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Manhattan grand jury indicts Harvey Weinstein on rape and sex crime charges

Dominic Patten
Deadline
Wed, 30 May 2018 15:03 UTC
Oprah kissing Weinstein
Hours after Harvey Weinstein's lawyer said the producer would not testify before a grand jury, the same panel has now indicted the disgraced Oscar winner on two sets of rape charges and a sex crime charge.

"A Grand Jury has voted to indict Harvey Weinstein on charges of Rape in the First and Third Degrees, and Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said this afternoon. (Read the two-page indictment here, but be warned there are graphic descriptions of sex acts in it.)

If found guilty, the Oscar-winning producer could find himself behind bars for up to 25 years.
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Document

Labour Party plan to tackle "crisis" of anti-Semitism in UK leaked


RT
Thu, 31 May 2018 14:53 UTC
corbyn
© Peter Nicholls / Reuters
A 13-point Labour plan to tackle the "crisis" of anti-Semitism within the party, recommends that investigations should be depoliticized, time-limited and more consistent, reveals a leaked document seen by the Huffington Post.

The document appears to admit that "political forces" may have had an impact on the outcome of investigations. The report suggests that the political inclinations of NEC members, who sit on the disputes panel, and the accused - have affected previous decisions on anti-Semitism cases.

It claims that Labour members have complained about consistency in the NEC dispute panel's decision-making, saying: "There is a perception that cases are not dealt with in a consistent manner due to political forces influencing decisions with particular respondents particularly at the NEC Disputes Panel stage of the process."

To tackle this issue, the report, drafted by the party's anti-Semitism working group which includes Momentum founder Jon Lansman and Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti, recommends that "reports on antisemitism are anonymized when they are put to the 3 member antisemitism panel."
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Handcuffs

Hungarian parliament considers legislation to jail NGOs that assist migrants


Euractiv.com
Wed, 30 May 2018 14:48 UTC
anti immigrant protest Hungary
© Zoltan Gergely Kelemen/European Press Agency
People protesting in Roszke, Hungary, 15 April 2017. The protests were aimed against the measures taken by the Hungarian government against migration.
Individuals or groups who help migrants not entitled to protection to submit requests for asylum or who help illegal migrants gain status to stay in Hungary will be liable to jail under legislation submitted to parliament on Tuesday (29 May).

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government has also proposed amending the constitution to state that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary, rejecting European Union quotas to distribute migrants around the bloc.

Fresh from a landslide election win in April, Hungary's combative premier Viktor Orbán was formally sworn in as prime minister Thursday (10 May), and hinted at designs on power until at least 2030.

In power since 2010, the right-wing nationalist Orbán has tightened state control over the media and campaigned on a platform of fierce hostility to immigration - policies that have put him in conflict with the European Union, which funds development policies to the tune of billions of euros a year.

Comment:

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Stock Down

Disney shares tumble after ABC cancels Roseanne

Trey Williams
The Wrap
Tue, 29 May 2018 14:44 UTC
roseanne

Roseanne Barr
Disney HQ likely wasn't the happiest place on Earth on Tuesday, as shares of the entertainment giant closed at $99.72, down 2.4 percent after a double-whammy of bad news.

The decline followed a tough weekend at the box office for Disney as the film studio's latest Lucasfilm project, "Solo: A Star Wars Story," underperformed, bringing in just $103 million in box office receipts for the 4-day Memorial Day weekend.

Disney had expected the film t o open with $130 million. The disappointing returns of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" has raised concerns for Lucasfilm and its "Star Wars" universe.

Comment: Television shows will rarely if ever get canceled as long as they are performing well in the ratings. This was clearly a decision to stamp out a show that did not conform to Hollywood's liberal standards

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Clipboard

Pushback: Poll finds over 40% of western Europeans find Islam 'incompatible' with their values


RT
Thu, 31 May 2018 14:35 UTC
immgrants europe
© Benoit Tessier / Reuters
Some 42 percent of people across western Europe believe Islam is incompatible with their values, a new Pew survey has found, noting that Christian-affiliated responders are more likely to reject foreigners in their community.

In recent years, Europe has experienced a record influx of asylum-seekers and migrants from predominantly Muslim countries who are fleeing conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa. The wave of migration, encouraged by the German 'open-door' refugee policy, has prompted a heated public debate about immigration, border control, and security policies across Europe.

A new Pew Research Center survey has found that around 42 percent of the general population across 15 western European states believe that "Islam is fundamentally incompatible" with their national values and culture. Twenty-six percent of them believe that migrants from the Middle East are dishonest.

Comment: If Europe stopped being Washington's vassel in all it's disastrous wars, there would be no migrant problem. Ghadaffi warned of this in 2010.

