ADDICTION IN AFGHANISTAN

At a sprawling rehabilitation center on the outskirts of Kabul, dozens of dazed-looking drug addicts clamber out of police buses and shuffle toward the facility.

For 25-year-old Sulaiman, one of the 40 or so men arriving for treatment, the physical impact of the drug -- known locally as "shisha" or glass -- is evident: sunken eyes and hollow cheeks paint a picture of meth addiction familiar in many Western nations.

Read more: http://u.afp.com/JFsr

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Residents of Algiers react to former prime minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune being sworn in as the new president of protest-hit Algeria, a week after winning a widely boycotted election.
Read more: http://u.afp.com/JFeo

https://www.facebook.com/AFPnewsenglish/videos/2479108635710077/?t=22

In hostile Sahel, French troops battle an elusive foe.

AFP embeds with French and local troops for two weeks while the soldiers try to flush militants out of the forests and swamps of the border region of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Full story: http://u.afp.com/JF8s

https://www.facebook.com/AFPnewsenglish/videos/2645916325498435/

Triassic Park.

Millions of years before the arrival of the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, another fearsome dinosaur -- the Gnathovorax -- roamed what is now southern Brazil, ripping apart its prey with sharp teeth.

Full story: http://u.afp.com/JF7d

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Millions of years before the arrival of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, another fearsome dinosaur -- the Gnathovorax -- roamed what is now southern Brazil.

Measuring nearly 10 feet long, it was the biggest dinosaur of its time and ripped apart prey with its sharp teeth.

http://u.afp.com/JF2A

https://www.facebook.com/AFPnewsenglish/videos/571669116899804/?t=0

UCP IS ROBBING THE FUTURE OF CURRENT AND POTENTIAL STUDENTS AS WELL AS THAT OF THE PROVINCE AS A WHOLE

Change Alberta

I sympathize wholly with Brittany Steel, the low-income, first-generation university student at MacEwan. As a kid from a working-class family with six children and no money in the bank, I was always a bit leery about my parents' insistence that we all had to go to university. University tuition in the mid-1960s was a smaller fraction of average household income than it is now. But when a family's income is far lower than the average, and there are no savings despite the fact that the family spends nothing on anything beyond necessities--no one in our household smoke, drank, or gambled, and we did not go anywhere on vacations--the prospects of paying tuition fees and costs for books and transportation seem daunting. So, although I had the highest grades in my school for several years, I figured that my parents' goals for me were a pipe dream. Fortunately, I landed a scholarship and a well-paying part-time job from a large industrial association in grade 10--it was a Horatio Alger story. Four of my five siblings also managed to attend university. But I knew fellow students who simply could not go on to post-secondary studies because their families needed them to bring in an income.

Brittany's situation is more precarious than mine was because, as an out-of-towner, she has rent and food to pay for which I didn't. She correctly notes that, as tough as she had it or that my fellow students had it, it is going to be tougher for future students. They will be paying far more for tuition than she had to pay during the NDP years of tuition freezes. They will be stuck with even higher debts after graduation than past students. And the cuts at the universities will mean fewer services for struggling students and larger classrooms with less individualized contact during and after classes with instructors. Fewer will be able to graduate.

A more educated workforce everywhere leads to greater economic productivity, greater economic equality, and better social statistics overall. There's lots of academic literature that demonstrates this with quantitative and qualitative data. But what do the UCP care? As long as their corporate funders are happy, what do they care if the hopes and dreams of future Alvin Finkels or Brittany Steels from low-income households are stolen? What do they care if a province that they intend to leave with stranded assets and no economic diversification has a highly educated workforce?

'This is our future': Students, NDP urge government to reverse post-secondary funding cuts
The night before the MacEwan board of governors will consider hiking tuition fees by 9.7 per cent, Edmonton post-secondary students and the NDP called on the UCP government to reverse funding cuts …

Justin Trudeau orders Santa Claus to avoid Saskatchewan and Alberta

by A.L. FORD
Special to The Beaverton

Photo Credit


OTTAWA – Still angry over the election results and their threats to separate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered Santa Claus not to drop off any presents to families living in Saskatchewan and Alberta on Christmas Eve.

