Since 2010, the northeast has comprised 4% of the UK population, contributed just 3% of the country’s gross value added (GVA), and accounted for only 2% of the economy’s new jobs

Those figures are 11%, 9%, and 7%, respectively, in the northwest; and 8%, 6.5%, and 6%, respectively, in Yorkshire and Humberside. By contrast, London and the southeast have accounted for 26.8% of population, 37.7% of GVA, and 39% of new jobs. In fact, since 2010, half of all new jobs were created in London, the southeast, and the east. A 2016 study by University of Groningen economist Philip McCann found that the UK’s regional income gaps rival the worst in Europe. Average disposable household income in the Greater London area is 60% higher than in most other regions of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Moreover, according to the latest Eurostat data, average per capita GDP (in terms of purchasing power parity) in the Welsh and Tees Valleys is, respectively, 69% and 74% lower than the EU average, placing them below Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Overall, North England, Wales, and Northern Ireland’s per capita GDP levels are lower than Mississippi and West Virginia’s.

California has still not finished counting the votes from Election Day 2016!

Could California's slow counting skills have anything to do with its large Hispanic population?

Ohio State attacker has been identified as teen refugee from Somalia

The FBI has joined the investigation into the car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University that left nine people injured and the assailant dead. The suspect is Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an 18-year-old Somali refugee who attended the school. He reportedly left Somalia in 2007 with his family, moved to Pakistan, and came to the United States in 2014. Witnesses say that a car plowed into a group of students and the assailant then got out with a butcher knife and began stabbing people. A campus police officer fatally shot him within a minute. Federal law enforcement officials have been worried about precisely this kind of an attack because of a recent wave of extremist propaganda online encouraging the strategy. One of the victims was critically injured. "I thought it was an accident initially until I saw the guy come out with a knife," says one student. The attack happened outside Watts Hall where students were congregating outside because of a reported gas leak in the building. It was unclear whether the report of the leak was related to the attack. Another witness said that the assailant had a "crazy look in his eyes." He says that the responding officer shot the assailant because the "stabber clearly wasn't stopping."

Donald Trump won the presidency with less support from black and Hispanic voters than any president in at least 40 years

Trump was elected with 8% of the black vote, 28% of the Hispanic vote and 27% of the Asian-American vote, according to the Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll. Among black voters, his showing was comparable to the 9% captured by George W. Bush in 2000 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.

The 10 poorest countries in the world are all in Africa

Many Americans make more in a week than residents in some of the poorest countries earn in an entire year, according to a ranking of the poorest countries in the world based on gross national income (GNI). GNI includes residents' net incomes as well as the country's gross domestic product. Here are the 10 poorest countries by GNI per capita:

Democratic Republic of Congo: $680

Liberia: $683

Burundi: $691

Niger: $889

Guinea: $1,058

Malawi: $1,073

Mozambique: $1,098

Togo: $1,262

Madagascar: $1,320

Comoros: $1,361

Chicago police said that charges could be announced soon in the fatal shooting of a black congressman's grandson following an argument over a pair of basketball shoes

"First-degree murder charges are expected," a police representative said. Officer Michelle Tannehill said that two juveniles are in custody and are considered suspects in the killing of 15-year-old Javon Wilson, who was shot in the head at his home in Chicago. Javon is the grandson of longtime US Rep. Danny Davis. Police said that the shooting stemmed from a dispute over basketball shoes. Javon knew his attackers and they may have been friends at some point. Davis said that a 15-year-old boy had traded slacks for shoes with Javon's 14-year-old brother, but thought better of the trade and went to Javon's house with a 17-year-old girl. He said that the pair forced their way in the house and argued with Javon before the boy pulled a gun and fired.

Oberlin fires black professor over anti-Semitism

Oberlin College has dismissed Joy Karega, an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition, following an investigation into anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements she made on social media - including her assertion that ISIS is really an arm of Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies and that Israel was behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. The college initially affirmed Karega’s right to academic freedom when her inflammatory statements surfaced earlier in 2016, but placed her on leave in August, pending an investigation into her conduct. Beyond concerns about anti-Semitism, which fit into larger complaints about escalating anti-Jewish rhetoric on campus, Karega’s case has raised questions about whether academic freedom covers statements that have no basis in fact. Oberlin’s Board of Trustees ultimately voted to dismiss Karega for “failing to meet the academic standards that Oberlin requires of its faculty and failing to demonstrate intellectual honesty,” the college said in a statement. The vote followed “extensive consideration and a comprehensive review of recommendations from multiple faculty committees,” and from President Marvin Krislov. Karega’s dismissal is effective immediately. Karega said that she intends to "challenge the college's decision and assault on my substantive rights through all the avenues I have available to me." She said that her Facebook posts were taken out of their original contexts and "grossly misrepresented" for political purposes. "Since the publication of the posts, I have been inundated with hundreds of hatemail filled with slurs (racial, misogynist, classist), harassment and threats," she said. "To add insult to injury, for the last eight months, Oberlin has campaigned to implicate my professional fitness using arbitrary, inequitable and discriminatory practices. Indeed, the college launched an assault on my substantive rights."

