| Not much for Trump to be thankful for in latest impeachment news Posted: 27 Nov 2019 02:12 PM PST  While House Democrats concluded their public hearings last Thursday in the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, a flurry of new developments and disclosures this week appeared to increase the odds that he will become the third U.S. president to face a trial in the Senate that could (although most likely won't) end with his removal from office.
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| Are you 'brain-dead'? Turkey's Erdogan raps Macron before NATO summit Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:13 AM PST  ISTANBUL/PARIS (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Emmanuel Macron's warning that NATO was dying reflects a "sick and shallow" understanding, telling the French president "you should check whether you are brain dead". The comments drew a swift rebuke from the French foreign ministry, which summoned Turkey's ambassador to Paris to protest over what a French presidential adviser called "insults". Erdogan was speaking days ahead of a summit of the military alliance, which Macron has said is experiencing "brain death" because of U.S. unpredictability under President Donald Trump and strained ties with Turkey.
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| British teenager in gang rape case had no serious physical injuries, doctor tells Cyprus court Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:28 AM PST  A British teenager who claimed she was gang-raped by Israeli tourists in the party resort of Ayia Napa bore no physical signs of a serious sexual assault, a doctor told a court in Cyprus on Friday. Giving evidence for the prosecution, Dr Sophocles Sophocleous said he found a few light bruises on the young woman's thighs and some scratches on her legs but they were not, in his opinion, consistent with gang rape. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service describes as a "myth" the idea that a lack of physical injuries rules out a rape having taken place. The teenager claimed in July that she had been gang-raped in a hotel room by the group of Israeli men, but two weeks later signed a police statement in which she retracted the claims. She is on trial in a court in the town of Paralimni, a few miles from Ayia Napa's beaches and nightclubs, on a charge of public mischief for which she could be jailed for a year. She denies the charge. The alleged gang rape took place in party resort of Ayia Napa Credit: Getty Her lawyers insist that she was raped and that she only signed the statement because she was suffering from extreme trauma and was subjected to aggressive questioning by Cypriot police officers, without a lawyer or family member, for eight hours. Dr Sophocleous said he examined the young woman, who was then 18, after the alleged gang rape took place on July 17. "I did not see any signs of violence," he told the court. Some of the bruises on her legs were consistent with bumping into a piece of furniture, he said. Together with a gynaecologist, he examined her vagina but found no lesions or other injuries. Lawyers for the teenager said they would summon a Cambridge-educated pathologist who will tell the court next week that the absence of bruises does not mean that the teenager was not pinned down and raped. Michael Polak, a British barrister who is part of her legal team, said: "No one is saying she was kicked or punched or anything like that. She was pinned down and that's when the other youths got involved." The teenager will be cross-examined for two hours by the prosecution at the next hearing in the trial, on Tuesday. Under Cypriot law she had the option of staying silent in the dock, giving a statement to the court or subjecting herself to what is likely to be vigorous cross-examination. She chose the latter, with her lawyers saying she has "nothing to hide." "She will say exactly what happened to her on that night," said Mr Polak. "A rape took place."
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| Italian Police Uncover Plot to Create a New Nazi Party Posted: 28 Nov 2019 11:42 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Italian police arrested 19 far-right extremists in raids across the country that uncovered a cache of weapons and a range of Nazi paraphernalia.The suspects were trying to form the Italian National Socialist Workers Party and were making contacts in southern Europe, according to a police statement that said their operation, dubbed Black Shadows, was the result of two years of investigations.In arrests from Milan to a provincial town in central Sicily, the officers seized rifles, crossbows, swords and knives, as well as Nazi flags, photos of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and books on the late dictators.Members of the nascent party were planning to strike a headquarters of an organization dedicated to second World War partisans in Milan or Rome, daily la Repubblica reported. At least one ring leader, dubbed Miss Hitler, had attended a nationalist movement convention in Lisbon. Antonella Pavin, one of the organizers of the group, told Repubblica that "at Auschwitz, there were swimming pools, theaters, cinema. It wasn't the way it's been recounted."With hate crimes on the rise, it remains to be seen whether the probe will unveil a larger network and the extent of its ties to the mob. The police said the head trainer of the self-styled militia was a member of the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia.(Updates with leader's comments in penultimate paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in London at fjackson@bloomberg.net;Jerrold Colten in Milan at jcolten@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Karl MaierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Kamala Harris suffers new blow as aide resigns with scathing letter: 'I've never seen staff treated so poorly' Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:58 AM PST  A blistering resignation letter from a member of the Kamala Harris campaign paints a picture of low morale among staffers of a directionless campaign with "no real plan to win" ahead of the crucial Iowa caucus in 2020.According to the New York Times, the sentiments expressed in a letter from now-former state operations manager Kelly Mehlenbacher were corroborated by more than 50 current and former campaign staffers and allies, speaking largely on the condition of anonymity to disclose the campaign's many flaws and tactical errors, from focusing on the wrong states to targeting the wrong candidates, as a frustrated campaign staff draws closer to 2020 Democratic primaries, which at one point counted the California Senator as a likely star.
