Lawrence O’Donnell Talks With Michael Griffin, A Teacher Fired After Planning To Marry His Partner.

(via How Winglets Work - Graphic - NYTimes.com)

Airlines are adopting ‘winglets’ at the end of wings and tails, in an effort to increase flight — and ultimately fuel —efficiencies. Winglets can cut fuel use by as much as 5%.

Airlines have also experimented with other weight reduction practices, like lighter paper in in-flight magazines, and replacing flight manuals with tablets.

Next we’ll see ticketing passengers by weight, since 1/3 of the cost of a flight is fuel.

VIDEO: Justin Bieber Mobbed by Tidal Wave of Girls During Panama Escape

Justin Bieber may be escaping his troubles while on a trip to Panama, but he can’t escape a…

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A fine run through the woods

Tricorder scammer arrested after defrauding investors of $800,000

Ethiopia hires French firm Lazard to secure credit rating-officials

By: Aaron Maasho

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has hired French investment bank and asset manager Lazard Ltd in a bid to select rating companies and secure its first credit rating, officials said on Thursday, which would pave the way for issuing a debut Eurobond.

In an October interview, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told Reuters that Addis Ababa planned "not only a Eurobond but other bonds as well" once it secured a rating.

Ethiopia has ruled out liberalising its state-owned banks or telecoms sector to foreigners saying the revenues generated for the state each year were spent on vital infrastructure projects.

But a Eurobond issue would give investors, who have snapped up sub-Saharan sovereignbonds, another route into Africa's second most populous nation, which is keen to shift its largely agrarian economy towards textiles and other manufacturing.

"We chose a French company. The second phase will be to initiate a rating for the country," Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia's minister for finance and economic development, told a businessforum attended by a delegation of 30 French firms.

Another official at the ministry told Reuters the government had hired Lazard Ltd, and that Addis Ababa expected the whole process to be finalised in a "few months".

The French delegation included officials from French banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.

Propelled by huge public spending on infrastructure and an expansion in services and agriculture, Ethiopia's economic output is set to grow 7.5 percent in each of the next two fiscal years, the IMF says.

The Washington-based body, however, has warned Ethiopia that its economy has reached a crossroads and, to prevent growth rates from falling, needs to be restructured to encourage more private sector investment. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; editing by George Obulutsa and Rosalind Russell)

This is the first trailer for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’

Next month Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World will be hitting theaters, but it’s already time to start looking ahead to what next year holds. This first trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier gives us a look at Chris Evans in the title role, along with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as the venerable Nick Fury, and Robert Redford. We liked the footage we saw earlier this year at San Diego Comic-Con, with directors Joe and Anthony Russo mentioning 1970s spy thrillers as a particular stylistic point of reference.