England and Wales: Black men were over three times more likely to be arrested than white men in 2014

Black individuals account for about 3% of the total population of England and Wales yet make up about 9% of defendants prosecuted for indictable offenses. Twice as many black women were jailed for drug offenses in 2014, comparative to the rate of white women, while young black males were more than 10 times more likely than young white males to be arrested for robbery. Men from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were also more than 16% more likely than white men to be remanded in custody.

An Hispanic police officer who shot and killed a black man during a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota has been charged with second-degree manslaughter

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said that St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez, who is Latino, was not justified in using deadly force when he fired seven shots at Philando Castile on July 6, 2016. Castile's death led to massive protests and dozens of arrests.

A new study into male and female reactions to childhood trauma has revealed an interesting difference between the sexes

The anterior circular sulcus — a region of the brain associated with emotional awareness and empathy — was larger in boys who had experienced trauma versus a control group who hadn't, while in girls who had experienced trauma, the same region was actually smaller than the control group. The researchers said their findings emphasized that the sexes experienced post-traumatic recovery in different ways. The study was conducted by researchers at Stanford Medical School. The researchers used structural magnetic resonance imagining (sMRI) to examine the brains of 59 children (29 in the control group, 30 in the test group) between the ages of nine and 17. With such a small, broad group, the researchers were hesitant to draw any firm conclusions, saying that further, more specific research was needed to prove a causation. Says the lead author: "Our findings suggest it is possible that boys and girls could exhibit different trauma symptoms and that they might benefit from different approaches to treatment."

U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch says that it’s time for the Democratic Party to get back to its roots and refocus on speaking about the issues facing white, blue-collar workers now that the Republican Party has seized control of the White House and retained both the House and Senate

“This is a rebuilding year, I think we have to look at the results and where our weaknesses are,” an introspective Lynch said, three days after President-elect Donald Trump cruised to a surprise victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “We are very, very progressive and sometimes we overlook that there are people in this country who struggle who happen to be white,” Lynch said. “They are going to work every day and they haven’t had a raise in a long, long time, but the Democrats don’t talk much about them.” White voters, who made up roughly 70% of the electorate, overwhelmingly supported Trump over Clinton by 21 points, according to exit polling data. Clinton also underperformed among black, Hispanic and young voters compared to Barack Obama, data shows. “We lost a lot of the white, blue-collar vote, and that’s troubling, that’s my base,” the South Boston Democrat said. “I think we need to talk about them a little bit.” Lynch said that he is not sure who will replace interim Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile, but said that he expects a national search in the hopes of finding a good person. Lynch lamented critical missteps by the Clinton campaign, including failing to put resources into Wisconsin and only mounting a last-minute push in Michigan, two states in Clinton’s so-called “firewall” that ended up going to Trump. “I don’t know who is responsible for identifying those critical states, but we missed the picture in Michigan, we missed it again in Wisconsin,” Lynch said. “Everybody has 20/20 vision in hindsight.” Lynch was one of several Bay State pols who took part in get-out-the-vote efforts for Clinton in New Hampshire, a state that she narrowly won.

Barack Obama didn't improve the lives of black Americans

Even some blacks are willing to admit that Obama was a bad president.

Michael Moore defends Donald Trump's voters

Says that it is wrong to call them racists.

Journalist Monisha Rajesh calls for Donald Trump's assassination

Will she be arrested?

Trump beat Hillary amongst white voters in New York State

Both candidates live in liberal New York, but Trump defeated Clinton by six points among whites in the Empire State. Among white men, Trump crushed Hillary 59%-36% in the state of New York.