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| Europe joins climate protests ahead of UN meeting Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:05 AM PST  Tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets of Europe and Asia on Friday to make a fresh call for action against global warming, hoping to raise pressure on world leaders days before a UN climate summit. Carrying signs that read "One planet, one fight" and "The sea is rising, so must we", thousands flocked to Berlin's Brandenburg Gate for the latest "Fridays for Future" protest inspired by 16-year-old campaigner Greta Thunberg. Similar rallies took place across Europe, although on a smaller scale than during September's wave of "climate strikes" when organisers said some four million people filled city streets around the world.
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| A convicted German murderer won the right to have all mention of his crime scrubbed from internet search results under 'right to be forgotten' laws Posted: 28 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST  The man finished a life sentence in 2002 for shooting dead two people in 1981. He told the court he wants to live his new life free from his past.
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| GOP's closed-door conspiracy theory led to Hill's public rebuke Posted: 27 Nov 2019 10:29 AM PST  Russia expert Fiona Hill rebuked Republicans during the impeachment hearings for pushing a narrative about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. It was the false equivalence between Russia's systematic, government-driven campaign and the actions of a few Ukrainian individuals that created Hill's concern.
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| Sweden charges EU parliament member with sexual molestation Posted: 29 Nov 2019 03:39 AM PST ![Sweden charges EU parliament member with sexual molestation]( "Sweden charges EU parliament member with sexual molestation") Prosecutors on Friday charged a Swedish member of the European Parliament with sexual molestation, a move challenged by the politician, Peter Lundgren of the anti-immigrant nationalist party the Sweden Democrats. The Prosecution Authority said in a statement the alleged incident took place in a hotel room on the outskirts of Stockholm in March 2018. Lundgren was named in a court document as the person charged.
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| Dutch prosecutors charge isolated farm father with sex abuse Posted: 28 Nov 2019 04:23 AM PST  A Dutch father accused of holding six of his children against their will on an isolated farm for nine years is now also suspected of sexually abusing two of his other children, prosecutors said Thursday. The abuse allegations add a grim new element to a case that is shrouded in mystery and garnered huge attention across the Netherlands. The 67-year-old father and a 58-year-old man, who is reportedly an Austrian national and rented the farm to the family, are suspected of illegal deprivation of liberty and abuse for their alleged detention of six young adults on a farm in the rural farming village of Ruinerwold.
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| Unhappy Thanksgiving: Explosions at Texas chemical plant keep more than 50,000 out of their homes Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:14 AM PST  More than 50,000 people in southeast Texas remain under evacuation orders on Thanksgiving after two powerful explosions at a chemical plant.
