Who's Winning In Town That Predicts Presidents?

Thousands of fishermen flock here to catch the freshwater fish each summer, but this little town is also famous for a very different haul - hooking US presidents.

The voters here have an uncanny knack of naming the nation's next president. They're currently on a winning streak stretching back over 70 years to the election of Harry S Truman in 1944.

So that's 18 elections when this county has correctly chosen the presidential candidate to win Ohio. And as generations of hopeful politicians have found, if you don't win the swing state of Ohio you'll never get to the White House.

The people of Port Clinton say there's no great secret to being ballot barometers. They're just regular Americans, reflecting the average national household income of about $52,000 (£36,000).

So it seemed the ideal place for Sky News to get an indication of the next president nine months before election day.

In a town named Port Clinton you'd have thought they'd be hot for Hillary. But round at the Perfect Color hair salon, Ray Dinallo clearly wasn't keen on Mrs Clinton.

"No, I'd never vote for Hillary," Ray told me. "After the Benghazi affair and the email scandal, I don't think I could ever trust her."

Ray, an airline pilot, seemed to echo the views of many voters here when he told me he wasn't a typical Republican or Democrat. He just settles on the best candidate, whatever the party.

Next door at the Great Lakes Popcorn Co, Loria Hofer said she'd love to vote for Bill Clinton again. But she wasn't so sure about Hillary.

"I'm a Democrat and my husband's voting for Hillary. But I'm leaning towards Donald Trump."

As she stirred a pan of her legendary Wild Walleye cajun spiced popcorn, Loria told me: "I think Trump will stir the pot. I like it that he says it how it is."

But at Coffee Express, baristas Jamie and Curtis laughed out loud when I mentioned The Donald. "You heard him speak?" asked Curtis Kouts. "He's just crazy. We're both going for Hillary."

At a nearby table, Craig Olszewski, a coastguard known as Cookie, was less dismissive of Trump. But he was choosing between Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

As a Democrat, young teacher Lisa Heineman said she was backing Bernie. "I like Hillary. But it's Bernie Sanders for me because he's more radical and he'll take a risk on something new."

One thing that's as clear as the winter sky over Lake Erie - most people are fed up with central government and politics as usual. They're looking for an outsider, someone who will take on the establishment.

In Jim's Taxidermy shop, surrounded by the unseeing eyes of coyotes and bison, mountain lions and walleye, taxidermist Todd Wendt put me straight. He thinks Washington politicians are about as slippery as the fish he preserves.

"You see, we mount these critters, we don't stuff 'em, " Todd told me with graphic relish. "So I don't feel stuffed by the government. I feel mounted."

Todd wants someone in the White House, who'll give power back to the people. His choice - Senator Ted Cruz.

Port Clinton's new mayor, Hugh Wheeler, is a heavy vehicle mechanic by profession. And he clearly thinks whoever they back as the next president needs to do a repair job on the nation.

"Above all we need to renew the American Dream and make America great again," said Mayor Wheeler. "And I'm sure our new leader will get that message loud and clear."

With so many presidential candidates to choose from, it's hardly surprising that even the folk of Ohio are a little confused at this early stage of the campaign. But come November it's a fair bet that the walleye fishermen of Port Clinton will land another winner.

Cuba Year Zero

Last year, the United States flag was raised in Cuba for the first time in more than five decades, as diplomatic relations between the two states were unfrozen and the American embassy in Havana reopened.

This dramatic turnaround was preceded by a series of previously unthinkable shifts in policy enacted by the Cuban government, now led by Fidel Castro's brother, Raul.

The president has been opening up Cuba's economy since 2010, permitting Cubans to open private businesses and buy and sell property, while foreign companies can now invest in the island nation.

In three reports to be broadcast this month, we look at the reforms that appear to be bringing a return to capitalism ever closer and ask what these changes mean for Cuban citizens and the future of their socialist state.

In part one of Cuba Year Zero, we explore what it means for Cuba's socialism to make peace with the US government and ask if this decision reflects recognition by the state of a failure to empower its people.

