| Why has the Tulsa Race Massacre been largely forgotten? Posted: 21 Dec 2019 08:47 AM PST  In 1921, as many as 300 black residents of Tulsa, Okla. were killed in one of the worst instances of racial violence in American history. Why is such a horrific event largely left out of U.S. history?
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| New poll finds that a majority of Americans support Trump's impeachment and removal from office Posted: 22 Dec 2019 03:22 PM PST  The share of Americans who want Trump removed from office has climbed since the House's impeachment proceedings concluded Wednesday.
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| Jeff Van Drew reveals the moment he decided it was time to switch parties Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:43 AM PST  Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) reached the point of no return when a local New Jersey county party chair told him he would face political consequences if he didn't vote in favor of impeachment.Van Drew, in an appearance on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures on Sunday, told host Maria Bartiromo that when he heard that warning he decided it was time to switch parties. "It made me think for all the years that I've worked so hard and tried to give so much not only to the party but to everybody," the former Democratic congressman said. "It all boils down to that I have my own individual opinion on one vote and that's not going to be allowed, and I'm going to be punished for that, and that's when I knew."> Welcome to the GOP, @CongressmanJVD! pic.twitter.com/DBQLS67zJu> > — GOP (@GOP) December 22, 2019Van Drew, who went against the Democratic line and opposed impeachment from the beginning, officially announced he was crossing the aisle Thursday. He said he feels that he did "the honorable thing" and is sticking by his decision so far, even though there are questions about how he'll actually fit in with the GOP when it comes to non-impeachment voting. Read more at The Hill.More stories from theweek.com 6 powerful phrases every parent should use Let us pray for the brave men and women fighting in the War on Christmas 19 references and callbacks you may have missed in The Rise of Skywalker
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| Biden's press secretary diagnosed with cancer Posted: 22 Dec 2019 12:48 AM PST  "It was never a question whether I'd continue working during treatment — working for Joe Biden and this campaign has been the best, most important experience of my life," TJ Ducklo said.
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| Muslim nations consider gold, barter trade to beat sanctions Posted: 20 Dec 2019 11:18 PM PST  Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar are considering trading among themselves in gold and through a barter system as a hedge against any future economic sanctions on them, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday. At the end of an Islamic summit in Malaysia, Mahathir praised Iran and Qatar for withstanding economic embargoes and said it was important for the Muslim world to be self-reliant to face future threats.
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| Syrian state media says Israel is firing missiles into Syria Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:30 PM PST ![Syrian state media says Israel is firing missiles into Syria]( "Syrian state media says Israel is firing missiles into Syria") Syrian air defenses opened fire Sunday night on missiles fired from inside Israel, state media reported. Syrian state TV gave no further details but residents of Damascus said explosions could be heard near the capital. State TV said one of the Israeli missiles was shot down near the Damascus suburb of Aqraba.
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| Death toll in Europe from storm hits nine Posted: 22 Dec 2019 06:00 AM PST  The death toll from storms that have battered Spain, Portugal and France rose to nine on Sunday as the region braced for more violent winds and heavy rain. Storms Elsa and Fabien have flooded rivers, brought down power lines, uprooted trees and disrupted rail and air travel across the region, leaving more than 118,000 households without electricity. Two people have so far died in Portugal and seven have now been killed in Spain, the worst affected country, after a fisherman was swept off rocks into the sea in Catalonia.
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| American Airlines begins offering non-binary gender options during booking process Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:35 AM PST  American Airlines has quietly rolled out non-binary gender options during the booking process, where people can designate "U" or "X" for their gender.
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| Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun ‘He Was Hoping to Use’ Posted: 20 Dec 2019 11:15 PM PST ![Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun 'He Was Hoping to Use']( "Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun 'He Was Hoping to Use'") (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police arrested a 19-year-old after coming under fire Friday night, and also seized a semi-automatic rifle they say the man planned to use at a public event.The suspect shot at police with a semi-automatic pistol when they intercepted him, the force said in a video posted on its Facebook page. Officers fired tear gas at a crowd that confronted them at the scene of the incident in Tai Po, according to the post.Police said the suspect was previously arrested in December 2018 for illegal possession of firearms. He was released on bail in late February and failed to report to police as required this month, according to the post. Officers seized an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and 211 rounds of ammunition in an apartment in the neighborhood after Friday's arrest, they said."According to our intelligence, we know he was hoping to use the gun to cause chaos and hurt police officers during the public gathering," senior superintendent Steve Li of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau said in the video.Hong Kong has been gripped by increasingly violent protests that were ignited in June by the government's plans to enact a law which would have allowed extraditions to jurisdictions including mainland China. The government scrapped the bill after continued public pressure but the unrest continued and protesters' demands expanded to include broader democracy and an independent commission of inquiry into police conduct.Arrows, petrol bombsDemonstrators hurl petrol bombs and launch arrows at riot police almost weekly, while officers have fired more than 10,000 rounds of tear gas, and used rubber bullets and water cannons. At least 6,000 protesters have been arrested since June.Friday's arrest comes as Chinese authorities are reported to have ruled out the formation of an independent commission of inquiry. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam sought the central government's response to the idea during her four-day trip to Beijing this month, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified person close to the government.In another blow for Lam, several retired judges approached by the government have turned down requests to join an independent review committee to look into the ongoing unrest, the Post cited the person as saying.Public sentiment in Hong Kong seems to be squarely behind the demonstrators, with pro-democracy candidates winning a landslide victory against pro-government rivals in local elections last month. There has been a relative lull in the scale and frequency of the violence since the polls, but the protests are continuing, including rallies planned for this weekend.Meanwhile police have intensified their efforts to limit financial support for the protesters. On Thursday evening, officers announced the arrest of four people for suspected money-laundering in the first case related to funding of the demonstrations.About 80 school teachers and teaching assistants have been arrested for their involvement in anti-government protests, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday, citing Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung. He called for schools to suspend educators held for serious offenses, out of concern for students' safety.There were 123 complaints against teachers over protest-related misconduct from mid-June to late November, he said. Four teachers have