Month: October 2019

A woman who worked at NBC News claimed that Matt Lauer raped her at a hotel while on assignment for the Sochi Olympics, an encounter the former “Today” show host claimed was consensual. The claim outlined by Brooke Nevils in Ronan Farrow’s book, “Catch and Kill,” puts a name and details behind the event that led to Lauer’s firing by NBC in 2017. It also provoked the first public response from Lauer, who said in a defiant and graphic letter made public by his lawyer that “my silence was a mistake.” Variety first reported Nevils’ charges after obtaining a copy of Farrow’s book. The Associated Press typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, unless they step forward publicly as Nevils has done. Nevils, who was working for Meredith Vieira in Sochi, met her for drinks one night and Lauer joined them. Nevils said she had six shots of vodka and wound up going to Lauer’s room. “It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” Nevils told Farrow, according to Variety.  In his letter, Lauer admitted to his extramarital affair with Nevils. He said on that night in Sochi that they consensually performed a variety of sexual acts. “She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner,” he wrote. “At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do.” Lauer’s defense of his behavior extends beyond his …

The United States has taken custody of two Islamic State prisoners accused of taking part in beheading American journalists in 2014, The Washington Post reports. The two men were taken from a Kurdish-run prison in northern Syria, where Kurdish forces can no longer guarantee they can keep detaining the prisoners after the Turkish military incursion. The Post said the two are Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh. They were allegedly part of a quartet of British-born Islamic militants who their hostages dubbed “The Beatles.” One U.S. official told the Post the two have been taken to Iraq, while another simply said they are in U.S. military custody but would not say where they are. “The Beatles” were led by an IS militant named Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed “Jihadi John.” Emwazi beheaded American journalist James Foley, Israeli American journalist Steven Sotloff and U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig before a TV camera in 2014. “The Beatles” are also suspected of murdering other Western hostages. Emwazi was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2015. A fourth “Beatle” is in a Turkish prison. Kurdish forces captured Kotey and Elsheikh, who have dened taking part in the executions. They told The Washington Post in a prison interview last year that their role was to carry out ransom negotiations. If the two are brought to the United States for trial, they could be charged as conspirators in hostage-taking resulting in death — a charge that carries a possible death sentence, according to the Post. President Donald Trump …

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Wednesday announced a cabinet reshuffle, declared three days of national mourning and said those who shot protesters would be punished as he sought to quell anti-government unrest that has roiled Iraq for days. Authorities fear that violence, which has killed more than 110 people, mostly protesters angry at government corruption, could spiral, leading war-weary Iraq towards more civil strife. Protests erupted in Baghdad last week and soon spread to southern cities. Abdul Mahdi’s government has sought to address demonstrators’ grievances. However, a package of reforms announced by the government — including more job opportunities, subsidies and housing — is unlikely to satisfy Iraqis; nor is a cabinet reshuffle, likely to feature many of the same faces despised by protesters as an out-of-touch political elite. “We will ask parliament to vote tomorrow on changes to ministries,” Abdul Mahdi said at a news conference, adding that the government would be referring the names of hundreds of corrupt officials to the judiciary for investigation. Abdul Mahdi’s government will seek to weather the storm, however, backed by powerful Iran-aligned armed groups and political factions determined to preserve the status quo. Internet blackout Authorities have used an internet blackout, arrests of protesters and targeting of reporters to try to stem further unrest. At least 110 people have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded in the capital and the south, since the security forces started cracking down on demonstrators. Reuters journalists have witnessed protesters killed and wounded by …

After decades of being banned from attending men’s sporting events, Iran’s female soccer fans are celebrating the fact they will be able to attend their national team’s upcoming World Cup qualifier against Cambodia. “I got a ticket, I will go to the stadium!” tweeted a woman, adding: “Can you believe I’m saying this?” The game at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium Thursday will be the first time since shortly after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 that women can watch a men’s match without needing special, rare invitations or being forced to sneak in disguised as men. The milestone comes following years of campaigning by women’s rights activists and increased pressure from FIFA — world soccer’s governing body — that intensified following the tragic death in September of a woman who set herself alight after being charged over a failed attempt to enter a stadium to watch her favorite team. The announcement that some 3,500 segregated seats of the nearly 80,000 at the stadium would be reserved for women led to a joyous reaction from long-suffering followers of the sport. Women — as well as men — have been celebrating on social media by posting copies of their tickets for the much-anticipated match, with the tickets reserved for women selling out within minutes after going on sale on October 4. One woman said that, although she’s 35 years old, this is the first time she has bought a ticket to a soccer match. “All those years when I understood football I wished I …