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FILMMAKER'S VIEW

By Rodrigo Vazquez

In 2010, some 500,000 Cuban state employees were issued with licences to start private businesses, among them a group of flower-sellers who operate at a major crossroads in downtown Havana.

Today, the self-employed sellers have become considerably better off than their counterparts who continue to work for the state. "They have beautiful things … they always sell out first," one state seller said, lamenting the lack of diversity in stock provided to him by the government. But he, too, sees the economic changes and rapprochement with the United States as positive steps towards a better life for all in Cuba. "I think it's great. I have a lot of faith in that," he said.

Five years into the reforms, there are three times more restaurants and bars in Havana. But it hasn't all been plain sailing. Cuban would-be entrepreneurs have had to adjust to commercial realities that were previously alien to this country. New-found competition coupled with a lack of low-cost suppliers has caused many businesses to close their doors almost as soon as they opened.

In an attempt to better supply the market, the Cuban government has begun turning state companies into private cooperatives. But again, a lack of business acumen has prevented many from realising their potential. "Nobody knows anything, we all lack the training," says a worker from one such business, CNA Textiles. But despite these complaints, the employees at this cooperative have seen their income triple since it moved from state control to the private sector.

Amid such dramatic changes, observers might be forgiven for assuming that, these days, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara's war on profit-oriented capitalism is just a slogan on a wall. But not everyone is happy with the new rules.

"Ever since I can remember, we've been told that capitalism is a means of production that won't solve the world's problems," none other than Che Guevara's son Camilo said. "Now we have the proof that the world is being destroyed and that the human species is in danger."

But for their part, the authorities insist that opening up the economy won't stop Cuba from doing things differently. One example of an alternative model frequently put forward is the development of organic farms set up in the 1990s to boost food production. The Alamar cooperative began 20 years ago and has been remarkably successful, not just by providing something to eat for those who live and work in its fields; the profits it makes are also used to subsidise transport and electricity while providing free education and healthcare for the surrounding community.

A US and Cuban flag hang from the same balcony in Old Havana, Cuba [AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa]

But regardless of these achievements, Cuba is already showing signs that it is not impervious to the familiar driving forces that characterise capitalism in the rest of the western hemisphere. The new opportunities brought about by Raul Castro's reforms have begun to create a burgeoning middle class, but at the same time the government has been cutting down on social programmes for the poor.

Meanwhile, tourism has become the main channel for attracting much-needed US dollars, prompting the government to invest heavily in this area, and creating a bubble within which earnings far outstrip any other industry.

Once again, downtown Havana is showing the kind of discrepancies in wealth between its citizens that were last seen before the revolution. While one former guerrilla fighter, who entered Havana with Fidel Castro's forces in 1959, lived her final years in crowded squalor, four blocks away, one of her neighbours owns one of the city's most successful restaurants, which recently played host to six presidents in a single night.

Marc Jacobs Names Lipstick Shade After Princess Charlotte

Princess Charlotte might not be old enough to speak, but we bet she’d like to send a big “Mwah!” of thanks towards Marc Jacobs for naming his newest lipstick shade, “Charlotte,” after her — despite the fact that she won’t be wearing makeup for oh, another 13 years.

The lipstick, which is part of the brand’s Le Marc lip crème collection, was “inspired by the deepest saturated pink tones of an English rose,” Catherine Gore, global vice president and general manager of Marc Jacobs Beauty tellsWWD.

But don’t start running to Sephora just yet! As of now, “Charlotte” can only be purchased at Harrods in the U.K., where it was specially designed for the launch of Jacobs’ beauty brand in the famous department store. “We wanted to commemorate this major brand milestone by creating a custom shade of Le Marc lip crème,” Gore tells WWD of the lipstick.

Luckily, the Internet exists for those of whose obsessions fall right in the center of the “Marc Jacobs” and “Royal Babies” Venn Diagram, and “Charlotte” is available online at Harrods, and yes, they ship to the U.S. Sadly, though, we’ll have to wait a bit longer for its chubby-cheeked namesake to make her stateside debut.

How to Unlock Facebook’s Secret Hidden Game

Games like Farmville and Candy Crush Saga have exploded in popularity on Facebook over the years, but most users probably aren’t aware of the secret game hidden inside the company’s Messenger app.