resigned or been suspended by schools, according to Yeung.To contact the reporters on this story: Bei Hu in Hong Kong at bhu5@bloomberg.net;Chester Yung in Singapore at kyung33@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Republican rush to defend Trump reveals a party in thrall to its leader Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:15 AM PST  The GOP has become the prisoner of an erratic leader known for demanding loyalty but not famous for repaying itAs the action wound to a climax on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday night, Republicans warned the impeachment of Donald Trump was "tearing this country apart".Then, just to be sure, they put the crowbar in and pulled at the breach, declaring that by impeaching Trump in 2019, Democrats were seeking to "disenfranchise" everyone who had voted for the president in 2016.Republican Bill Johnson of Ohio went so far as to use his 90 seconds of speaking time to call for a moment of silence to "remember the voices of the 63 million American voters the Democrats today are wanting to silence".If there is a political price to be paid by Democrats for taking on Trump, Republicans were determined to exact it. But in the process, they revealed themselves to be prisoners of a wounded, erratic leader known for demanding loyalty but not famous for repaying it. As the impeachment unfolded, it led to a party heading into the 2020 election never more obedient to Trump.Trump, Republican politicians insisted, embodies everyone who once voted for him, while the Democratic House majority – installed just one year ago in an election with record turnout – stood for no one, or at best for a disembodied elite, or politically irrelevant classes who live in parts of the country that somehow don't count."This lawless partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat party," Trump said on stage at a campaign rally in Michigan, where he spoke to a cheering crowd as impeachment unfolded.But is it? If one of America's major political parties is marching toward its political doom, it might just be the one that saw, in any allegation of wrongdoing by its leader, an existential threat to millions of voters – the party that under Trump has been steadily shrinking, ageing and being drained of all color.The anxiety of the Republican position was palpable during the impeachment investigation in their efforts to present their minority case as the majority case, and in their strenuous sales pitch of untouchable executive power as a form of populism.The Democratic House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, laid the dissembling bare in his speech on the brink of the impeachment vote."There's been a lot of talk about the 63 million people who voted for Mr Trump," Hoyer said. "Little talk about the 65 million people who voted for Hillary Clinton."> The Republican captivity was such that no Republican member was able to entertain the idea that Trump might have done anything wrongThe line brought a short outburst of applause in the chamber.As impeachment was announced, Trump was on stage insulting a deceased and beloved former member of Congress from Michigan. Much was made of the Republican calls that followed for Trump to apologize, underscoring how alien the spectacle was, of a Republican daring to reproach the president."One day in the not too distant future," former Republican senator Jeff Flake tweeted, "Republicans will wake up and say, "We did this for this man?"For the duration of impeachment, the Republican captivity under Trump was such that no Republican member was able to entertain the idea that Trump might have done anything wrong, much less something so wrong as to warrant impeachment.Instead, Republicans demanded standards of evidence that were impressively high while setting the bar on Trump's conduct vanishingly low.If Democrats could not produce a witness who directly quoted Trump as saying "no aid for Ukraine till they take out Joe Biden", it was case closed, no matter what the surrounding universe of evidence, including Trump's own words, showed. The refusal by Trump to admit any witness who might be able to testify to what he said in private was somehow the fault of the other side.No fact that threatened Trump could be true, while any theory that exculpated him, no matter how wild, must be true.Early in the impeachment process, when Republicans were struggling mightily to get their defense straight, the conventional wisdom was that the party would eventually land on some version of, "what Trump did was wrong, but did not warrant impeachment."They never got there, instead collecting around the argument that his conduct had been perfect in every way, and that to suggest otherwise was heresy.It was unclear how impeachment had moved the electoral needle, if at all, for upcoming elections. In the must-win state of Pennsylvania, impeachment did not seem to be garnering a lot of attention among potential swing voters, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, before the vote."For most folks, impeachment doesn't make a dime's worth of difference," Borick said. "Especially for those in the middle, I think the saliency of the issue is pretty low. These are folks that I don't think spend a ton of time thinking about this issue."While support for impeachment has grown radically since the impeachment inquiry was opened, Republicans were right about the country being divided. On the morning after impeachment, support for the process was about +1, on average, while approval of Trump is near the top of the narrow band in which it fluctuates, in the low-40s."This impeachment has divided this nation without any concern for the repercussions," said the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, the last Republican to speak before Trump was impeached.The division predated the impeachment. But the repercussions have yet to fall.
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| A 6-year-old girl found a disturbing hand-written note in a Christmas card that claimed foreign prisoners were being forced to work in China Posted: 22 Dec 2019 12:11 PM PST  The UK-based grocery chain Tesco is investigating a Chinese factory after the girl from London found the note in a pack of charity Christmas cards.
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| Miracle survivor on mission to help close gaps in tsunami warning system Posted: 21 Dec 2019 04:39 PM PST  Arif Munandar had been pronounced dead before he woke up in a body bag four days after a monstrous wave swept his village in Indonesia's northern Aceh province 15 years ago. When a 9.1-magnitude quake opened a faultline deep beneath the Indian Ocean, it triggered a tsunami as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet), killing more than 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries. Aceh province bore the brunt of the disaster.
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| Buttigieg backers defend 'wine cave' fundraiser Posted: 20 Dec 2019 09:13 PM PST  The California winemakers who hosted a dinner at a "wine cave" for Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg are defending the fundraising event. Buttigieg's political rivals used the recent fundraiser to criticize the South Bend, Indiana, mayor for soliciting campaign contributions from wealthy donors at Thursday's Democratic presidential debate. Craig and Kathryn Hall, who own the Hall Rutherford winery in Napa Valley, said Friday that they took issue with how their wine cave has been portrayed in the media.
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| Trump adviser: Expect more aggressive poll monitoring in 2020 Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:52 AM PST  One of President Trump's top reelection advisers told influential Republicans in Wisconsin that the party has "traditionally" relied on voter suppression to compete in battleground states, according to an audio recording obtained by the Associated Press. The adviser said later that his remarks referred to accusations that Republicans use such tactics.
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| Military Nightmare: Is the United States Being Outmatched by Russia and China? Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:45 PM PST  America may not be able to compete in future wars.
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| Atmospheric river expected to slam West Coast Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:58 PM PST  For most, dreams of a white Christmas will remain just that.
