New Year’s Eve

World: Russian security forces are on terror alert after two bombings in Volgograd. It’s a security embarrassment and a danger with the Winter Olympics just weeks away. Volgograd is a train hub for people travelling to Sochi on the Black Sea for the winter games. Olympic President Thomas Bach said in a statement, “I am certain that everything will be done to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Olympic Games.”  He better hope. 

• Israel freed more than two-dozen Palestinian prisoners, many of them held for killings, as part of a US deal to jump start peace talks. Palestinians celebrated and Israelis protested. Amid angry complaints about perceived weakness, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to balance the prisoner release with more settlement building in Palestinian territory.
• Talks between the government and rebels in South Sudan are scheduled to begin today in Ethiopia.

Off the Rails: A train carrying crude oil in North Dakota collided with another train carrying soybeans, resulting in a series of explosions that left 10 train cars in flames. The accident happened at about 3:30 pm yesterday outside Casselton, ND. It’s another in a series of recent accidents involving trains carrying oil from fields not served by pipelines.

Frozen: Bad weather is preventing rescue ships from reaching a Russian research vessel frozen in Antarctic ice for a week. If icebreakers can’t get through, people may have to be pulled out by helicopter, but only if weather permits. The plan is to remove 52 passengers, but leave the crew of 22.

Egypt: Egyptian authorities Sunday night detained four Al Jazeera network journalists after they made a live broadcast from a Cairo hotel room with a leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The interior ministry said, they “made live broadcasts of news that harms homeland security, spreading rumors and false news to Qatar’s Al Jazeera channel without permits.” Al Jazeera has demanded their release.

Nation: The family of a California teenager left brain dead after a routine tonsillectomy is fighting to keep her on life support despite a hopeless prognosis. Jahi McMath, 13, went into cardiac arrest after the surgery and could not be revived. The hospital where she had the surgery wants to turn off her life support, but a judge ordered a delay until January 7^th. The family is searching for a facility to take their daughter, but none have accepted.

Black Monday: They should call it pink Monday, because the day after the end of the regular NFL season is when losing coaches get their pink slips. Teams that kicked their coach to the curb are The Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which fired both the coach and general manager. The Cleveland Browns were so anxious they fired their coach Sunday night at the end of his first season with 4-12 record.

The Rich Are Different: The NY Times reports that New York’s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $650 million of his own money on being mayor over the 12 years he held office. Bloomberg paid for private jet travel for himself and staff, meals, election campaigns, and $5 million for renovation of the mayoral mansion he never lived in. The job pays $225,000 a year.

So Long, 2013: The Rooney Report would like to give special thanks to Anthony Weiner, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Eliot Spitzer, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, the designers of the Obamacare website, Edward Snowden, Whitey Bulger, A-Rod, Miley Cyrus, the NSA, and Congress. 

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