By typing a quick phrase, any Facebook user can start a game of chess with another friend through Facebook’s website or Messenger app.

It’s not the best online chess experience, but it’s a fun little Easter egg to play around with.

Here’s how to play the game, which blog BetaNews recently noticed:

1. Start a conversation with a friend and type “@fbchess” play into the chat box. A chess board should appear in the Messenger window.
2. To move a piece, type the letter and space on the board that corresponds with the move you want to make. Each piece has its own letter symbol (p for pawn, etc.). If you wanted to move a pawn to the space labeled F3 on the board, you would type “@fbchess Pf3,” for example.
3. You can pull up instructions in the chat window by typing “@fbchess help.”
4. If you want to make the chess board larger, click or tap the settings cog and select “See full conversation.”

Does Ethiopia need international aid to cope with drought?

Ethiopia has been doing very well over the last 15 years or so.

Millions of people have been lifted out of poverty as the economy, jointly with Turkmenistan, has been growing faster than anywhere else in the world.

The double-digit growth is obvious from the building sites and the tower blocks rising up on every corner in the capital Addis Ababa.

The country has changed a great deal since 1984, when hundreds of thousands of people died of hunger.

Those terrible images of famine from more than 30 years ago still haunt Ethiopia. 

It was a time when war and political neglect turned drought into disaster, and for a government today with grand ambitions it's still a raw wound. 

Now it's a place with a confidence, only dented when the climate changes.

El Nino dried up the rainfall. 

Drought once again turned the land to dust.

It's facing as bad a drought as 1984 over a much wider area.

One man I met told me this is the worst drought he has seen in 45 years.

I met Ahmed Dubet Roble at a gathering of around 1,400 families in Fedeto. He had travelled from the barren countryside to ask for help.

He has lost everything.

Also there was Khadija Aden Abtidon, sitting by her little tent of sticks and cloth.

"We lost all our livestock," she said, "so we are here to seek support.

"There's no pasture, no water. We have never seen anything like this before."

In a warehouse in Dire Dawa I saw a huge tower of white maize sacks being loaded into an aid truck by a long line of men.

mblazoned with "Ministry of Agriculture". This is food the Ethiopian government had bought abroad, imported into Djibouti, transported via its new electrified railway and was delivering to its people.

The country has already committed more than $380m (£260m) of its own money to buying aid and using its new Chinese-built railway that cuts hundreds of miles through the parched countryside from the port in Djibouti.

But for all it has achieved, Ethiopia had to turn to the international community for help.

"The reason why we say we need support is not necessarily because everything is beyond the pale," said Communications Minister Getachew Reda, who says they will to everything to stop people dying for want of food.

"But rather, because the best way to maintain the gross trajectory and at the same insulate our people from disaster, is by working with our partners."

Ethiopia has worked hard on building its life savings - its developing economy - and by asking for help now it's trying to protect its family silver. 

With so many crises around the globe tackled too late, the aid world often ends up rushing the patient to life support having missed the chance to give preventative medicine.

What is complicated is the time it takes for money to be given and for the aid to be delivered - here it can take months.

Hundreds of millions have been given by international donors, but the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says only 46% of the $1.4bn needed has been given so far.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has less than a third of the money is says it needs to keep the aid coming.

"We need more funding and very quickly - immediately," said Oxfam's country director Ayman Omer.

"We need to work simultaneously on saving lives now and preparing for the next harvest.

"Even if the rain does come March to May that will definitely help in terms of water availability, but will not immediately result in harvest. The harvest season is up to November.

"It has been controlled so far, but much more is needed, otherwise we will get ourselves into problems."

The El Nino weather pattern has worsened the drought and if the next rains also fail, far more people will be affected, and those already needing help will need it far longer.