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| Hong Kong Police End Campus Siege After Finding 3,989 Petrol Bombs Posted: 29 Nov 2019 01:37 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Police said they had lifted their blockade on Hong Kong Polytechnic University after officers cleared a campus that's been besieged for nearly two weeks amid a violent standoff with demonstrators.Chow Yat-ming, the city's assistant police commissioner, said Friday morning that he believes PolyU could be handed back to university management after dangerous items that remain on campus were removed. Firemen and a police safety team did a final sweep of the campus in the morning after searching every level of each building to handle hazardous items and collect evidence the day before.The police said they seized items including 3,989 petrol bombs, 1,339 explosive items and 601 bottles of corrosive liquids. Every floor on campus suffered various degrees of vandalism and damage, Chow said.Why Hong Kong's Universities Have Turned Into BattlegroundsPolyU urged the public not to enter the campus as it was still unsafe and will remain closed for repairs. But some people still walked around the school after police lifted their cordons, according to live television footage that also showed traffic had resumed in the area.The protests gripping Hong Kong for the past five months have brought unprecedented battles to the city's universities. Several saw extended sieges this month as demonstrators sought to paralyze parts of the city after anger flared over the Nov. 8 death of a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology student who had fallen near near an area where police were trying to disperse a protestThe 12-day siege of Kowloon's PolyU and its surrounding roads were the site of clashes between riot police and students, and initially raised fears of a crackdown on scores of protesters trapped inside. Jarring images from the school showed fires, clouds of tear gas and flaming vehicles.Why Hong Kong's 'Special Status' Is Touchy Territory: QuickTakeThe lockdown dragged on as police declared the situation a riot and remained waiting for protesters to leave on their own accord. People inside the campus meanwhile feared getting arrested for a rioting charge that carries a potential jail sentence of up to 10 years, or being treated unfairly by officers after their arrest. Some managed to escape.PolyU President Teng Jin-Guang said Friday that the situation could serve as a lesson for Hong Kong on how to emerge from crisis."I hope that the way we've done it, by taking a peaceful approach, could be a lesson we could learn from," he said. "We can have different political standings, views and perspectives, but we should be able to talk to each other peacefully, express our views, share our views, exchange our views rationally so that we can find the best solution for Hong Kong." Scores of protesters gathered in nearby Tsim Sha Tsui in support of the PolyU demonstrators late Thursday, while two other rallies were also held across the city, including one to thank Donald Trump and U.S. politicians for signing legislation expressing support for Hong Kong's demonstrators.The police said they didn't encounter any remaining protesters during their operations. In a statement, PolyU said that it also expects the cordon around campus to be removed by Friday after the government added manpower to expedite the disposal of hazardous materials that were widely scattered.(Updates with PolyU president comment)To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Jon HerskovitzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Zimbabwe facing 'man-made' starvation, UN expert warns Posted: 28 Nov 2019 05:40 PM PST  Zimbabwe is facing "man-made" starvation with 60 percent of the people failing to meet basic food needs, a UN special envoy said Thursday after touring the southern African country. Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, ranked Zimbabwe among the four top countries facing severe food shortages outside nations in conflict zones. "The people of Zimbabwe are slowly getting to a point of suffering a man-made starvation," she told a news conference in Harare, adding that eight million people would be affected by the end of the year.
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| Fired Navy secretary critical of Trump over SEAL case Posted: 28 Nov 2019 02:45 AM PST  Richard Spencer, who was fired at Navy secretary for his handling of a SEAL war crimes case championed by President Trump, wrote Wednesday that the commander in chief "has very little understanding" of how the American military works.
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| "Baby Trump" balloon flies at Florida rally Posted: 27 Nov 2019 05:32 PM PST  A similar version of the provocative balloon was slashed open with a knife earlier this month during the president's visit to a University of Alabama football game.
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| Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp fumes at 'attacks' over Senate appointment Posted: 27 Nov 2019 04:34 PM PST  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp pushed back on Wednesday against speculation over who he'll appoint to replace retiring Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson.