President Donald Trump predicts his impeachment battle with House Democrats will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. The president spoke to reporters Wednesday, a day after the White House says it is refusing to participate in the Democratic-led inquiry into whether he should be impeached. Trump did not say exactly what House leaders must do if they want his cooperation. But he said he would cooperate “if they give us our rights” and Republicans “get a fair shake.” On Twitter, he called the impeachment probe a “Total Scam by the Do Nothing Democrats.” Great support from GOP in fighting the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats! https://t.co/qjskHYkQpD — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2019 Among the gripes spelled out in the White House letter is a complaint that Democrats are denying Trump and his Republican supporters in the House the opportunity to question witnesses and see the evidence the Democrats have. The White House calls the impeachment inquiry “unconstitutional” and demands the full House be allowed to vote on whether there should be an inquiry. But there is no rule preventing the House from looking into allegations of illegal activity by a president before deciding whether to bring actual articles of impeachment to a vote. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is surrounded by reporters as she arrives to meet with her caucus at the Capitol in Washington, after declaring she will launch a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called …

A U.S. Secret Service dog that prevented a potential attack on President Barack Obama in the White House in 2014 has been given the rare honor of an Order of Merit from a British charity, the first foreign animal to receive the award. Hurricane, a Belgian Malinois, was a highly trained member of the Secret Service and had previously been part of a victorious U.S. Canine Olympic team. In October 2014, when Obama and his family were home at the White House, an intruder scaled the fence and managed to fight off the first canine team deployed to intercept him. Hurricane and his handler, Special Operations Officer Marshall Mirarchi, were the backup team that night. “The second he got target lock, I sent him,” Mirarchi said. “He weaved through our teammates and took the individual down. Your normal scenario is that’s it, and you go up and get them. This was obviously different.” The intruder punched, kicked and swung Hurricane through the air. “You’re not expecting someone to fight a dog back for that long with that much violence,” Mirarchi recalled. “The individual wasn’t responding to any pain for whatever reason. So, I had to sit back and kind of watch Hurricane go to war. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” Hurricane’s jaws locked on the suspect’s arm, and he eventually forced the man to the ground where he was detained by armed officers. Hurricane was badly injured. “To see him afterward after that …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned deadly violence during protests in Iraq and called on the country’s government to “exercise maximum restraint,” the State Department said Tuesday. In a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, Pompeo “condemned the recent violence in Iraq and noted that those who violated human rights should be held accountable,” the department said in a statement. “The secretary lamented the tragic loss of life over the past few days and urged the Iraqi government to exercise maximum restraint. “Pompeo reiterated that peaceful public demonstrations are a fundamental element of all democracies, and emphasized that there is no place for violence in demonstrations, either by security forces or protestors.” Demonstrations in Iraq began with demands for an end to rampant corruption and chronic unemployment but escalated with calls for a complete overhaul of the political system. They were unprecedented because of their apparent spontaneity and independence in a deeply politicized society, and have also been bloody — with more than 100 people killed and 6,000 wounded in one week.  …

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one if its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that the plaintiff’s attorneys say is linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys. Johnson and Johnson immediately denounced the award after the jury’s decision in the Court of Common pleas, saying it’s “excessive and unfounded” and vowing immediate action to overturn it. The antipsychotic drug Risperdal is at the center of the lawsuit, with the plaintiff’s attorneys arguing it’s linked to abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys, an incurable condition known as gynecomastia. Johnson & Johnson used an organized scheme to make billions of dollars while illegally marketing and promoting the drug, attorneys Tom Kline and Jason Itkin said in a statement. Kline and Itkin said that Johnson & Johnson was “a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients.” Thousands of lawsuits have been filed over the drug, but the attorneys said this was the first in which a jury decided whether to award punitive damages and came up with an amount. Johnson & Johnson said in a statement on its website it was confident that the award would be overturned, calling it “grossly disproportionate” with the initial compensatory damage award and “a clear violation of due process.” Johnson & Johnson said the court’s exclusion of key evidence left it unable to present a meaningful defense, including what they said was a drug label that …

The furor over a tweet by the Houston Rockets general manager in support of Hong Kong protesters is highlighting the fine line that U.S. companies must walk when doing business with China. The NBA is trying to manage that delicate relationship after Daryl Morey posted a now-deleted tweet of an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” referring to the 4-month-old protests in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. That set off an immediate backlash, with China’s state broadcaster canceling plans to show a pair of preseason games in that country later this week. With a population of 1.4 billion people, a rapidly growing middle class and easing economic restrictions, China is highly appealing to U.S. companies looking for growth overseas. But companies must balance the potential for growth with the potential for pitfalls in dealing with a country that aggressively goes after its detractors. Companies need to use caution Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, cautions that companies should know what they’re getting themselves into when they enter a relationship with a country that’s heading into 70 years of communist rule. “It has a regime that doesn’t look like the United States,” Argenti said. “We can pretend it is a democracy, but it’s not.” Western governments dislike China’s attacks on companies but are unlikely to get involved, said David Zweig, a politics specialist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. So it’s up to companies to navigate situations themselves. Most …