African-Americans have more rigidity of the aorta, the major artery supplying oxygen-rich blood to the body, than whites and Hispanics, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists

The finding is important because African-Americans are the group at greatest risk of high blood pressure and organ damage caused by high blood pressure, and aortic rigidity is associated with high blood pressure. The study examined data from some 2,500 participants in the Dallas Heart Study, a multi-ethnic population-based cohort. The researchers used two methods to assess stiffness of the aorta, which is the largest artery in the body, running from the top of the left ventricle in the heart down to the abdomen. Both systems of measurement found greater stiffness in the aortas of African-Americans. "Our demonstration of ethnic differences in arterial stiffness is an important step in understanding the mechanisms that mediate ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Wanpen Vongpatanasin, Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and co-senior author of the study. Hispanics in the study had an intermediate level of aortic stiffness, greater than whites, but less than that of African-Americans. The study found that both African-Americans and Hispanics had smaller diameter aortas, after adjustments were made for weight. "This finding suggests that there may be a mismatch between aortic diameter and adiposity, which contributes to the increased rigidity," said Dr. Vongpatanasin, who holds the Norman and Audrey Kaplan Chair in Hypertension and the Fredric L. Coe Professorship in Nephrolithiasis in Mineral Metabolism. Other possible mechanisms underlying the increased levels of aortic stiffness in African-Americans and Hispanics include greater sodium intake among African-Americans and Hispanics, lower intake of potassium, and genetic differences in collagen content. Collagen is a protein fiber that is a key component of connective tissue such as bone and artery walls. According to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 43% of African-American men and 45.7% of African-American women have hypertension, or high blood pressure, compared with 33.9% of white men and 31.3% of white women. "Hypertension is strongly associated with heart attack and stroke. Our study provides a potential explanation for excess risk of hypertension and resultant organ complication in African-Americans, who are at particularly high risk of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Vongpatanasin.

A young Muslim woman claimed that she was attacked and robbed of her headscarf and wallet by two men, one of whom wore a Trump hat, but police are now saying that it was a hoax

The attack supposedly took place in Louisiana where the woman is a student. I guess we will be seeing more of this type of hoax now that Donald Trump has been elected president.

A review of vote totals in the past two elections reveals that Trump 2016 would have defeated Obama 2012 in the electoral college

Apparently, Trump's success was not entirely due to the fact that Hillary Clinton was such an awful candidate.

Black journalist blames white women for Hillary Clinton's defeat

Accuses white women of being racists.

Poll: 70% of Jewish voters favored Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, with only 25% opting for Donald Trump

The national survey, which was commissioned by J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, again showed a community that trends more Democratic than the general population. “American Jews remain a bedrock Democratic constituency, with overwhelming disdain for Donald Trump,” J Street President Jeremy Ben Ami said. Jim Gerstein, the pollster, said that Jews continued to remain unstinting in their support of the Democratic party. “They voted for Clinton more than Hispanics did, more than any other religious group, including no religion,” Gerstein said. Trump’s percentage was less than the 30% garnered in 2012 by Mitt Romney in his loss to Barack Obama, but commensurate with the 24% won by George W. Bush in 2004. The group’s national results also comported with national exit polls carried out by a consortium of major media outlets showing Jews favoring Clinton over Trump 71%-24%.

Hillary Clinton failed to win enough black and Hispanic voters

By comparing Clinton's performance to Obama's in 2012 it is easy to see that she failed to appeal to a number of key voter groups. Groups that it was predicted she would have more support from. In 2012, a majority of over-50s backed Romney for the presidency, while Obama got the support of three in five of those aged under 30. In 2016, polling was showing that Trump's support among older sections of society had improved on Romney's figure - with 49% of over-65s supporting him, compared to 29% of 18 to 39-year-olds. This was hugely positive for Trump in the key swing state of Florida. Worth 29 electoral college votes, Florida's high over-65 population was expected to back the Republican candidate leaving Clinton in need of a solid turnout among younger voters if she was to win the state. However, the exit polls showed that Clinton's popularity among younger voters was much lower than Obama's. Of those voters aged under 30 years of age, only 55% backed Clinton compared to Obama's 60% in 2012. This might have proved enough to swing Florida towards Trump and it could also be a factor behind his victory in Pennsylvania - something which there was less expectation of. Exit polls show that Clinton's support among Hispanic voters was just 65%, down from Obama's 71% in 2012 while among black voters support was down from 93% to 88%. Meanwhile support among Hispanic voters was actually higher for Trump, at 29%, compared to the 27% Romney secured four years ago.

President Trump?

It looks as if Donald Trump has won the election but there has not been any official announcement as of this time.

Update (2:36 AM): Trump now has 276 electoral college votes making him officially the winner of the 2016 presidential election.

