Pearl Harbor survivors return after 74 years
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – A few dozen elderly men who survived the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor 74 years ago gathered Monday at the site to remember fellow servicemen who didn’t make it.
The U.S. Navy and National Park Service hosted a ceremony in remembrance of those killed on Dec. 7, 1941. About 3,000 people were expected to join the survivors.
Adm. Harry Harris, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific, said the day “must forever remain burned into the American consciousness.”
“For 74 years, we’ve remembered Pearl Harbor. We’ve remained vigilant. And today’s armed forces are ready to answer the alarm bell,” said Harris, who leads the U.S. Pacific Command.
Rifts persist in final week of climate talks
PARIS – The gravity of the ongoing Paris climate talks grew Monday, as high-level country ministers took up a still heavily bracketed draft agreement text and began trying to find common ground in key remaining areas of contention.
“This is the week that everyone has been waiting for, for years,” said Jennifer Morgan, head of the climate program at the World Resources Institute. “It’s when the decisions finally have to be made.”
Negotiations are being led by the host nation, France. President of the meeting Laurent Fabius, France’s foreign minister, called this the “week of hope” in a speech on Monday. Fabius has created pairings of key country ministers in order to hammer out the text in particularly difficult areas. He has said that by Thursday “at the latest” there will have to be a more “concrete” text. The final day of the conference is Friday.
The continuing divides underscore the cacophony inherent when close to 200 countries try to agree on momentous changes including how they will get energy, and how they will develop.
Catholic schools tweak Common Core testing
The backlash against standardized testing is rippling through some Roman Catholic schools as they balance the college-driven Common Core learning standards with spiritual goals.
The Diocese of Albany announced recently that it will reduce the frequency of the Common Core-aligned tests while sticking with the standards, which spell out skills students should master at each grade level from kindergarten through high school.
“Although the standards of the Common Core itself are good, the collateral pieces have caused great strife for families and teachers,” Superintendent Michael Pizzingrillo said.
Most popular tweets of 2015 announced
Of the 10 most popular messages posted to Twitter in the past year, one was written by President Barack Obama, one was written by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ... and five were written by current or former members of the boy-band One Direction.
That includes the No. 1 most popular tweet of 2015 – “All the love as always. H” – and the second, third, fifth and seventh tweets, respectively.
From this data, we can conclude two things: Teens still rule the social Web, and Harry Styles is the best member of One Direction.
Associated Press