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| Don't worry, Modi tells India's Muslims Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:13 AM PST  Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought Sunday to reassure India's Muslims over a new citizenship law that has sparked deadly protests and put his Hindu nationalist government under pressure like never before. At least 25 people have died in almost two weeks of demonstrations and violence after Modi's government passed the law criticised as anti-Muslim. "Muslims who are sons of the soil and whose ancestors are the children of mother India need not to worry," Modi, 69, told the crowd of thousands.
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| Trump careens toward a Christmas crisis with North Korea Posted: 21 Dec 2019 08:02 AM PST  Democrats are annoyed at a lack of transparency from the White House and are urging Trump to avoid "fire and fury" talk.
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| Man accidentally shoots himself while trying to steal puppy Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:23 AM PST  An armed robber accidentally shot himself in the leg while trying to steal a puppy from its owner.The owner had arranged to sell the nine-week-old American bulldog, named Tarzan, to a man through who made contact through a buying-and-selling website.
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| Hong Kong police sued by journalist who lost eye after being hit with a rubber bullet Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:00 AM PST  A journalist who lost her eye filming protests in Hong Kong has launched a legal bid to unmask the police officer who shot her with a rubber bullet. Veby Mega Indah was blinded in one eye while live streaming for Indonesian-language publication Suara from the frontline of the Hong Kong protests earlier this year. But she claims police have refused to investigate. She has now submitted a private bid to sue the officer for negligence. But her case cannot progress without knowing the identity of her shooter. She has now applied to the high court to reveal his details. It is the latest damaging case against the Hong Kong police force, which has been accused of heavy-handed tactics. A panel of foreign experts overseeing an investigation into allegations of excessive force resigned earlier this month in protest at slow progress. Veby Mega Indah receives emergency aid after being hit by a rubber bullet Credit: Isaac Lawrence/AFP Ms Indah, 39, is convinced the police are delaying because the evidence is so clear-cut. Despite her efforts, any meeting with the police investigators has yet to materialise, with the only visits coming from police public relations teams. "I'm really offended, this is criminal misconduct. They changed my life and they're treating this as public relations," Indah stressed. She was shot while covering clashes between protesters and police in the district of Wan Chai. She was wearing full press gear including press identification, a helmet, gasmask, a luminous high visual press-vest and eye-goggles. Ms Indah was recording the unfolding events at the time with a group of journalists. As space was tight on the bridge, protesters, press and police were all squeezed close to each other. Hong Kong protests "At one point I heard a fellow journalist shouting 'don't aim at us', in Cantonese," she said. "Then I heard two bangs… loud bangs, then white smoke from the stairs and I saw something coming towards my right eye. It hits me and I staggered as another journalist hugged me, not breaking my fall. I couldn't open my eyes, people were screaming and panicking and the footbridge was trembling," Indah told The Telegraph. First-aiders arrived quickly, as Indah lay on the ground she was in a state of shock. "I was so confused – why would they shoot me? I thought it was going to be my end." Despite the protective wear, the impact of the projectile was so strong it ruptured her eye beyond repair. "When I got to the hospital, a doctor cursed. That's when I knew it was bad. At that point, my main focus was to stay alive. They've told me they cannot improve my vision," she said, holding back the tears. Ms Indah says she has been taking painkillers to ease the pain, whilst she has recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress order.
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| How Europe’s Top Christmas Market Could Swing an Election Posted: 20 Dec 2019 08:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Frequently named Europe's best, the Christmas market in Croatia's capital is bringing little festive cheer to the country's president this year.The issue for Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic as she heads into elections on Sunday is a video of her handing a cake and singing 'happy birthday' to Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, who's at the center of a scandal over preferential access at the city's mulled wine and trinket stalls.Kitarovic, a former NATO executive, had been riding high on a carefully managed image as a globe-trotting diplomat. She was also the face of Croatia with her enthusiastic support during the national soccer team's historic run to the World Cup final last year.But the storm over the market is turning the election into a close race.For the European Union's newest member-state, even the whiff of murky dealings is bad. The Adriatic nation of 4.2 million people, which joined the bloc in 2013, is pushing to adopt the euro and has seen corruption concerns delay similar efforts in nearby Bulgaria.Other Balkan countries also targeting EU membership won't benefit either.It's not the first time Kitarovic has flirted with controversy. Previous instances include claiming Croatia's World War II-era Nazi salute was just a historical greeting -- a position she later reversed -- and the appearance at her inauguration of a right-wing media personality convicted of paying prostitutes and using cocaine to do so.Then there's the bizarre. Kitarovic has begun singing at some official meetings and was recently mocked on social media for vaguely claiming she'd stuck a deal with "some countries" for young Croats to earn 8,000 euros ($9,000) a month "via the internet.""All this begs a question: Who is Kitarovic?" said Tvrtko Jakovina, a contemporary history professor at the University of Zagreb. "Is she a skilled international diplomat and fighter for women's rights, as she presents herself abroad? Or is she someone who doesn't know her country's past and is friendly with characters who see laws as obstacles."The latest headlines have hurt the 51-year-old incumbent, who's polling only slightly ahead of ex-Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and right-wing newcomer Miroslav Skoro, a popular folk singer, before the first round of voting. A runoff is almost certain two weeks later.While the president's role is largely ceremonial, defeat for Kitarovic could reverberate through the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who's backed her strongly and would risk unrest from within the ruling Croatian Democratic Union.Plenkovic has enough on his plate as he tries to rein in a bulging bureaucracy, stem outflows of workers to richer EU nations and improve corruption that's seen as the bloc's fifth-worst in Transparency International's latest annual survey.After years of stagnation, the economy is expanding at a steady 3%, below the pace of other eastern EU members.While vowing to continue beating the drum for Croatia abroad, Kitarovic has also created a "traveling office" so she can meet citizens in smaller towns back home. Milanovic, from the opposition Social Democrats, is pushing a more conventional center-left agenda, while Skoro is running on a nationalist platform.All three have promised things beyond the scope of the presidency.But it's Kitarovic's integrity, not her policy agenda, that's come into question. And she's doubled down on her support of Bandic, who's fought graft accusations for much of his career, since the clip with him surfaced.If he's convicted for alleged abuse-of-office, she said she'll "bring him cookies in jail."To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Andrew Langley, Balazs PenzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Death toll from New Zealand volcano eruption rises to 19 Posted: 22 Dec 2019 02:36 PM PST  The death toll from a volcanic eruption in New Zealand earlier this month has risen to 19 after police said Monday another person died at an Auckland hospital overnight. There were 47 people visiting the tourist destination of White Island when the volcano erupted Dec. 9, killing 13 people initially and leaving more than two dozen others hospitalized with severe burns. The latest victim is the sixth person to die in hospitals in New Zealand and Australia in the two weeks since the eruption.
