Chaotic mass demonstrations are underway in Ecuador following a spate of austerity cuts tied to a recently implemented IMF deal. Police have unleashed tear gas on protesters, while the government has declared a state of emergency.

By Monday, some 477 people had been arrested after five days of heated demonstrations, in which protesters blocked roads and clashed with police on the streets of Quito.


The demonstrators - many of them indigenous peoples - met a forceful police response, including tear gas, billy clubs and armored vehicles, with officers pursuing protesters on horseback and motorbike.

Washington likes to claim that the sanctions it imposes against foreign nations are tailored to harm the rulers and spare the common folk. Well, here is Adobe banning all of its Venezuelan customers.

California based software giant Adobe Inc. is best known for its array of designer tools like Photoshop and Illustrator. Lately, the company has been switching to a subscription-based business model, which means clients pay regular fees to keep using its products rather than make a one-time purchase and own them. Later this month, all subscriptions in Venezuela will be canceled without refund, Adobe informed its clients in emails sent this week.

Transgender children SHOULD undergo irreversible surgery without their parents' permission or counselling, psychologists say

Transgender children under the age of 16 should be able to undergo surgery without their parents' permission, according to Australia's top psychologists.

The Australian Psychological ­Society, which represents 24,000 professionals, says the disapproval of both parents should not inhibit a child under 16 from consenting to procedures.

But childrens' ability to make decisions must be assessed by 'competent' doctors, the APS said in an unpublished law reform submission, reported by The Australian.

Does the current wave of climate change hysteria as represented by Greta Thunberg make you feel a bit uneasy? Or maybe you have to deal with friends, colleagues or relatives who are confused about all this? In these situations, it can be useful to take a step back and bring some rationality to this debate. By definition, hysteria is the opposite to level-headed analysis. This is the reason why there is so much irrationality and confusion around the climate change issue - and it's not just about the scientific debate, as we'll see. Because no matter where you stand on the validity of the man-made global warming theory, there's plenty of myths and problems with the Greta-inspired, Fridays For Future-style mania.

As a German, I live in a country that has made climate change a central theme of its policies for decades now. So let this be a cautionary tale for other countries. Keep in mind that even though radical activists and most of the media frame this debate in black and white terms and try to make it a left vs. right issue, this just isn't true. There are a great variety of opinions about climate change both on the left and the right, both within mainstream science and the so-called 'climate-skeptic' community. Once you drop the hysterical mindset, these nuances become very visible. And while they make things much more complicated, taking these nuances into account is the only alternative to the disastrous consequences of political hysteria. So here are my top ten arguments to counter the current climate craze:

1. Problem Or Apocalypse?

Probably the biggest trap this whole climate movement fell into is the idea that "if we don't act now, we are all going to die soon": apocalyptic thinking. This shuts down calm, rational thought. But once you get out of that mindset, the issue simply becomes a problem among many. How many of those protestors and activists are even able to tell you what the consequences of CO2 emissions are - even according to the 'official science' of the IPCC?

Here is what Jochem Marotzke, co-author of the 2013 IPCC report, said in an interview with the German magazine SPIEGEL in 2018:

SPIEGEL: "Are there any thresholds above which irreversible processes begin?"

Marotzke: "We cannot rule this out, but the evidence for such tipping points has so far been rather weak. A warming of 2 degrees could most likely lead to the melting of Greenland's ice sheet, causing sea levels to rise by seven metres in the long term - that would be a highly dramatic change. But even if this were to happen, defrosting would take 3000 years. All other alleged tipping points such as the Gulf Stream drying up or the West Antarctic melting are unlikely in the foreseeable future."

Another lead IPCC scientist, Oxford Professor Myles Allen, has said something similar in a short YouTube message: the world isn't going to end soon, and there are certainly no deadlines by which we 'must act' to avoid some kind of apocalypse.