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| Pete Buttigieg phoned a black critic to 'listen'. Is this the best we can hope for? Posted: 27 Nov 2019 12:17 PM PST  It's telling that we are so grateful for the scraps thrown our way by powerful white men who make mistakesPete Buttigieg called the Root writer Michael Harriot following a piece calling him out over 2011 comments. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesThough he probably never had a chance, Pete Buttigieg's standing among black voters just got even lower.On Monday, the Root writer Michael Harriot penned a piece calling Buttigieg out after a video resurfaced from 2011, in which Buttigieg says that a lack of positive role models – not structural racism – is the reason kids from low-income, minority neighborhoods fare worse at school.> There are a lot of kids, especially in low income, minority neighborhoods, where they just haven't seen it work. There isn't someone they know personally who attests to the value of education.In Harriot's blistering piece, he deploys a metaphor from his own life to illustrate how ignorant Buttigieg's assumption was. When Harriot was growing up, there was a ditch separating the wealthy neighborhood from the poor one, and he had to jump over it to get to school. If people didn't make it across the ditch, it wasn't because they hadn't seen someone do it carefully enough before – it was because the ditch became slippery when it rained.As Harriot put it: sure, Mayor Pete seems like a smart guy. But he didn't have to jump over a ditch to get to school. Is he the right person to be pontificating on why poor minority kids weren't motivated enough to make it to class?After the piece went viral, Buttigieg called Harriot to "listen". Is that enough? Should we be grateful?Buttigieg did listen, for 18 minutes and 45 seconds. Only, that wasn't all he intended to do. He also tried to "explain" the context of his comments. He explained that the comments were made before he took office – as if we shouldn't judge politicians by what they say when no one's watching.He also justified himself in the way that someone who doesn't really think they made a mistake does. "Do you disagree with the point I was making?" Buttigieg asks Harriot, before he reiterates the same point: "Sometimes, the lack of positive examples of educational success can lead to mistrust and a lack of confidence."It's almost as if positive examples of educational success are the only thing that put black and brown people in the poorest towns, with the worst schools. As if a lack of confidence is what stops us from getting a call back at the same rate as white people, even with the same degrees. As if we are the ones excluding ourselves at a higher rate than white kids from schools; as if we're the ones ensuring we don't get paid an equal wage.Some might say that Buttigieg calling a critic to explain himself is a good start. That, of course, Buttigieg should get to explain himself.But did he say anything new?It is true that many politicians might not have called at all. Trump certainly wouldn't have. It is even more true that many other presidential candidates would not have the guts to call someone and listen.But isn't this an awfully low bar to set? It is telling that we are so grateful for the scraps thrown our way by powerful white men after they mess up. Why is merely being listened to the bar? Isn't that the bare minimum?What about using your amazing education to become educated on the issues facing black voters, so you don't make those mistakes next time? What about taking responsibility? What about not blaming racism on people of color? What about, well, just not being racist?
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| Romania's 1989 generation relive pain at ex-president's trial Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:21 AM PST  On the morning of December 22, 1989, Bogdan Stan drank his usual cup of coffee and went to join the wave of protests against Romania's communist regime. Almost 30 years later, his mother Elena Bancila was one of around 600 victims and relatives who gathered Friday in Bucharest for the opening stage of former president Ion Iliescu's crimes against humanity trial -- the most prominent leader to face charges over those events. Bancila, now 75, believes Iliescu, who took control of the government on December 22, is responsible for the death of her son.
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| Jeremy Corbyn Reminds Us Why Israel Exists Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:44 AM PST  In a now-deleted tweet, the Washington Post informed its 14 million followers that the historic condemnation of Jeremy Corbyn by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom was triggered by Labour Party leader's strong support for "Palestinian rights."As numerous people quickly pointed out, this is a detestable falsehood. Indeed, the article to which the tweet linked notes that a review of online posts by Labour members uncovered "examples of Holocaust denial, crude stereotypes of Jewish bankers, conspiracy theories blaming 9/11 on Israel, and even one individual who appeared to believe that Hitler had been misunderstood."Despite this, the rest of the Post's story is something of a whitewash. Like so many others that have covered Labour's moral deterioration, it goes out of its way to note that, "Corbyn, alongside many in the left-wing of his party, are strong supporters of Palestinian rights and fierce critics of Israel's right-wing government." This insinuation — that