Officials are working urgently to retrieve the bodies of 11 elephants that died after trying to save each other from a waterfall in a national park in central Thailand. Park rangers had initially thought six adult elephants had died Saturday while trying to save a three-year-old calf that had slipped down the falls. But Monday, a drone found the bodies of five more elephants in the waters below the fall in Khao Yai National Park. Authorities have strung a net downstream to catch the bodies as they float down the fast-moving waters. There is concern that the rotting bodies will contaminate the water. Officers expect the bodies to reach the net in a few days. The elephants will be buried and the area sealed with hydrated lime to prevent contamination, the Bangkok Post reported. This is not the first such incident at the waterfall, known as Haew Narok (Hell’s Fall). In 1998, eight elephants died at the same site. Park officials put up fencing to keep the wild animals away from the area, but that has not worked. The park is home to about 300 of Thailand’s approximately 3,000 wild animals. …

The White House announced Sunday that U.S. troops will pull out of northern Syria as Turkey moves forward with a military offensive. The decision has led to condemnations from Congress, clarification from the Pentagon and fear from local allies. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports. …

The Sengwer, an indigenous hunter-gatherer community in western Kenya, presented a petition Monday morning to the government in Nairobi demanding the return and protection of what they call their ancestral lands. The community says it faces threats of eviction as Kenya’s government takes over conservation of the country’s forests and water supplies. Hundreds of members of the Sengwer, a community that lives in the Embobut forest, spent two days marching from their ancestral land in Kenya’s North Rift Valley to Nairobi in hopes of meeting President Uhuru Kenyatta. Dressed in traditional regalia, they sang traditional songs as they arrived in Nairobi with the petition to the government. 85-year-old Moses Leleu took part in the march. Leleu says, “As a community, we are yet to be recognized as a Kenyan tribe. That’s one of the main reason we are here. The second is that we have been evicted several times from our ancestral land. We are now living in a small portion in these lands and still face imminent eviction. We want to go back to the areas we have been evicted from and be recognized as the owners of our ancestral land.” Hunter-gatherer communities in Kenya are facing threat of eviction as the government takes over management of the country’s forests and water catchment areas. Embobut forest is listed as one of the five most important water catchment areas in Kenya. Since the 1970’s, Kenya’s government, through its Forest Service guards, has carried out a series of forceful evictions of …

It was by Vladimir Putin’s swashbuckling standards all rather low-key. There was no riding horses bare-chested or allegedly saving a television crew by shooting a tranquilizer dart at a wild tiger which obligingly appeared from out of nowhere in the woods. No stripping to the waist to wade deep in the waters of mountain rivers to catch fish. Nor was there was any flying on an ultralight alongside endangered Siberian white cranes supposedly nudging them on to their migration path. The Russian leader’s hike Monday on the eve of his 67th birthday in the Siberian wilderness seemed more contemplative than trailblazing — a contrast with other presidential birthdays. In this undated photo released by Russian Presidential Press Service, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a holiday in southern Siberia’s mountains during a break from state affairs. Accompanied by defense minister Sergei Shoigu, a 64-year-old Siberian native, as well as a state media crew, Putin is pictured picking mushrooms and sitting on an elevated spot overlooking the Yenisei River chatting. “Super,” he says to Shoigu, “we are a bit higher than the clouds.” The video and photographs lapped up by the Russian media seemed almost elegiac in tone. Is Putin preparing the country for change? Or was he and his aides using his 67th birthday as just another occasion to keep people guessing? It isn’t the first time that Russia’s defense minister has vacationed with Putin in Siberia, but it comes just days after the …

A teenager has traced her medical journey through several neurosurgeries by making art from her brain scans.  Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles that 16-year-old Tessa Carlisle is exploring the healing potential of art as she travels her own road to recovery. …

21-year-old Marilyn Zakarya is one of the players in the new Sudanese women’s football (soccer) league that launched last week (Sept 30).  Zakarya came from South Sudan to follow her dream in Khartoum.  But she is worried about whether Sudan’s conservative society will accept women’s football after decades of restrictions. Naba Mohiedeen reports from Khartoum. …