Drake Accepted a Ping Pong Challenge from a NBA Hall of Famer

Fans who follow Drake on social media know that he has a huge passion for basketball. The 29-year-old rapper often Instagrams photos of himself at both NBA and college-level matchups and tweets in support of his favorite teams. But while he loves to watch the game of hoops, playing is arguably not his greatest talent. However, there is a sport that Drake actually does excel at, and that is ping pong.
Now, thanks to a tweet from Reggie Miller, the 6 God will have a chance to combine his two pastimes. He will go head-to-head with the Hall of Fame guard in a game of table tennis over the NBA’s upcoming All-Star Weekend (Feb. 12-14). Miller issued the challenge on Thursday. “Working on my NBA All-Star plans and my peeps say @Drake is a master ping pong player, maybe he’s up for a match,” he tweeted.
Luckily for Drizzy, the three-day basketball exhibition is set to take place in Toronto, giving him the hometown advantage. Miller will obviously have to be on the lookout for any funny business.

UNICEF: At least 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM

There are at least 200 million girls and women around the world who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), with nearly a quarter of them being under the age of 14 when they were cut, according to a new report released by the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF) on Wednesday.

Exact numbers are hard to come by, as few of the 30 countries where FGM is practiced keep reliable data on the procedure, relying primarily on household surveys. However, this is the strongest dataset to date, said Claudia Cappa, who led UNICEF’s statistics team on the report.

“So now we know that the practice is more global than we originally thought,” she told Al Jazeera. Previous UNICEF surveys had the number of women and girls affected worldwide at roughly 125 million.

“If we go historically, the availability of the data was mostly concentrated in Africa for a very long time, because this is where it was believe that the practice existed,” said Cappa.

But UNICEF’s new data shows that FGM is done more commonly than previously thought in several Middle Eastern countries, as well as Central and South Asian countries. Cases have also been reported in North America and Australia, as well as Latin America.

Many of the countries where the practice is common, such as Yemen, carry out the procedure on infants in their first week of life. FGM is carried out for various reasons across many cultures, out of tribal tradition or other beliefs about tempering female behavior.

Female genital mutilation is a term used to describe a variety of practices that involve cutting female genitalia and sometimes stitching the labia shut. It can result in infection, infertility and, in some cases, death. 

The procedure is often carried out by traditional practitioners who lack proper medical training.

Although the practice is more widespread than previously known, Cappa said that overall the global prevalence of FGM is declining.

“The risk [of undergoing the procedure] overall has decreased for a girl,” she said. For instance, Burkina Faso and Egypt are among the countries where the practice is still common, though, she said, “less universal,” while FGM has all but disappeared in Togo.

Change ideas before laws

In trying to put an end to FGM, Cappa concedes that understanding why it’s done in the first place is crucial.

“The most commonly given reason [for doing FGM] by both men and women is ‘because of social acceptance’ … it’s something to be perceived as necessary for a girl to be accepted in a community where certain values and certain traditions are taking place — surrounding purity, for instance, virginity, marriageability of a girl,” she said.

Women think, she added, that this is what’s expected of them and their daughters. Successful initiatives, she said, are those that target those values and norms.

Even changing laws before changing social attitudes, said Cappa, will not yield real change.

For instance, FGM has been outlawed in Egypt since 2008. The country, where the UNICEF report indicates that 87 percent of girls and women between the ages of 15 and 19 underwent the procedure between 2004 and 2015, has seen only one FGM case in its courts.

Dr. Raslan Fadl was charged in the death of Soheir al-Batea. The 13-year-old girl died after undergoing the procedure carried out by Fadl. He was initially acquitted of the charges in November 2014 but was ultimately found guilty in January of 2015.

The verdict was lauded as “historic” by rights activists. 

However, National Public Radio reported in December that Fadl has not served a single day behind bars. He is still practicing medicine and working at a government hospital.

“Despite the first ever conviction for FGM in Egypt, by not apprehending and punishing the perpetrator, the authorities have sent a message to society that individuals won’t be punished for committing FGM, even those that result in deaths of girls,” said Rothna Begum, a researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights division.

“The Egyptian authorities should be doing far more, including adequately investigating cases and areas where FGM is being practiced, prosecuting such suspects and punishing those that are convicted,” she told Al Jazeera, adding that, unless the law is rigorously applied, “there will be many more Soheirs.”