Mind you, despite some shrill tones in the IPCC's press releases, this is the 'official position' in science and has nothing to do with 'climate skeptics'. It could be summed up like this: "Yes, we do have a problem and we need to figure out a way to deal with it, but there's a lot we don't understand yet, and anyway, it will take many years until that problem manifests, which gives us enough time to solve it." At the very least, this shows that contrary to popular belief, there is much diversity even within mainstream science about the effects of climate change. This fact alone should make us immune to politicians and activists who want to rush through drastic measures and policies, and ignore the likely unintended consequences, with the argument that if we don't take these measures right now, we are all going to die.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is opening up to the world. It used to be absolutely impossible to get a visa to enter, unless you were a religious pilgrim (therefore officially a Muslim), NATO military personnel, or a businessman or woman, invited by a local company or by the Saudi government. Even if you secured approval, visas were outrageously expensive, costing several hundreds of dollars. The only loophole was a "transit visa" for those who were going to drive from Oman or Bahrain, to Jordan.

Tourism was not recognized as a reason to visit the KSA. There were simply no tourist visas issued. Full stop.

Then, suddenly, everything changed, at the very end of September 2019. The Saudi government introduced e-visas, for 49 nation nationalities, including the USA, Canada, all nationals of the European Union, as well as the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau).

Border Patrol agents working along the United States-Mexico border took into custody approximately 851,000 people in the U.S. government's fiscal 2019, marking the highest number of arrests since 2007, according to federal data exclusively obtained by the Washington Examiner.

But the 40,000 people taken into custody in September is less than one-third of the 132,000 arrests made in May at the height of a surge of illegal immigrants.

Roughly 40,000 people were apprehended after crossing into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California during the month of September. That number was added to the previous 11 months to bring fiscal 2019, which ran Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, to slightly more than 851,000 arrests. Those arrested for illegally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico may have claimed asylum once in custody, but that figure is not released by the government each month.

The 851,000 arrested at the southern border does not include the number of people who approached ports of entry, or border crossings, to claim asylum or pass through but were turned away. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security agency that oversees these figures, is expected to release this and related data in a few weeks.

As of Aug. 31, another 263,000 people were encountered at ports by the Office of Field Operations, a component of CBP. Border Patrol agents are stationed on the land between ports of entry while field operations officers stay at ports. These people are not arrested but are simply denied entry.

The youngest daughter of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has contracted dengue fever, a serious viral infection spread by mosquitoes which can develop fatal complications.

Veronica 'Kitty' Duterte, 15, was inoculated against the virus with a vaccine called Dengvaxia. However, in late 2017, the drug's manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, released a statement saying that it carried a risk to people who were vaccinated without having previously suffered from dengue, exposing them to an even worse infection should they later contract it.

Three Spanish police officers who were thrown into the sea when their boat crashed early during a high-speed chase were pulled to safety by the drug-smugglers they were chasing, police said.

The unexpected rescue happened on Friday after a police vessel began pursuing a speedboat "with four people on board that was suspected of transporting drugs" in waters off the southern coast of Spain, a police statement said.

During the chase, the two vessels collided, causing three police officers to fall into the sea as their boat "span out of control".

Russian President Vladimir Putin and some of his top officials took a break from state affairs ahead of his birthday, spending a few days hiking, hillwalking, and even driving off-road in the thick of the Siberian wilderness.

Days off are a rare occurrence in Putin's tight schedule. When he manages to get a few of them away from the Kremlin, he usually spends time in the country's wilderness, enjoying the calm of nature.

This time, the Russian president chose the Siberian taiga forest to go on a hike ahead of his October 7 birthday.

Girls are skipping school to avoid sharing gender neutral toilets with boys after being left to feel unsafe and ashamed

Gender-neutral toilets in schools have left girls feeling unsafe and even put their health at risk, parents and teachers have warned.

Girls who are menstruating are so anxious about sharing facilities with boys that some are staying at home for fear of being made to feel 'period shame'.

With a growing number of both primary and secondary schools installing unisex toilets, some girls are risking infections by refusing to urinate all day. Others are so fearful they have stopped drinking liquids at school.