Gaddafi to EU one year before they destroyed his country: 'Libya needs help preventing African migrants from flooding Europe'

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No Entry

#SaudiToo: Saudi Arabia outlaws sexual harassment


Sputnik
Wed, 30 May 2018 14:22 UTC
saudi women
© REUTERS / Faisal Al Nasser
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia passed a new law criminalizing sexual harassment, less than a month before Saudi women will be allowed to drive for the first time in more than 25 years.

The Shura Council, the kingdom's formal advisory body, passed a draft law on Monday that will require offenders to spend up to five years behind bars and pay a maximum penalty of $80,000 if they're found guilty of sexual harassment. The law was approved by the Saudi cabinet on Wednesday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

"After reviewing the comments of His Royal Highness the Minister of Interior, and after considering the Shura Council Resolution No. (163/40) dated 13/9/1439 H (May 28, 2018), the Council of Ministers decided to approve the system to combat the crime of harassment," the official cabinet statement reads.

The legislation contains eight articles that "aim at combating the crime of harassment, preventing it, applying punishment against perpetrators and protecting the victims in order to safeguard the individual's privacy, dignity and personal freedom which are guaranteed by Islamic law and regulations," the statement adds.

However, what constitutes harassment is not outlined.


Comment: We guess that makes Saudi Arabia officially a Western democracy. Because undefined categories of sex crime are what the West does best. But seriously, it probably would have been better to start with actual rape laws. At the very least Saudi Arabia gets points for attempting to steer society into the 21st century (by way of the 20th century). When you're living like it's the 8th century, you've gotta start somewhere.

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Document

Putin grants Russian citizenship to American MMA champion Jeffrey Monson

Jesse Dominick
The Duran
Tue, 29 May 2018 14:19 UTC
Jeffrey Monson
Another American celebrity has joined the likes of actor Steven Seagal and basketball player Jamierra Faulkner in becoming a Russian citizen.

Jeffrey Monson, a legendary mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, was granted Russian citizenship by decree of President Vladimir Putin yesterday, TASS reports.

The decree, published on the official legal information internet portal of the Russian Federation reads:
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Info

Russia and China holding joint military cooperation talks

Frank Sellers
The Duran
Thu, 31 May 2018 14:12 UTC
Russia China military
The Chinese and Russian militaries have been getting a lot closer lately, and Chinese diplomats paying visit to Russia have been playing a role in it recently. The topics of talks, held yesterday, between the two nation's military top brass, involved cooperation on confronting military issues that are perceived as common threats.

The Global Times reports:
The armed forces of China and Russia held their 20th round of strategic consultation in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two sides exchanged views and reached broad consensus on current international and regional hotspot issues and on further deepening China-Russia military cooperation under the new circumstances.

They pledged to firmly implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, boost bilateral military cooperation and make new contributions to pressing ahead with military strategic cooperation.

Li Zuocheng, member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, met with the Russian delegation during the consultation.
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Attention

Uber adds panic button to their app for passengers in case of sexual assault by driver


RT
Thu, 31 May 2018 14:07 UTC
Car driver
© Tatiana Morozova / Global Look Press
Ride-hailing company Uber has added a panic alarm to their app in the United States so that riders have a quick way to contact 911 if they are attacked by the driver.

The company announced plans to introduce the feature nationwide last month. A number of Uber drivers have faced accusations of sex crimes for years.

"While no one should ever have to call 911 when using Uber, no form of transportation is 100 percent free of incidents," CEO Dana Khosrowshahi said at the time. "If ever faced with an emergency situation, we want to help you get the help you need."
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Hardhat

Russia ready to extend Trans-Siberian Railway through Korean peninsula


RT
Thu, 31 May 2018 13:57 UTC
Trans-Siberian Railway
© Ilya Naymushin / Reuters
A passenger train moves along a bridge of the Trans-Siberian Railway
The world's longest railway spanning almost the entire length of Russia - the Trans-Siberian - could get an extension to North and South Korea.

A memorandum on the project was signed 10 years ago, but talks have been frozen after relations between the two Koreas deteriorated. The recent thaw has seen Seoul and Pyongyang more open to improving ties.

"Nobody canceled the project and we still consider it to be extremely important... Technically, we are fully ready to connect the Trans-Korean highway with the Trans-Siberian Railway," a spokesman for the project, Gennady Bessonov, told RIA Novosti.

According to him, the whole problem lies in political relations between North and South Korea. "We have modernized the section from Hasan station in Russia to the North Korean port Rajin. Further connection is possible to Pyongyang and then to Seoul," Bessonov said.
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