Corbynite animosity towards British Jewry is predicated on the existence of a "right-wing Israeli government" — is a myth.For one thing, despite public perception, the right-center coalition run by Benjamin Netanyahu hasn't altered Israeli policy governing the West Bank and Gaza in any significant way from its predecessors (other than, perhaps, by offering Palestinians more autonomy). For another, even if Netanyahu had altered that policy, there has never been — and almost surely never will be — any Israeli government of the right, left, or center that would placate the average Corbynite.The link the Post draws is nonsensical. Are we to believe that the Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition referred to anti-Semitic terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as his "friends" in a speech in front of Parliament because he was worried about final status negotiations? Did Corbyn appear multiple times on the Holocaust-denying Hamas-backing Iranian regime's propaganda channel because he misses Yitzhak Rabin?The man who participates in a 2014 wreath-laying ceremony for the terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics and prevaricates when asked whether it is "anti-Semitic to say that Rothschild Zionists run world governments" is no friend of the Jews.Israel looms large in Corbyn's worldview. The Corbyn-led Labour Party was initially unable to adopt The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance of anti-Semitism until tremendous outside pressure compelled them. Why? Because the guidelines conflicted with its anti-Zionism, the most significant and consequential form of Jew hatred that exists in the world today. Anti-Zionism is now the predominant justification for violence and murder against Jews in Europe and around the world. Corbyn is one of its champions."It's not anti-Semitic to be critical of Israel," Corbynites, and their progressive ideological cousins here in the United States like to say. And, of course, they're correct. Curiously enough, though, those who reserve special opprobrium for a Jewish state they view as an inherently racist and colonial endeavor, as most Corbynites do, also seem to have odious views about the people who democratically govern that small strip of land.As Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis correctly points out, Corbyn hasn't merely "tolerated" anti-Semitic attitudes -- as so many publications like to claim -- but rather he has actively transformed Labour, once one of the most important political parties in the free world, into a safe haven for Jew hatred. As Mirvis notes, under Corbyn, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Labour has "hounded parliamentarians, members and even staff out of the party for challenging anti-Jewish racism."Perhaps Corbyn's rise simply reflects a new -- or is it a renewed? -- reality in Europe? A recent ADL poll claims that a quarter of Europeans hold anti-Semitic views. Around 45 percent of Poles and 42 percent of Ukrainians admit to pollsters that they believe that "people hate Jews because of the way Jews behave," a view that over 30 percent of our old friends the Austrians and Germans share. And one of the fastest growing groups in Europe, Muslims, are importing an even deeper enmity towards Jews than is found in Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and elsewhere. Muslims in Western Europe are anti-Semitic at almost three times the rate of the general population. Thus far, Corbyn has appeased, rather than tried to extinguish, this hatred.If Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party ends up winning next month, Britain will be led by an openly anti-Semitic government. Mirvis warns that such a result is an existential threat to Britain's Jewry. What he can't say, but implies, is that people such as Corbyn are exactly why Israel must exist.
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| Trump administration appoints man who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan to senior role in arms control Posted: 28 Nov 2019 01:56 AM PST  A Trump adviser who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks has been given a senior role on arms control issues in the State Department.Frank Wuco, a former conservative radio host and naval intelligence officer, has also promoted far-right conspiracy theories, such as debunked claims that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
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| K-Pop Suicide Sparks a Reckoning on Revenge Porn, Sexual Assault Posted: 28 Nov 2019 06:40 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The suicide of a popular South Korean singer has prompted calls in the country to overhaul laws on sexual assault and to more harshly punish revenge porn.Koo Hara, 28, was found dead at her home in Seoul on Sunday. Her last message on Instagram showed her staring into a camera lens from beneath blankets on her bed with a message of "good night." Police say a note was found at the scene in which she expressed hopelessness.Many in South Korea were already aware of her past that included assault by a former boyfriend who she alleged was threatening to release a sex video of her. The two most popular hashtags on social media in South Korea this week called for punishment of the ex-boyfriend and for the definition of sexual assault to be revamped.A petition filed with the president's office demanding changes to laws had one quarter of a million signatures. Lawmakers said it is time to push forward measures stalled in Parliament that