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| Deaths in custody. Sexual violence. Hunger strikes. What we uncovered inside ICE facilities across the US Posted: 22 Dec 2019 02:13 PM PST  A USA TODAY Network investigation revealed sex assaults, routine use of physical force, poor medical care and deaths at facilities overseen by ICE.
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| Almanac: Baldness Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:48 PM PST  On December 22, 1997, the FDA approved Propecia, a once-a-day pill for combating the genetic condition known as male pattern baldness
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| Scaramucci names witnesses whose testimony could force Trump to resign Posted: 22 Dec 2019 09:47 AM PST  Former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci has claimed there are four witnesses who could force President Trump to resign during the upcoming impeachment trial. Scaramucci has said Trump would not be able to "handle the heat" of testimonies from some of his top officials and would leave office before he could be removed by the Senate.
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| Netanyahu accuses ICC of anti-Semitism in pursuit of war crimes probe Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:00 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the International Criminal Court of anti-Semitism on Sunday over its chief prosecutor's plan to pursue a war crimes probe in the Palestinian Territories. "New edicts are being cast against the Jewish people - anti-Semitic edicts by the International Criminal Court telling us that we, the Jews standing here next to this wall ... in this city, in this country, have no right to live here and that by doing so, we are committing a war crime," he said. "Pure anti-Semitism," Netanyahu said, raising an argument likely to strike a chord with many Israelis who believe that criticism, especially in Europe, of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians has its roots in anti-Jewish sentiment.
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| A California teacher was placed on leave after allegedly telling students she wants to 'bring back slavery' Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:32 AM PST  The unnamed educator, who works at a school composed of predominately black and Latino students, is allegedly a supporter of President Donald Trump.
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| Romanians pay tribute to victims of 1989 revolution Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:35 PM PST  Thousands of people marched in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Sunday to remember those who lost their lives in the revolution 30 years ago that ended the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. President Klaus Iohannis and several ministers from his centre-right administration laid commemorative wreaths and lit candles in front of a monument to the victims. "We want to know the truth about December 1989," Iohannis said a few hours earlier, as he opened an exhibition on the revolution.
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| Australian PM Downplays Climate Change as Cause of Deadly Fires Posted: 21 Dec 2019 04:59 PM PST ![Australian PM Downplays Climate Change as Cause of Deadly Fires]( "Australian PM Downplays Climate Change as Cause of Deadly Fires") (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said climate change is "one of many factors" behind the out-of-control bushfires that have ravaged the nation since winter, and it was not credible to draw a direct link between the two."I have always acknowledged the connection between these weather events and these broader fire events and the impact globally of climate change," Morrison told a news conference Sunday, as the blazes continue to claim homes and lives amid a record heatwave. "But I'm sure people equally would acknowledge that the direct connection to any single fire event, it's not a credible suggestion to make that link."Morrison returned to Australia Saturday night after cutting short a family vacation in Hawaii to attend to the fire crisis, which saw Sydney yesterday facing a "catastrophic" level of danger. In New South Wales, the most populous state, eight people have been killed, 800 houses destroyed, and more than 6 million acres (2.4 million hectares) -- an area the size of Massachusetts -- burnt out since the fire season started unusually early this year. Fires are also raging in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, where media yesterday reported one person had died.Morrison said Australia has always had bushfires and while they have been particularly bad this year, there was a multitude of reasons for that."There are some fires that have been started by just carelessness, others sadly have been the result of direct arson, many have been created by dry lightning strikes," he said. "The drought conditions have certainly been a big contributor in terms of the dryness of the fuel load. There are also many other issues."'Woke Greenies'Morrison's center-right government has been criticized for refusing to discuss whether global warming has contributed to a longer dry season that's fueling the ferocious blazes. In November, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack blasted left-leaning Green politicians who linked the fires to the government's support of the coal industry, calling those claims "the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital-city greenies."The nation derives the bulk of its energy from burning coal, a fuel that last year was its largest export earner.Morrison, who in 2017 famously wielded a lump of coal in parliament in support of the industry, today defended the government's credentials on fighting climate change, saying it was "meeting and beating" its targets."We must take action on climate change, we are taking action on climate change," he said. "And we'll do it without economy wrecking or job destroying. We'll do it with sensible targets that get the balance right."Morrison apologized again for taking leave while the fires continued to burn, saying with the benefit of hindsight he should not have gone, but it was time to move on from the controversy."I get it that people would have been upset to know that I was holidaying with my family while their families were under great stress," he said. "But I think the time for that discussion is over, we need to focus on what's going on out there today. It's time to be kind to each other."To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brockett in Wellington at mbrockett1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew Brockett at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net, Tom Redmond, Siraj DatooFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Hero who used narwhal tusk to stop UK attack praises victims Posted: 21 Dec 2019 02:17 AM PST  A mysterious figure who used a rare narwhal tusk to help subdue a knife-wielding extremist on London Bridge last month has been identified as a civil servant in Britain's Justice Ministry. Darryn Frost broke his silence Saturday, telling Britain's Press Association that he and others reacted instinctively when Usman Khan started stabbing people at a prison rehabilitation program at Fishmongers' Hall next to the bridge on Nov. 29. Frost used the rare narwhal tusk that he grabbed from the wall to help subdue Khan even though the attacker claimed to be about to detonate a suicide vest, which turned out to be a fake device with no explosives.
