Beijing-owned Air China airline has ended flights to the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, due to a lack of passenger demand. Flights were "temporarily suspended due to unsatisfactory business operations," said an Air China employee, as quoted by AP.

The suspension means North Korea's Air Koryo is the only airline, which connects the country to China. Its website lists flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Dandong in China and Vladivostok in Russia.

In April, Air China said it was cutting the frequency of flights to its isolated neighbor. Some other Chinese airlines offered charter services to the country, but those have been scrapped as well. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said he had no information about the news, but any such decisions would be made based on the "state of operation and the market," he said.

The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea. China said it would enforce them. According to a Reuters report, as of the end of October, China has significantly cut coal, lead, and iron ore imports from the North, which are crucial for Pyongyang's economy. Lead ore imports dropped 84 percent, iron ore shipments plunged 98 percent, and coal imports were down 71.6 percent from a year earlier.

China also stopped selling gasoline and diesel to North Korea at the end of June over concerns the country would fail to pay for the goods. The restrictions are still in force, Reuters reports. The October data showed trade between the world's second-largest economy and its northern neighbor was $412 million, the lowest since April.

More than 20,000 drivers in the state of New Jersey could have DWI charges wiped from their record because a police officer was caught tampering with multiple breathalyzer machines.

Last year, Sgt. Marc Dennis, a coordinator in the New Jersey State Police Alcohol Drug Testing Unit, was accused of skipping a vital step in the calibration of breathalyzers on multiple occasions. It has not been specified in police reports whether or not Dennis had malicious intent. However, given how quickly criminal charges were brought against him, it seems that this is far more than a simple oversight.

While Dennis denies the accusations, he was allegedly identified tampering with these machines on three separate occasions. Lt. Brian Polite, a spokesman for the State Police, said in a statement after the arrest that a supervisor at the police department witnessed Dennis committing these crimes and reported him immediately.

"Once it was determined that there was a possibility of criminal charges being filed, it was then referred to Division of Criminal Justice," Polite said.

Politics is the root of most of this world's problems. It's sad when you think about it; some families are broken, friendships lost and marriages are set asunder for something as petty as political differences and ideological divergences. At the core of this issue is the need too many of us have to deify political idols and elevate people we don't know or never met as gods to worship. I don't know what it is about humanity; the very same people who are neglected, and even exploited, by the rich and famous feel the need to offer more of our backs to the gentry and beg to be stepped on.

Actually, I kind have an inkling of an idea why we seemingly become a collective of masochists when it comes to groveling before the gentry. We put the rich and famous on pedestals because we too want to be rich and famous by derivative. This same theme was touched upon by a rabbi at 6th and I synagogue in DC I visited a couple of years ago-I'm a bit of a free spirit when it comes to exploring people's faiths. The rabbi noted that our egos and our desire to be acknowledged makes us glom on to those who are famous because it makes us feel that we too are important by extension. When we take pictures with a famous personality or a movie star, we do so mostly to show off our exploits to others. Our need to be noticed makes us latch on to those who are noted.

By the way, there is a reason the title of this article has we instead of they in it. I'm not separating myself from the rest; I too fall victim to idolizing those who are elevated as stars. If someone renowned walked into this coffee shop right now while I'm writing this article, I would reflexively take a picture or at the very least gaze in astonishment. After all, it was not too long ago that I was a political parrot and a toady of Democrats [read My Political Awakening]. True enough, two years of wandering the wilderness has made me a lot less reverential of the rich and famous and a lot more admiring of broken strangers, but I would be a liar if I tried to pretend that I'm not occasionally in awe of people solely because of their notoriety.

From tweets threatening violence to emails detailing graphic descriptions of rape, a new survey has revealed that one in five women has experienced online harassment. Amnesty International UK says it is causing psychological distress for thousands of women.

