffed by Russia. When Griner first arrived back in the U.S., she was taken to San Antonio to be assessed by doctors, and she expressed thanks to them in her statement as well. "As I transition home to enjoy the holidays with my family, I want to acknowledge and thank the entire PISA staff and medical team at the San Antonio Fort Sam Houston Base. I appreciate the time and care to make sure I was okay and equipped with the tools for this new journey," she said. Griner concluded by saying: "I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say 'thank you' to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon." The WNBA star has already started getting back to playing basketball. She shot hoops at Fort Sam in Houston just a couple of days after her return, and according to ESPN, her first move was a dunk. Source: CBS News

A rare edition of the first Harry Potter book, never released to the public, has been auctioned for £8,000. The copy, which was signed by author JK Rowling, was one of only 15 produced for a competition to mark the 15th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It was awarded to entrant Chloe Esslemont, then aged 16, from Cumbria. Auctioneers had described it as "particularly scarce" as there was no record of similar copies being sold. Publisher Bloomsbury organised the competition in 2012 and asked fans of the series to write a colourful letter explaining why they loved it. Entries could only be submitted through specially-designed post boxes at participating bookshops and libraries. The overall winner received one of the leather-bound books and a holiday to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal theme park in Florida. Ms Esslemont, then 16, was one of the runners-up who also received a book. She said she had "kept the book wrapped up in the attic for years" but had decided to part with it as "the money would be useful now". The book, which contained a dedication to her, was sold along with her original competition entry which was in the form of a folding document inspired by the series' magical Marauder's Map. Hansons Auctioneers, in Staffordshire, said there had been "lots of interest". Speaking earlier this month, the firm's book expert Jim Spencer gave a guide price of £5,000-£10,000.   Source: BBC

In the span of three weeks, shootings in Atlanta have killed four children between the ages of 11 and 16, and Mayor Andre Dickens said Sunday the recent trend is unacceptable. “A week before Christmas, families should be preparing to celebrate,” Dickens wrote in a statement. “Instead, we have parents in Atlanta doing what no parent should ever have to do: laying their children to rest.” Dickens wrote these last few weeks “have shown all too clearly that Atlanta is not immune from this unacceptable trend.” The most recent shooting took place Saturday evening at an apartment complex when two teens were killed and three others were injured, according to Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. with the city’s police department. Hampton said the shooting appeared to start as some sort of dispute on social media that escalated into gunfire between two groups. One group of individuals came to the apartment complex with guns. However, it was the second group at that location who opened fire on the first group of individuals, according to Hampton. The victims in this shooting were identified as two boys – ages 14 and 16 – who were dead when police arrived on scene, Hampton said. The injured victims included an 11-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, who were all taken to a local hospital. Police are currently interviewing several individuals to see what their involvement was in the shooting. “This should be a time where we all should be getting ready for the holidays, but we have at least two families that will be planning funerals,” Hampton said. This follows the shooting at Atlantic Station, a popular shopping district, on November 26 that left two boys dead. Those victims were identified as Zyion Charles, 12, and Cameron Jackson, 15. Police said that shooting occurred after a “group of juveniles” were escorted off Atlantic Station property for “unruly behavior” and violating the retail district’s curfew. The group then moved to 17th Street, where the dispute occurred and gunfire erupted. Zyion died at the scene. But it was Cameron, who succumbed to his injuries several days later, who was the intended target of the shooting, police said. Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were arrested in connection with this shooting. Each of them face two murder charges along with charges of aggravated assault and criminal gang activity, Hampton said. Source: CNN News

Kiribati's transport boss says his ministry aims to re-establish air service connections to the Line Islands. The Minister of Information, Communication and Transport, Tekeeua Tarati, said part of the work is to upgrade the runways in Fanning and Washington islands. Radio Kiribati reports the minister saying the Ministry for Line and Phoenix Islands Development has said it will assist to clear trees and cut the lawn on the islands' airstrips. Once these runways are certified by relevant authorities, the government will send one Twin Otter aircraft to station on Christmas Island. Meanwhile, the Government's new barge has undertaken its maiden domestic voyage to Maiana to deliver cargo. A report from the Kiribati National Shipping Line said unloading of cargoes from the barge was easy and fast because the ramp is landed on the beach. This should ensure there are no more problems with the loading and unloading of cargoes in the outer islands with the arrival of the new barge Te Motinnano. Source: rnz.com