make it easier to impose harsh penalties on those who engage in revenge porn or clandestinely take sexually charged videos.Liberal lawmaker Lee Jung-mi of the minor Justice Party said in a social media post that Koo's death shows that change is needed because the nation "cannot neglect illegal filming and circulation of videos."Lee in September 2018 introduced a bill to revise how South Korea's criminal law defines rape. She said recent verdicts on sexual crime show the current standards don't focus on consent but how much "resistance" there was from the victim.President Moon Jae-in has called for a wide-ranging investigation of sex offenses linked to the entertainment industry and ordered the reopening of inquiries into past allegations. He issued a decree in June 2017 that set punishment of up to five years in prison, with the measure mostly pertaining to filming through hidden cameras.Moon has not commented on Koo's death or on revamping sexual violence laws. On Nov. 19 he did comment on women's social status saying, "It's still quite a dark reality compared to the rest of the world. I can tell you that I will pay more attention on gender equality."Some of those who are fighting for changes to the laws say they are frustrated with the pace of change."The current justice system sends a message to women that it will never be able to protect them," said Yun Dan-woo, a writer and and women's rights activist.Recent CasesSome recent cases illustrate critics' concerns. In May 2018, a male judge ruled that a man wasn't guilty of raping a woman who walked to a motel with him, according to the Law Talk legal journal and local media. Surveillance video presented as evidence showed the man pulling the woman. The judge acknowledged she had rejected sex but ruled this wasn't a case where she was in danger, the reports said.In a case in November, a male judge found a man not guilty of rape even though he had sex with a woman against her will. The judge ruled she gave consent by holding hands and giving the defendant an extra piece of meat at a restaurant, according to the legal journal and local media.Koo, who used the stage name HaRa, was a member of the group Kara, which had nearly a decade-long run as a top act in the notoriously fickle K-pop music industry. One of group's biggest songs, "Step," garnered nearly 100 million views on YouTube, helping Koo win fame in Japan, China and other major markets outside of Asia.In Koo's case, a judge found her boyfriend guilty of assault yet acquitted him of illicitly filming Koo and trying to blackmail her. On Friday, dozens of people rallied in front of the Seoul District Court, demanding that the judge in the case resign.K-Pop's Dark Side: Assault, Prostitution, Suicide, and Spy camsAlthough the laws on clandestine recording could be applied to revenge porn -- posting without permission explicit images of individuals that may be taken in acts including consensual sex -- that sort of prosecution is almost unheard of in South Korea. More than 40 U.S. states have laws banning the practice as do other countries.Proponents of more stringent measures say they want to act now while Koo's death is fresh in the public mind and may give a push for change."Korean society has this misconception of rape of always being done by some random monster who comes out of nowhere in a dark alley at night, which is why it doesn't acknowledge that someone close and intimate is more likely to be the perpetrator," said Claire Park, an activist at the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center.(Adds rally in on Friday in Seoul in the 14th paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, ;Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Jon Herskovitz, Jodi SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Chileans who lost eyes in protests demonstrate in capital Posted: 28 Nov 2019 05:42 PM PST  Protesters rallied in front of Chile's presidential palace Thursday to support people who have lost eyes to police shotgun pellets and tear gas canisters during mass demonstrations that have wracked the country. "In Chile, asking for dignity costs you an eye," one sign proclaimed. At least 232 people have lost vision during five weeks of protest in Chile against deep inequality and calling for better social services and pensions.
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| Thanksgiving storms dump snow on much of the US – and it isn't over yet Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:23 AM PST  A new storm, already pummeling California, could disrupt Thanksgiving travelers in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states heading home on Sunday.
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| The Top 5 Russian Aircraft That Threaten Europe Posted: 28 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST  The Russian military is nothing to shake a stick at.
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| Homemade helicopter puts fresh spin on Indonesia traffic woes Posted: 27 Nov 2019 07:18 PM PST  Indonesia's notorious traffic gridlock has been known to send commuters into a spin, but one man has decided to rise above the daily grind -- by building his very own helicopter. Jujun Junaedi spends his free time in a backyard tinkering with his project, guided by instructional videos, as he dreams of flying above the snarled roads of his hometown Sukabumi. Buying parts and using scraps from his auto repair shop, Junaedi says he has spent about 30 million rupiah ($2,100) on his creation since he started building it 18 months ago.