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| ‘You have a terribly homosexual face’: Brazil’s president launches homophobic attack on journalist Posted: 21 Dec 2019 04:55 AM PST  Brazil's president has launched a homophobic attack on a journalist in a likely attempt to detract from a criminal investigation into his son's alleged corruption.Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected on a ticket to purge the political class of corruption, railed against media scrutiny of his racism and apparent disdain for the environment, accusing the press of bias against him and his son Flavio Bolsonaro.
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| FACT: 10 U.S. Military Bases are Named After Confederate Generals Posted: 22 Dec 2019 05:30 AM PST  The Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas.
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| Harry Dunn's family hits back at US government and Anne Sacoolas's lawyers Posted: 21 Dec 2019 09:24 AM PST  Harry Dunn's family has criticised lawyers acting on behalf of the US intelligence officer's wife accused of killing their son after they claimed she had "co-operated fully" with the investigation. The family has led a high-profile campaign for justice after Anne Sacoolas returned to the US after the car she was driving collided with the 19-year-old's motorbike on August 27. Sacoolas, 42, and her family had been based at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire and she sparked public outrage after claiming diplomatic immunity due to her husband's job. It was only after she left the UK on a military flight directly from the air base that the Foreign Office wrote to the family to say immunity in her case was not valid. After the Dunn family's campaign - which included a trip to the White House - the Crown Prosecution Service announced on Friday that Sacoolas has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat Credit: Susan Goodwin/Facebook Prosecutors have begun the extradition process to bring her back to the UK, a decision the US government labelled "disappointing" and "unhelpful". But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the "law should take its course" in the case of Harry Dunn and the Government will press the issue with the US "at every level". A statement from Amy Jeffress, Sacoolas's lawyer, said she had "co-operated fully with the investigation". She added: "Anne will not return voluntarily to the United Kingdom to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible but unintentional accident." Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger said: "I know (Ms Jeffress) to be one of the finest and most outstanding lawyers in the USA. Her statement however boggles the mind and is deeply disturbing. Tim Dunn (left), the father of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA "For Ms Jeffress to seek to undermine one of the most mature, well-developed legal systems in the world, which has fairness at its heart, and which many countries around the world have modelled their legal systems on, is unbecoming of any lawyer, let alone someone of her stature." Mr Seiger urged Sacoolas to "put that defence forward in court here rather than ventilate it publicly". He added: "Like everyone else (in the UK) she will get a fair trial." After the CPS decision on Friday, a spokesman for the US State Department said it was "disappointed", adding it feared the move would "not bring a resolution closer". The department maintained that Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity at the time of the incident. Harry Dunn and parents It added: "It is the position of the United States government that a request to extradite an individual under these circumstances would be an egregious abuse." Asked during a visit to Estonia if suspect Anne Sacoolas should be extradited to the UK, Mr Johnson said: "I think the best thing that I can say there is that the law should take its course and we will be obviously following that case with keen interest and continuing to make representations on behalf of Harry Dunn's family at every level." The Dunn family's lawyer Mark Stephens said that if the US authorities refused to return Sacoolas, it would be the first time in the 100-year history of the extradition treaty that they failed to comply. He told Sky News: "I've got great faith in the judges in America who will not be swayed by political statements. They have to follow the law whether the like it or not. "And the law says Anne Sacoolas comes back to England to face a judge and jury here."
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| 'It’s not easy': Wrongly convicted man leaves prison after 24 years, finds changed world Posted: 21 Dec 2019 10:49 AM PST  Ralph Lee Jr. savors his new-found freedom. But he's had to learn about cell phones and cable TV.
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| New NATO surveillance drones bet on Italian safety ruling Posted: 22 Dec 2019 12:49 PM PST  Can the fleet of Alliance Ground Surveillance drones fly routinely in European airspace?
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| France's Macron says colonialism was 'grave mistake' Posted: 21 Dec 2019 03:46 PM PST  French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said "colonialism was a grave mistake," and called for "turning the page" on the past during a visit to Ivory Coast, a former French colony in West Africa. "I belong to a generation which was not" part of the colonial-era, he said.
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| Sydney Faces ‘Catastrophic’ Fire Danger Amid Record Heat Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:26 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sydney faced "catastrophic" fire conditions on Saturday as a record heatwave exacerbated more than 100 blazes burning across Australia's most populous state.New South Wales has declared a state of emergency amid the heatwave, which has produced the hottest day on record and fanned bushfires along Australia's eastern coastline, smothering Sydney in smoke. Today's catastrophic warning for greater Sydney, the highest level of danger, means fires can spread rapidly and are extremely difficult to control. It is the second such warning for the city this season."Catastrophic fire danger is as bad as it gets," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. There is concern that an expected southerly wind change will bring erratic fire conditions, he said.The crisis has caused road closures and authorities have urged motorists to avoid travel, disrupting holiday plans for Sydneysiders hoping to leave the city for a summer break. Prime Minister Scott Morrison cut short his vacation in Hawaii and apologized for taking leave while the wildfires ravage Australia, reflecting the political pressure building on his government that denies the blazes are linked to climate change. He is expected to land in Sydney later Saturday.In New South Wales alone, eight people have been killed, more than 6 million acres -- an area the size of Massachusetts -- have been burnt out and 800 houses destroyed since the fire season started unusually early this year. Fires are also raging in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, where local media reported one person died in a fire zone today.On Wednesday, the average maximum temperature across Australia reached 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit), surpassing the record 40.9 Celsius set a day earlier, according to the weather bureau. On Thursday it reached 41 Celsius, meaning those three days were the three hottest ever recorded. While a temperature of 36 Celsius was forecast for Sydney today, the mercury soared into the 40s in some suburbs.To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brockett in Wellington at mbrockett1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew Brockett at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net, Edward Johnson, Michael S. ArnoldFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russia says Trump told Putin U.S. will continue looking for arms treaty solutions Posted: 22 Dec 2019 07:46 AM PST  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that President Trump had sent a letter about the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Interfax news agency reported.
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| Notre Dame fire wakes the world up to dangers of lead dust Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:56 PM PST  It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris' most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities. After the Notre Dame fire in April spewed dozens of tons of toxic lead-dust into the atmosphere in just a few hours, Paris authorities discovered a problem with the city's public safety regulations: There was no threshold for them to gauge how dangerous the potentially-deadly pollution was from the dust that settled on the ground. Officials in other historic European capitals such as Rome and London, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization also have no such outdoor lead dust hazard guidelines.
