SYRIAN CHILDREN FOLLOW PATH TO PEACE

NYC OFFICIALS WANT FEDS TO PAY TRUMP SECURITY COSTS

Citing an “extraordinary financial burden,” two New York City officials are petitioning the federal government to pay the cost of securing President- elect Donald Trump’s family and home inside the Manhattan skyscraper that bears the incoming president’s name.

Melissa Mark Viverito, speaker of the New York City Council, and Councilman Dan Garodnick cite an estimated $ 1 million per day cost to secure Trump Tower.

“Many, many ordinary New Yorkers whose taxes contribute to New York’s budget strongly believe that the provision of security services for presidents- elect must be the obligation of the federal government,” the city officials said. “And accordingly, we believe that the cost of that obligation must be borne by the federal government, not the city of New York.”

“We already stretch our municipal budget to provide basic services, like police, sanitation and the education of 1.1 million public school students,” the officials said. “These services would suffer if we must divert funds to police protection.”

WALMART SETTLES FOR $ 7.5M IN SAME- SEX BENEFITS SUIT

Walmart is poised to pay millions of dollars to thousands of former and current employees after it agreed to settle a lawsuit claiming the company denied health insurance to same- sex spouses.

The retail giant, which denies the claims, OK’d the $ 7.5 million settlement, which would resolve a 2015 class- action lawsuit brought by a former employee. The settlement, which awaits court approval, was filed Friday in U. S. District Court in Massachusetts.

The proposed settlement says the $ 7.5 million would cover claims of those employees who weren’t able to obtain coverage for their same- sex spouse from 2011 to 2013. The company said the settlement includes “no more than a few thousand current and former Walmart associates.”

STUDENT SUSPECT HELD IN FATAL STABBING OF USC PROF

A psychology professor was fatally stabbed by a student during a dispute at the University of Southern California campus Friday night, authorities said.

In a letter addressed to the school community, USC president C. L. Max Nikias identified the professor killed as Bosco Tjan. Tjan, who joined the school in 2001, taught in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences department and served as co- director of Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center.

HASSAN AMMAR, AP Syrian children who were displaced with their families from eastern Aleppo play in the village of Jibreen on Saturday. Aid agencies say that more than 30,000 people have fled rebelheld eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo that have been under tight siege...