“On election night Alberta and Saskatchewan delivered us a clear message. But now it’s my turn to send a message in response,” said Trudeau during his annual North Pole call to Santa. “And that message is: you suck, and you deserve a sucky Christmas.”

“Everyone with a cowboy hat or an I Heart Oil & Gas shirt must go immediately on the naughty list! ” he added.

This is only the latest in a long line of Trudeau family actions against the West. After his Liberals didn’t win any Alberta seats in the 1974 election Pierre Trudeau forbid the easter bunny from delivering eggs to Alberta children, no matter how hard they searched. Similarly when his party fared poorly in the GTA during the 2008 election, Stephen Harper forbid Jesus from answering any Torontonians’ prayers.

Sources said Santa, a strong Liberal who always supports the party by wearing that famous red suit, was not surprised by the PM’s instructions. However he did refuse Trudeau’s further demand to dump a ton of coal on Calgary.

“Of course it’s hard to see disappointment on the rosy cheeked faces of all the little boys and girls of the Prairies,” said St. Nick. “But then again, if they wanted that Peppa Pig doll, maybe they should have convinced their parents to do a little strategic voting.”

Fortunately for Alberta and Saskatchewan children, Andrew Scheer has reportedly already bought a Santa suit for Jason Kenney as a backup for the big night.

ALBERTA

Train carrying fresh water derails, contaminating Alberta’s oil sands

The Beaverton by ALEX HUNTLEY(@AJHUNTLEY)

Photo Credit


Fort McMurray, AB – A freight train carrying over 50,000 litres of fresh water has derailed, devastating several open pit mines and tailing ponds in the Fort McMurray area.

No injuries were reported when 12 cars of pristine river water from British Columbia jumped the tracks and plunged into an open pit being mined for heavy crude and bitumen.

However, at least three of the double-hulled containers ruptured on impact covering the mine in a chemical known as dihydrogen monoxide or H20. Helpless oil workers looked on in disbelief as a small pond of water began to form over their work site.

Officials from Alberta highways, environmental services, hazardous materials, emergency services, the Canadian Association for Petroleum Producers, and CP called for an immediate evacuation for area residents affected by the water spill.

“We are testing [oil] wells, pipelines, and even gas stations to see if any water has seeped into our ecologically devastated environment,” explained a CAPP representative. “I would like to commend the quick response of our team. They’ve already begun deploying booms to ward off any further contamination and skimming the water off of bitumen.”

Clean-up from the spill is expected to take weeks and oil specialists say there is a risk that the water may attract wildlife by making the area habitable to organic life again.

Hundreds of oil-conscious citizens have volunteered to re-apply oily bitumen to geese and other waterfowl who may have had it washed off during the water spill.

The accident is yet another illustration of the dangers of transporting water, say some activists who believe that water should be left in the ground and not risk further catastrophe.

“Canada needs to transition itself off of a water-based economy,” explained one of the advocates. “We owe it to our children to finally end our dependence on water and move to a more sustainable like a cola-based economy.”

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MY MEMES

What is love? It depends on what language you speak.

The English word "love" can be translated as "sevgi" in Turkish and "szerelem" in Hungarian -- but does the concept carry the same meaning for speakers of all three tongues?

Full story: http://u.afp.com/JF7S

AFP XMAS STORIES

Santa Claus figurines in a toy store in Paris.

📸 Aurore Mesenge

Merry Christmas Mr Tree.

Street performer Thomas Liberto from Bel Air, Maryland -- who goes by the social media name "Mr. Christmas Tree" -- likes to travel to New York during the holiday season to check out the competition and bring a little cheer.

📸 Timothy A. Clary