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| You're Going to Die: Meet the Army's New Air-To-Ground Missile Posted: 21 Dec 2019 04:00 PM PST  A deadly addition.
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| A Rape Victim’s Stunning Victory Against Japan’s Powerful ‘Weinsteins’ Posted: 22 Dec 2019 02:26 AM PST  TOKYO–A civil court here handed down a landmark ruling last week in the case of freelance journalist Shiori Ito, 30, who alleged she was raped in 2015 by a Noriyuki Yamaguchi, 53, a good friend and biographer of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The court ruled Yamaguchi must pay over ¥3.3 million yen ($30,000) in damages. Since Ito went public with the charges in 2017 after police efforts to pursue the case were quashed, she has become a vital symbol for the still fledgling MeToo movement in Japan; her story is a microcosm of the problems women face here in a nation where there are far too many men who share the attitudes of a Harvey Weinstein.Japan's Big MeToo Moment: You Think Hollywood Abuses Women? You Oughta See Tokyo.Yet this victory in a civil case also reopens the very ugly question of why Yamaguchi never was prosecuted for his alleged crime. The police had a warrant prepared on sexual assault charges and were planning to arrest Yamaguchi at Narita airport on June 8, 2015, but were stopped at the last minute by a high-ranking police bureaucrat known as "Prime Minister Abe's attack dog" who then scuttled the original investigation.The Daily Beast has reported on this case from the very start, following the chain of evidence and documenting the suspicious twists. The civil lawsuits for damages incurred during sexual assault were filed by Ito in September of 2017. She accused Yamaguchi, a former Washington bureau chief for the Tokyo Broadcasting Service, of sexually assaulting her on April 4, 2015, inflicting mental and physical damage. Ito asserted that she met Yamaguchi at a restaurant after he offered to help further her career as a journalist. She claimed that after a few drinks she lost consciousness. When she awoke she was in his hotel room and he was raping her. She said she believed she may have been drugged. Yamaguchi later countersued, claiming that Ito had defamed him, and sought 130 million yen ($1.1 million) in damages. Is Japan's Top Politician Behind a Shameful Rape Cover-Up?The plight of Shiori Ito became world-wide news and the subject of a BBC documentary, Japan's Secret Shame, because in Japan it is even more rare than in other countries for victims to come forward with allegations of sexual assault.Interest has been heightened since the alleged assailant is a close personal friend of the prime minister and has written two books about him. Add to that the role a close ally of the prime minister played in scuttling the investigation and it's not surprising that cries of foul play have been heard inside and outside Japan. On December 18 the Tokyo District Court, Judge Akihiro Suzuki presiding, found Ito's account of the attack was consistent and believable. The court noted that Ito had reported the rape to the police, sought the support of medical professionals, and that the testimony of witnesses and surveillance footage from the hotel all indicated that Ito was unconscious and unable to consent to sexual intercourse. Even before reaching the hotel, the court noted, the semi-unconscious Ito asked the taxi driver to take her to the nearest train station, but Yamaguchi insisted the driver take the pair to the hotel.In addition to these findings, the court dismissed Yamaguchi's defamation claims, effectively throwing out his counter lawsuit. The judge indicated that the information disclosed by Ito was in the public interest, meant to show the obstacles that rape victims face in society, and therefore was not slanderous. * * *What The Doorman Saw* * *Yamaguchi says he will appeal the ruling, but he might want to reconsider in light of what appears to be damning new evidence. On December 19, after the trial was over, the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho, which first brought the case to light in a series of exposés going back to 2017, published an explosive scoop. Shukan Shincho obtained a copy of a written statement from a key witness that had been submitted to the court too late to be included in the civil case. The witness is identified as a doorman at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel, where Yamaguchi took the intoxicated Ito. The doorman had spoken to the police before an arrest warrant had been issued when the investigation was first under way and gave formal testimony as evidence thereafter. However, in the aftermath of the retracted arrest warrant, and a failed appeal to the Prosecutorial Review Board, his testimony never saw the light of day. He was not informed by the courts about the progress of the case and only discovered Ito took it to civil court when the hearings were nearly over. In a desperate effort to speak up about what he saw that night, the doorman came forward with his statement just as the hearings had ended. Ito's lawyers asked for the court proceeding to be reopened, but the court rejected the appeal and his statement was not submitted as evidence. In the published interview with Shukan Shincho, the doorman talked about the first time he spoke to the police on the matter. He said his memory was jogged when an investigator told him "the taxi driver suggested that you may have heard more of their conversation"—that is, the exchanges between Ito and Yamaguchi as she tried to avoid accompanying him. That night, the doorman had opened the backseat door of the taxi in the hotel driveway. "I made eye contact with Yamaguchi," he said, "and I got an impression that he was a scary man, and he was pulling the arm of the woman who sat in the other seat, urging her to get out." "The woman insisted that she had to clean up the mess, she had made a mess, she sounded like a young child and I realized that she had thrown up on the floor of the car," the doorman recalled. "When the man tried to drag her out of the car from the door on her side, she made gestures of protest, refusing to get out, and insisting on cleaning up. I thought she must have really wanted to clean or maybe she was using that as an excuse to get away from him. The man grabbed her arm and said 'don't bother.'" "She could barely stand or walk on her own, barely conscious and completely intoxicated repeating 'I have to clean up,'" the doorman said, "but still she was pulled towards the hotel and I remember her letting out a loud wail as though she were crying." He also noted the arrogance of Yamaguchi, who failed to apologize and did not offer to pay a cleaning charge, which is the custom in Japan when one has defiled a taxi.What followed was caught on the hotel's security camera. Yamaguchi dragged a limp and incapacitated Ito into the hotel lobby. The doorman recalls the police saying, "with testimony as clear cut as this, this case is ours [to win]." However, despite this testimony and other evidence, the case was dropped. * * *No Means No Investigation* * *Ito, at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, speaking in English, said, "When I went to [the] police for the first time after the incident, the first word that I got was these things happen and we can't investigate, which was quite shocking to hear. There's so many reasons behind it why they use this excuse. After I heard that comment, I sort of pressured them: 'Well I know which hotel I came out [of] so please check the CCTV,' and they did. They found the CCTV and they said this is something, it is criminal, but yet they didn't want to file the case, and I asked why again. The investigator [said] that it is because he is pressured by prosecutors because our conviction rate in Japan is very high, and I believe it's something to do with it."Prosecutors only want to bring cases they can be absolutely sure they will win—typically their conviction