An Amnesty poll asked 504 women aged 18 to 55 in the UK about their experiences of online abuse to"investigate this emerging violation of ... human rights." It found that one in five women said they had experienced abuse or harassment through social media.

Young women aged between 18 and 24 are particularly affected, Amnesty says, with more than one in three (37 percent) saying that they had experienced online abuse. One-third (36 percent) felt their physical safety had been threatened, while more than half (55 percent) suffered stress, anxiety or panic attacks as a result of the abuse.

October was an especially brutal month when it comes to the tally of people killed by police in this country, particularly for people of color. I emphasize people of color because my lifelong research on this topic tells me that their killings are not random, but rather are a result of dehumanization and the constant patrolling of bodies and communities of color, especially those of Native, Black and Brown peoples.

Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. This pattern of killings with impunity has been ongoing since 1492. Regardless of whether the killings are random or targeted, the number of law enforcement killings in this country is unparalleled anywhere else in the "developed" world. Killedbypolice.net (KBP) lists 93 people killed in the month of October. For September, the number was "only" 84.

Let that sink in; that is more than three per day, and November is on the same pace.

In August, Chicago police officer Marco Proano told a jury that when he fired 16 shots into a car full of unarmed teenagers, that was not threatening him, he was just doing his job. However, the dashcam video was so 'gruesome' that a jury did not agree. After only a 4 hour deliberation, Proana became the exception to the rule by actually getting convicted for his crimes.

Proano was found guilty on two felony counts of using excessive force in violating the victims' civil rights. He was facing a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count but moments ago, he was sentenced to just 5 years. Given Chicago's irresponsible and incredible ability to utterly fail at holding violent cops accountable, the sentence is surprisingly lengthy and precedent-setting.


During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman rejected Proano's argument that he was forced to shoot at the car to save a teen's life.

The judge said that at the time of the shooting, Proano "was not a police officer . . . He was the source of chaos and violence."

Victims who claim they were told not to speak out about the sexual abuse they endured as children are now sharing their stories, as the religious organization that abused them is paying over $2 million to protect its leaders.

A court in San Diego ordered Jehovah's Witnesses to pay $4,000 each day for withholding documents that show their leaders were aware that a man with a history of child sex abuse was being promoted within their organization-despite continued allegations against him. The decision was upheld by an appellate court in California this month.

Seventeen women from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are accusing a prominent neurologist of using his sought-after treatments as leverage to extract sexual favors.

The women claim that Dr. Ricardo Cruciani, 63, former chairman of the neurology department at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, has abused his patients going back more than a decade.

He will appear in Philadelphia court Tuesday on charges he assaulted seven patients last year alone. The remaining women have filed separate police reports or hired lawyers for civil suits.

The victims, ages 31 to 55, described a pervy bedside manner that includes unwanted touching and kissing, as well as being coerced into oral sex. Another said he masturbated in front of her - even as she declined his advances.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has called on tribes to end ritualistic torture, after a six-year-old child was attacked with knives on the suspicion she brought a hex on her community.

O'Neill said violent abuse, largely perpetrated by men, against women and girls accused of sorcery must stop. His call comes after the Papua New Guinea Tribal Foundation, a charity to help indigenous peoples, revealed the rescue of a young girl from a village in Enga province last week.

The girl had been accused of 'sanguma,' a fabled practice of witchcraft. According to the charity, the girl received burns and slash wounds from heated knives.

Recently the famous Italian actress, the incomparable Gina Lollobrigida, a 1960s sex symbol, celebrated her 90th birthday. Now, she's a wealthy lady and a multimillionaire.

There's one problem. Her son and legal successor Andrea Milko Skofic insists that his mother is incompetent. The reason is that Gina Lollobrigida doesn't deny her company to young suitors. The son is worried that she'll spend all her money on gigolos.

Anyway, Gina behaves as she sees fit. More precisely, as she saw fit to behave until the wave of noisy sex scandals based on accusations of sexual harassment came from Hollywood.