Hispanic uncle charged in the death of a child found in a well was in the United States illegally

Smith County Sheriffs have confirmed that Gustavo Zavala-Garcia, 24, has been charged with Capital Murder for the death of Kayla Gomez-Orozco, 10. “He’s given us information from him, and we’ve been able gather enough evidence in our investigation to charge him with that crime,” said Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith. A relative of the slain little girl, Zavala-Garcia was the lone suspect in the case. He illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers first encountered and lodged a detainer on Zavala-Garcia on October 10, 2014, after he was convicted in Smith County for assaulting a family member, which caused injury. He entered ICE custody on October 21, 2014 and was released on bond the same day. Deputies found Kayla’s body at a well that sits outside Garcia’s rental house. Kayla was last seen at a church in Bullard, 100 miles southeast of Dallas. An Amber Alert was issued for her after she disappeared from a Bullard Church that evening. A $60,000 reward was offered for her return and FBI agents organized a search party with the help of community members. They gathered in the parking lot at Bullard High School to look for Kayla. Volunteers wore bright-colored clothing during their search. The Amber Alert for the missing girl was discontinued after her body was found. Smith declined to release a cause of death or a possible motive, pending charges.

Magic and superstition in India leads to 4-year-old girl being dismembered

Recently, a 4-year-old girl went missing from her home in the Charaideo district of upper Assam, a mostly tribal state in northeast India. Then the child’s body was found in a forest about 75 to 90 yards from the Ratanpur tea estate where she lived with her parents. She had been decapitated and her arms had been severed. Both her arms and her head were found scattered near the body on the forest floor. The horrific dismembering was allegedly the result of a 14-year-old girl, who lived in the same village, losing her mobile phone. Wanting it back, her parents — Hanuman Bhumij and his wife, Many Bhumij — turned to black magic, police said. As Prasanta Phukan, an inspector in charge of the Sonari Police Station in Assam, said, many in the remote tribal area are uneducated and steeped in superstition. They conducted a prayer ritual that Phukan said was performed by Gul Mhammad Ali, also known as Gulam, a tantric, or black witch priest, in the village. With Gulam were his nephew Hajrat Ali and another assistant, Ariful Haqmulla. Part of the prayer ritual to retrieve the mobile phone included sacrificing the 4-year-old girl. On October 24, 2016 they allegedly kidnapped her and proceeded to horribly disfigure her, eventually killing her. Police have arrested Hanuman and Many, along with the two assistants in the ritual. Gulam, though, has fled. The 14-year-old who originally lost her phone was not arrested, since she is a minor. The family of the victim and the family that took part in the prayer ritual knew each other from living together in the same small village. Everyone involved, including the deceased child, are Adivasis, descendants of indigenous people in India who have been the objects of discrimination and exploitation in India for years. These communities tend to be poor and uneducated, generally working as laborers. Many of them tend to be deeply superstitious, and their belief systems can involve goddesses and witches. Crimes, particularly forms of ritual human sacrifice, stemming from these occult beliefs are not unheard of in more rural parts of India. One woman who was having night terrors abducted a 3-year-old on the advice of a “holy man.” She and two other men allegedly cut the boy’s nose, ears and hands off after covering him in ghee and sandalwood. They left his bleeding body in front of an image of Kali. In June 2016, to offer a more recent example, a 55-year-old man in a rural village in Jharkhand, a state in eastern India, was beheaded in what was allegedly a ritualistic sacrifice. The offering was meant to bring about a better harvest and more timely rains, police said. Police believe that the crime was carried out by the Orkas or Mudkatwa, which is an occultist group that buries human heads in paddy fields for better rains and harvest. Sometimes, though, beliefs are used to potentially cover up other motives. A week prior to the 55-year-old’s beheading, a 5-year-old was beheaded on the Rangapara Tea Estate in Assam. People living in the area blamed the crime on a tantric named Kali Puja. A mob lynched him, supposedly for this crime, though police later said that the child was killed over a monetary dispute and the lynched person was Nanu Mirdha, who was not a tantric. Meanwhile on the other side, those accused of being witches or black magic priests are often hunted and killed. In places where superstition and vigilantism overlap and small rumors can turn deadly, nearly 2,100 people accused of witchcraft have been killed between 2000 and 2012. This, though, might not come close to showing the breadth of the problem. “Like the proverbial tip of a very deep iceberg, available data hides much of the reality of a problem that is deeply ingrained in society,” stated New Delhi-based Partners for Law in Development. “It is only the most gruesome cases that are reported — most cases of witch-hunting go unreported and unrecorded.” This fear of black magic runs deeply through the community. In 2006, for example, a family of five — a tea plantation worker and his four children — were beheaded when several members of the Adivasi community at the Sadharu tea plantation became ill and died. “A trial was held to prove if Munda and his family were involved in casting evil spells in the tea garden that led to a bout of epidemics in the area,” police officer D Das said. “They said the killings would appease the gods.”