rates are 99 percent—and sex crimes are hard ones to make. "That was quite surprising," said Ito. She also noted the lack of female police officers. In 2017, fewer than 10 percent of the police force were women. "Police officers need to be educated how to deal with these victims who are traumatized with sex crimes. But my case for instance, I asked for a female police officer [and] I talked to her and after two hours she said, 'I'm sorry I'm from the traffic department and I can't take your report so please talk to my male co-worker who is a male investigator.'"As Ito noted, in Japan, not only are the prosecutors and police reluctant to deal with sexual crimes against women, even if they get their day in court, Japan's predominantly male judiciary is likely to find they didn't resist enough. And thus the rapists often go free. * * *Conspicuous Silence* * *After the court's ruling in favor of Ito last week, several of the previously loud and abusive defenders of Yamaguchi suddenly went quiet. The most conspicuous silence came from Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and protege of the prime minister, Mio Sugita, who previously gained attention for anti LGBQT remarks. In the BBC documentary, Japan's Secret Shame, Sugita claimed Ito "was at fault as a woman, drinking with a man until she lost consciousness," defending Yamaguchi and men as the "victim in these cases." And her tweet from last June has come back to haunt her. Sugita wrote that Ito did not deserve to be dealt with as a genuine victim. "I don't forgive sex crimes. It is unacceptable to force a victim to take drugs, or drag her into a car, and do things like rape her and I think the punishment should be more severe. But in an outrageous/unreasonable case like Ito Shiori—I feel anger as a woman that she is treated the same way as other rape victims who are absolutely not at fault." The court essentially found that Yamaguchi did the things that Sugita says she can't forgive and her underlying theme that rape victims were often somehow at fault, was not well-received either. At this point in time, she still has made no comment on the court's findings. While some critics of Ito suddenly shut up, the netizens and trolls of Japan quickly rose to the occasion and launched a stream of invective against Ito so offensive that media outlets were at a loss what to do. The Mainichi newspaper disabled the comments on the video of Ito's statement outside the courthouse immediately after the verdict, but one can easily watch the same video on other news channels and the comments keep rolling in: "I want to rape her, too," was a typical comment. Others included, "This is clearly a modern comfort woman's scheme," referring to the Asian and European women who were coerced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during Japan's imperial era. For the right wing, "comfort women" is a term used to denigrate any independent woman as a willing prostitute, intent on cheating men of their money* * *Did Yamaguchi Get Special Treatment?* * *In his press conference on Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Yamaguchi accused the court of ignoring his claims and alleged there are contradictions in Ito's statements. He called her a habitual liar and hinted that he was now going to sue several media outlets, including The New York Times and the BBC. The only thing that seemed to give him pause was when he noticed that Shiori Ito was in the room listening to him speak, and taking notes.When The Daily Beast asked him, as a veteran journalist himself who had covered crime in Japan, did he know of any case in which the police had rescinded an arrest warrant for a felony, he did not answer the question. He probably doesn't want to answer; numerous sources, lawyers, former prosecutors and police say that it is almost unprecedented for an arrest warrant not to be executed. For better or worse, this is how the Japanese criminal justice process typically works in felony cases. The police investigate, find evidence, then consult with the prosecutors. If the prosecutor agrees, then they go to the court and get a warrant. They make an arrest. The suspect is held for up to 23 days in jail, interrogated every day, and then a final decision is made on whether to prosecute. They can then be rearrested on different charges. The former CEO Of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, was put through this meat grinder and spent over 120 days in jail. His trial has not yet started. That wasn't the case for Yamaguchi.Yamaguchi did insist that despite his close personal friendship with the prime minister, he had never asked for political interference on his behalf. He says he didn't even know he was under investigation when the Takanawa police reluctantly let him depart without putting him in handcuffs as they had planned on June 8, 2015. For the most part, at the press conference Yamaguchi let his lawyer say the unpleasant things he didn't want coming out of his own mouth. The lawyer's supposed "bombshell" claim that Ito must be lying because she wrote in her book that her relative was a prosecutor when he was not was effectively dismissed two hours later. Ito clarified that her relative was an assistant prosecutor–fukukenji–which in Japan, is rarely differentiated from a regular prosecutor (kenji).* * *A Plea For Help* * *The circumstances that led to the criminal investigation of Yamaguchi being shelved may never be fully known. The civil court did not touch upon the previous events and it is nearly impossible to sue the Japanese government for failure to do its fiduciary duty. The Abe administration has a long history of shredding documents and cover-ups, so getting to the truth will be hard. Perhaps the last word should go to Ito, who made this plea to the media in her closing remarks, when asked about whether there was political interference in her case. Her voice cracked as she spoke."What I want to ask for you guys is that I need your help to find out these things. I can't do this all by myself, and I've been thinking when is the right time to do more investigation around it because I can't [alone]. I need your help." While the Abe administration seems to be rather unhelpful in her case, or to women in general, maybe there are some in or outside of the administration who are willing to help. Mari Hirayama, a Professor in Criminal Procedure and Criminology at Hakuoh University, considers the verdict a step forward for sexual assault victims in Japan. "She could not get justice [from the] Prosecutorial Review Board, but now she is admired worldwide. I hope this [case] inspired the reform for the Penal Code planned next year." Indeed, the common sense ruling of the Tokyo District Court is a leap forward for equal rights in Japan, establishing one thing that should already be crystal clear––if a woman is forced to have sex without her consent, that is a crime.The crusty old men who rule Japan were able to stop one arrest, but Ito has started something unprecedented in this country. The attempt to muzzle the rape investigation has backfired and instead ignited a movement, lead by Ito, who is no longer a victim but a hero for many. In its schemes to silence Ito, the government unwittingly gave voice to an army of women who are fed up with suffering silently and will not be stopped until true justice is served. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Iran rejects 'conditional release' for Iranian-British woman Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:29 AM PST  The lawyer of an Iranian-British woman convicted on spying charges in Iran has asked that she be released after serving half of her sentence, a request that was immediately rejected by the Tehran prosecutors'office, the state IRNA news agency reported Sunday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years for allegedly planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government while traveling with her young daughter in Iran at the time.