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| Transgender paedophile sues NHS for refusing her reassignment surgery while she serves prison sentence Posted: 28 Nov 2019 12:11 PM PST  A transgender paedophile has sued the NHS for refusing her reassignment surgery after she transitioned from male to female while in prison. The 60-year-old, known only as KK for legal reasons, is serving an indefinite sentence for public protection for making indecent photographs of children, and also has a previous conviction for sexual activity with a young girl. She has been in prison for over a decade and has been living as a woman for the last eight years, The High Court heard. The prisoner claims the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has unlawfully adopted a "de facto policy" of refusing to refer serving prisoners with gender dysphoria for gender reassignment surgery (GRS). But the trust argues that the reason KK was not referred was because "the treating clinicians at a world-class clinic for gender dysphoria did not consider it clinically appropriate to refer her for surgery". In brief | Transgender prisoners policy On Thursday, KK's barrister David Lock QC told a judge in London that the refusal to refer his client was "solely based on the fact that the claimant has lived as a woman in prison for the last eight years as opposed to living outside of prison". He submitted that the trust refused to make the referral over "concerns that there was a possibility that the claimant may not wish to continue to live as a woman following her release from prison". Mr Lock concluded that KK "was forced to endure her present level of distress by being denied otherwise clinically appropriate medical treatment because of the minority chance that she would later express regret at having had GRS". In written submissions, Jenni Richards QC, for the trust, argued that the court should not interfere in a decision involving "the application of clinical expertise in a developing area of medical practice". She said the number of patients affected by gender dysphoria was relatively small, adding: "The number of patients affected who are in prison is smaller still. "The number of prisoners who are imprisoned as a result of sexual offences, which further complicates the clinical picture, will be still smaller." Ms Richards said GRS is "major, irreversible surgery which may destroy existing parts of a patient's body, personality and sexuality". She argued that "the fact that the claimant's real life experience (as a woman) has been acquired in prison ... is relevant to the determination of whether surgery is an appropriate intervention for her, at this stage and in her present circumstances". Mr Justice Supperstone, who is hearing the case, is expected to reserve his judgment.
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| In a huge blow to Trump, DOJ watchdog found no evidence to support the claim that the FBI spied on his 2016 campaign Posted: 28 Nov 2019 07:22 AM PST  Trump has repeatedly baselessly alleged that the FBI spied on his campaign and that President Barack Obama had intelligence officials tap his phones.
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| Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work Posted: 29 Nov 2019 03:38 AM PST ![Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work]( "Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work") Zimbabwe state doctors who were fired for going on strike have rejected a government offer to return to work, their union said on Friday. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government, which responded to the job boycott by firing 448 doctors and pursuing disciplinary action against more than 1,000 others, on Thursday offered to reinstate them if they returned to work within 48 hours. Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade that has seen resurgent inflation soaring to three-digit levels, eroding salaries and bringing back bitter memories of the hyperinflation era of a decade ago.
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| 2 K-pop stars were jailed for raping a drunk, unconscious woman in a scandal that shows the industry's dark underbelly Posted: 29 Nov 2019 03:00 AM PST  Choi Jong-hoon of FT Island was sentenced to five years and Jung Joon-young of Drug Restaurant was given six years by Seoul Central District Court.
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| 7 Homes for Sale in the Most Secluded Parts of the World Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| Surge in new voters sparks talk of UK election ‘youthquake’ Posted: 28 Nov 2019 11:16 PM PST  In a British election dominated by Brexit, young voters who had no say in the country's decision to leave the European Union could hold the key to victory. It has long been a truth in British politics that young people vote in lower numbers than older ones. According to official figures, 3.85 million people registered to vote between the day the election was called on Oct. 29 and Tuesday's registration deadline — two-thirds of them under 35.
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| 'A cruel and unnecessary scam': US immigration set up fake university to lure foreign students Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:32 AM PST  Around 90 more foreign students have been arrested as a part of a sting by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which reportedly set up a fake university in Detroit that lured mostly Indian students in before revealing itself as fake.US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reportedly arrested around 250 students since January as a part of the sting, which included the establishment of a pretend university that was apparently listed on the DHS website as legitimate.
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| How China Uses Its Universities to Spy on America Posted: 28 Nov 2019 07:30 PM PST  Stealing technology secrets.
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| Killer crocodiles: Why are more humans being attacked in East Timor? Posted: 28 Nov 2019 04:21 PM PST  Mario Da Cruz could only watch in horror as a small army of crocodiles killed a child on an East Timor beach -- another victim of the tiny nation's soaring rate of attacks. Such incidents have jumped more than 20-fold over the past two decades with an average of one person a month falling prey to the ferocious reptiles, though not all are fatal. "I was walking along the beach and suddenly this group of crocodiles came out of the water so I panicked and ran, but one of them bit my leg," explains Da Cruz.