The German Interior Ministry wants to stop migrants ever reaching Europe's Mediterranean coast by picking them up at sea and returning them to Africa

In what would be a huge shift for a country with one of the most generous asylum policies, the ministry says that the European Union should adopt an Australian-style system under which migrants intercepted at sea are sent for processing at camps in third countries. The ministry's proposal calls for migrants picked up in the Mediterranean - most of whom set off from conflict-torn Libya - to be sent to Tunisia, Egypt or other north African states to apply for asylum from there. In related news, a 12-foot high barrier - higher than the Berlin Wall - is being erected in the German city of Munich to protect locals from young refugees who are set to move into the area. Locals campaigned for the wall, in the suburb of Neuperlach Süd, after authorities decided that some 160 young unaccompanied migrants will move into a large shelter which is less than 100 meters from a residential estate. Critics say that the wall is further proof of the alienation voters feel with Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy.

White children in Britain should be bussed into schools dominated by ethnic minorities to halt the rise of racial segregation, says report

Bussing was largely a disaster in the United States but leftists want to see the policy adopted in Britain.

France's interior minister has ordered the closure of four mosques that espoused a radical ideology, the latest such shutdowns among dozens since the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks

A state of emergency in France allows for the closing of places of worship where the preaching risks provoking hate, violence or acts of terrorism. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve ordered the mosques in the Paris region closed. "Under cover of religion, these places held meetings that in reality were aimed at promoting a radical ideology," the statement said. Dozens of mosques where radicalism thrived have been closed and non-citizens, including imams, expelled since the attacks that killed 130 people.

Sweden is on the brink of becoming a lawless state as the police force is losing the battle against unprecedented levels of crime and violence amid a growing migrant crisis

The Scandinavian country is facing an existential crisis with on average three police officers handing in their resignations a day. If the alarming trend continues, and police officers continue to resign more than 1,000 officers will have quit the service by New Years. Since the migrant crisis began last summer, Sweden has been hit by a series of brutal crimes and violent incidents. In 2015 alone Sweden, with a population of 9.5 million, received over 160,000 asylum applications and the country is expected to take as many as 190,000 refugees, or 2% of the population, by the end of 2016. Since the Second World War Sweden has prided itself on helping migrants who cross their borders despite some moves to the political right in recent years. But police have now admitted the force has reached breaching point as more than 50 areas in the country have now been placed on a “no-go zone” list. In February a report from Sweden's National Criminal Investigation Service announced there were 52 areas where officers would not cope with the levels of crime being committed. Sex assaults, drug dealing and children carrying weapons were just some of the incidents mentioned in the report. In September, Swedish officials were forced to add another three areas to the list. Now the Police Association have said they need at least 200 new officers to regain control in the south-east of the country. Thomas Stjernfeldt, from the region's police association, said: “We are missing extremely many officers in the operational sector, right now we need 200 more officers to be added to the force to establish a reasonable working environment in the southeast of Götaland.” Götaland is one of the regions in the country that has been hit hard by the car fire attacks, which have been occurring throughout Sweden. a number of the arsonist attacks in the city of Växjö, in Götaland, had been committed by frustrated migrants. Currently there are more than 6,000 suspected crimes that are unsolved in the area and 400 of these cases are suspected to be rapes, murder or attempted murder. Stjernfeldt said that the figures are alarming and police officers are constantly forced to work overtime in an attempt to solve the reported crimes. The Police Association admitted that it fears the public will lose faith in the force and their ability to protect citizens if the situation is not resolved. The union’s call for more resources echoes National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson’s February warning, where he said he needed a further 4,100 officers and specialist staff to reestablish law and order in Sweden.

More than two-thirds of people in the Republic would vote for a united Ireland, a new poll has revealed

The Sunday Business Post / Red C opinion poll found that there has been a slight rise in support for a united Ireland, with a similar survey from July 2016 showing that 65% were in favor of an end to partition. In the latest survey 67% of respondents said that they would like to see Irish unity as a by-product of Brexit. The findings represent a 10% jump in support for a united Ireland since Red C first posed the question for the Sunday Times in 2010. The shock Brexit result in June 2016 sparked a renewed debate about a referendum on the Irish border.