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| Five arrested in Ethiopia for arson attack on mosques: state government Posted: 21 Dec 2019 10:34 AM PST  Five people suspected of burning down four mosques in Ethiopia's Amhara region were arrested on Saturday, a regional spokesman said, as rising inter-communal and ethnic violence threatens political reforms initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. "Five people who are suspected of leading and organizing the attacks have now been arrested," Getnet Yirsaw, the Amhara state spokesman, said in a Facebook post. Yirsaw also said that a church in the town of Motta, 377 km (234 miles) north of the capital Addis Ababa, had been targeted in an arson attack.
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| Pirates kill one, kidnap four in attacks off Gabon capital Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:19 PM PST  Pirates attacked four ships in the harbour of the Gabon capital Libreville overnight, killing a captain and kidnapping four Chinese workers, the government said Sunday. "Pirate attacks were perpetrated... against four ships," government spokesman Edgard Anicet Mboumbou Miyakou said, adding that a Gabonese captain was killed and four Chinese sailors were abducted. Pirate attacks are unusual in the harbour, but extremely frequent in the surrounding Gulf of Guinea.
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| All France Wants for Christmas Is a Train as Strikes Go On Posted: 22 Dec 2019 05:24 AM PST ![All France Wants for Christmas Is a Train as Strikes Go On]( "All France Wants for Christmas Is a Train as Strikes Go On") (Bloomberg) -- Forget presents. All French people want for Christmas is to be able to get on a train to visit family and friends.It looks like Santa, or rather, labor unions won't be delivering that anytime soon.Strikes by transport workers against the government's pension-reform plan have shut down half of national train services this weekend, with 59% expected to be cut on Dec. 23-24. France's railway company, SNCF, said it suspended its unaccompanied minor service, canceling about 6,000 tickets for children who were planning to travel during the vacation.Four out of five trains were suspended in the greater Paris region, while the capital's metro system ground to a halt, with the exception of two automated lines.French President Emmanuel Macron renewed calls for unions to agree a truce over the holiday period, while a new poll by Ifop for Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) newspaper showed public approval of the movement had continued to decline to 51%."Strikes are protected by the constitution. But there are times in a nation's history when it's also good to know when to call a truce to respect families and family life," Macron said on a trip to Ivory Coast this weekend, during which he visited troops stationed there.Opposition RisingSome 63% of French people wanted unions to call a halt to strikes during the holiday season, a Dec. 18 Elabe opinion survey showed. An OpinionWay poll on Thursday showed 55% of respondents said unions were "wrong" to keep striking during that period. While some unions are calling for a truce, others aren't.At the same time, opposition to Macron's pension reform, a cornerstone of his presidential platform, has been rising. The Elabe poll showed that at 57%, more people reject the plan now than when protests started on Dec. 5. Some unions have called for a new day of demonstrations across the country on Jan. 9.While Macron's government has barreled through reforms of tax and labor laws, the current gridlock shows how deeply the French are wedded to their pension system. Macron wants to merge 42 separate regimes into a single universal points-based system. The plan also offers incentives to raise the age for full retirement benefits to 64 from 62.Workers have been protesting proposed changes to one of Europe's most complex and costly pension programs. The French government wants to phase out special retirement plans for sectors ranging from train conductors to dancers at the Paris Opera Ballet.Le Parisien newspaper reported on Sunday that Macron will also give up his right under a 1955 law to a set pension for life granted to French presidents once they finish their mandate and will instead switch to a points-based calculation. He will also abandon the right to a post for life at France's Constitutional Council, which brings with it 13,500 euros ($14,957) in compensation, the paper said.Car SharingSupport for the protests has remained strong even as the walkouts and demonstrations have created havoc for millions of workers commuting on public transportation -- mostly in and around Paris -- and led to hundreds of miles of traffic jams around the French capital.Read more: French Opposition to Macron Pension Reforms Jumps to 57%: PollCar-sharing platforms such as French unicorn BlaBlaCar have seen a surge in reservations. Bookings have doubled since the start of the protests and have beaten records, the company told Bloomberg. Bookings have also doubled on its BlaBlaBus coach service, and it has added buses on lines such as Paris to Lyon, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Toulouse."We see a real solidarity of drivers, more people are offering seats than ever," said Nicolas Brusson, chief executive officer of BlaBlaCar, told Bloomberg.The company, created in 2006, will have 2 million seats available between Dec. 20 and Jan. 5, the equivalent of about 5,000 TGV high-speed trains, Brusson said.Read more: How's Your Driving? Use an App, and Insurers Could Be WatchingUnions DividedSNCF has called on travelers to change their tickets but pledged it will seek to make sure the main lines and the most demanded ones will run on Dec. 23-24.Union leaders met with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday and Thursday, with several of them saying talks failed to advance and signaling that they planned to continue protests.The government will present a timetable for consultation on the reforms on Monday, with meetings expected to start at the beginning of January, new pensions chief Laurent Pietraszewski told the JDD newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. The Ifop poll showed 69% of those surveyed expect the government will push through the reforms without caving in to the protests, down three points.The hard-line CGT and some other unions have called for further strikes and demonstrations through the end of the year unless Macron withdraws his plan. One of France's more moderate unions, the CFDT, has called for a Christmas truce."Everyone should be able to travel freely to do what they need to do during the holiday season," Laurent Berger, the leader of the CFDT, said on France Inter radio on Friday.(Updates travel disruption, adds Macron and pension chief comments, adds Ifop opinion poll results)To contact the reporters on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net;James Regan in Paris at jregan65@bloomberg.net;William Horobin in Paris at whorobin@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Geraldine Amiel at gamiel@bloomberg.net, Vidya Root, Anil VarmaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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