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| 2 cruise passengers dead, 5 injured after Belize tour bus crash Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:10 AM PST  Two Carnival Cruise Line passengers died in a bus crash while on an independent tour in Belize on Wednesday.
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| 'Giuliani is being implicated by the president': Trump claims he never told him to dig up dirt in Ukraine Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:18 AM PST  A former U.S. prosecutor says that Donald Trump appears to be implicating Rudy Giuliani in a bribery conspiracy, after the president claimed he never told his personal lawyer to go to Ukraine and dig up dirt on his political rivals.
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| RPT-UPDATE 3-Iraq PM announces resignation after call from top Shi'ite cleric Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:15 AM PST ![RPT-UPDATE 3-Iraq PM announces resignation after call from top Shi'ite cleric]( "RPT-UPDATE 3-Iraq PM announces resignation after call from top Shi'ite cleric") Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation on Friday after the country's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric called for lawmakers to reconsider their support for a government rocked by weeks of deadly anti-establishment unrest. "In response to this call, and in order to facilitate it as quickly as possible, I will present to parliament a demand (to accept) my resignation from the leadership of the current government," a statement signed by Abdul Mahdi said. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani earlier urged parliament to considering withdrawing its support for Abdul Mahdi's government to stem spiralling violence.
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| 'Ogre of the Ardennes' serial killer charged with murder of 'French Maddie' Posted: 28 Nov 2019 04:33 AM PST  One of France's most notorious serial killers has been charged with the abduction and murder of a nine-year-old girl who vanished without trace in 2003 in a case that has gripped the nation ever since. Michel Fourniret, jailed for life in May 2008 for the murder of seven girls and young women, has been charged over the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin from a village east of Paris after his wife came forward to contradict his alibi. Estelle Mouzin disappeared in Guermantes, 18 miles east of Paris, on January 9, 2003 while walking home from her school. Her body was never found. Reported sightings fuelled speculation she was kidnapped and taken abroad, sparking parallels with the Madeleine McCann, the British three-year-old who went missing in Portugal in 2007. Detectives first suspected Fourniret, 76, was behind the Mouzin murder in 2006 after they found a photo of her on his computer, and a white van resembling the one he drove had been spotted in the area when she disappeared. Convicted French serial killer Michel Fourniret last year confessed to the murder of British language assistant Joanna Parrish in 1990 in Burgundy Credit: ALAIN JULIEN/AFP The killer has always maintained he had nothing to do with her disappearance and that at the time he was at home at Sart-Custinne, southern Belgium, near the French border. Last week, however, his former wife, Monique Olivier, told investigators that the phone call Fourniret said he made from his home on the day the child disappeared was in fact made by her at his request. "That means that Michel Fourniret was not at Sart-Custinne the day of Estelle Mouzin's disappearance," said Olivier's lawyer, Richard Delgenes. "He was somewhere else." Fourniret has form when it comes to changing his mind on who he has murdered. He long denied killing Joanna Marie Parrish, a British language student from Newnham on Severn, Gloucestershire, who was murdered in the Burgundy region of France while working at a local school as part of her degree course in 1990. His wife said he was behind her death but later retracted her testimony. However, Fourniret finally owned up to her murder last year. His life sentence carries no possibility of parole.
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| Boeing's newest plane split in half during a stress test in September, the latest setback for the delayed jetliner Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:56 AM PST ![Boeing's newest plane split in half during a stress test in September, the latest setback for the delayed jetliner]( "Boeing's newest plane split in half during a stress test in September, the latest setback for the delayed jetliner") The body of Boeing's new 777X aircraft was split by a high-pressure rupture just as it approached its target stress level during a test in September.
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| Who made the new drapes? It’s among high court’s mysteries Posted: 29 Nov 2019 04:56 AM PST  The lack of transparency at the Supreme Court begins with the heavy red drapes that frame the courtroom on all sides. The Supreme Court's role in a bitterly divided Washington and nation may be more important than ever, yet basic details about how the court operates remain obscured. The court is not subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act and the justices are not bound by most ethics rules that apply to all other federal judges.
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