At least 48 journalists have been killed while doing their job in 2016 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Last year the figure was 72.
The organization stated 26 of the journalists killed in 2016 died in combat or crossfire, covering conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan and Somalia.
The group said just 18 of the journalists killed in 2016 were directly targeted in retaliation for their work – the lowest number since 2002.
Syria was the deadliest country for journalists for the fifth year in a row. At least 14 journalists were killed there in 2016.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has been tracking deaths among reporters and broadcasters since 1992.

Donald Trump, the US President elect thrives in appointing billionaires to assist him in his government. The billionaires included in his cabinet are Wilbur Ross, his pick as Commerce Secretary, Todd Ricketts, who is the nominee for deputy commerce secretary, Education secretary nominee Betsy De Vos, and Vincent Viola, who is Trump’s pick for secretary of the Army.

Carl Icahn, long notorious for asset stripping and destroying jobs, is the seventh billionaire to be assigned a major role in the Trump administration.

Icahn would serve as Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform under Trump.
According to Forbes he is worth $16.5 billion, making him the 50th richest man in the world.
Mr. Icahn, also controls an oil refiner and has spent months fighting the Environmental Protection Agency over a rule he says hurts the industry.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has retained his place at the top of the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful people. Donald Trump, has moved up from 72nd to number two on the list while Barack Obama plummeted to 48th place on the list.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, remains the most powerful woman, at number 3. China’s President Xi Jinping is fourth, with Pope Francis behind him. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranks ninth on the Forbes list of 74 of the World’s Most Powerful People.
British prime minister, Theresa May, is a new addition to the list at number 13.
The Forbes list, now in its eighth year, identifies 74 people – one for every 100 million on the planet – whose actions have the most impact across the world. Factors taken into consideration include the amount of people a person has power over, the financial resources they control, whether they have influence in more than one sphere, and how actively they wield their power to change the world.

An official Chinese newspaper called Donald Trump “as ignorant as a child” on Monday after the president-elect again suggested that he was reconsidering how America deals with Taiwan, one of the most sensitive issues in the relationship between the U.S. and China.

On Sunday Trump commented in a television interview that he wouldn’t feel “bound by a one-China policy unless they make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”
Beijing was already angered by Trump’s Dec. 2 call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, the first time an American president or president-elect has publicly spoken to a Taiwanese leader in nearly four decades.
Meanwhile, ‘Global Times’, a Chinese-language newspaper published and editorial headlined “Trump, please listen clearly: ‘One China’ cannot be traded.”
“China needs to launch a resolute struggle with him,” the editorial said. “Only after he’s hit some obstacles and truly understands that China and the rest of the world are not to be bullied will he gain some perception.”
“Many people might be surprised at how the new U.S. leader is truly a ‘businessman’ through-and-through,” the paper said, referring to Trump’s suggestion of using the “one China” policy as a bargaining chip. “But in the field of diplomacy, he is as ignorant as a child.”

Ghana’s opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo has won Ghana’s national election becoming president elect at the third attempt.

Akufo-Addo defeated President John Mahama by 53.8% to 44.4% declared electoral commissioner Charlotte Osei yesterday (9th), sparking scenes of celebration in the capital Accra.
Supporters of Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) cheered, danced and set off fireworks following an anxious day in which his victory had been broadly accepted but there were no official results.
Akufo-Addo, 72, served as foreign minister and attorney general in the NPP government that ruled between 2001 and 2009 and twice previously lost close battles for the presidency.
“I make this solemn pledge to you tonight: I will not let you down. I will do all in my power to live up to your hopes and expectations,” Akufo-Addo told a jubilant crowd in the garden of his residence.

Outgoing President Mahama called him to offer congratulations just before Osei’s statement and later he addressed his supporters.
“As president I have done my bit. I have made a contribution to the political, social and economic development of our country. I would have cherished an opportunity to do even more but I respect the will of the Ghanaian people,” he said.

Coastal residents in Japan were ordered to flee to higher ground today (22nd) morning after a strong earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 7.3 struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for waves of up to 3 meters (10 feet) in Fukushima, and a tsunami advisory for much of the rest of northeast Japan’s Pacific coast.
Tsunamis of up to 90 centimeters (3 feet) were recorded about an hour after the 6 a.m. earthquake.
Fukushima prefecture is home to the nuclear power plant that was destroyed by a huge tsunami following an offshore earthquake in 2011.
The operator of the plant said there were no abnormalities observed at the plant, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the magnitude at 6.9. The earthquake shook buildings in Tokyo, 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of the epicenter.
The meteorological agency said the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).
NHK urged people to evacuate immediately, reminding them of the devastating 2011 quake that killed about 18,000 people.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.