| Top Navy SEAL faces uncertain future after Trump intervention Posted: 28 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  The Navy's top SEAL could not have imagined that his effort to confront discipline issues would result in being publicly and repeatedly countermanded by the president of the United States.
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| Kamala Harris suffers new blow as aide resigns with scathing letter: 'I've never seen staff treated so poorly' Posted: 29 Nov 2019 09:04 AM PST  A blistering resignation letter from a member of the Kamala Harris campaign paints a picture of low morale among staffers of a directionless campaign with "no real plan to win" ahead of the crucial Iowa caucus in 2020.According to the New York Times, the sentiments expressed in a letter from now-former state operations manager Kelly Mehlenbacher were corroborated by more than 50 current and former campaign staffers and allies, speaking largely on the condition of anonymity to disclose the campaign's many flaws and tactical errors, from focusing on the wrong states to targeting the wrong candidates, as a frustrated campaign staff draws closer to 2020 Democratic primaries, which at one point counted the California Senator as a likely star.
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| Italy’s ‘Miss Hitler’ Among 19 Investigated for Starting New Nazi Party in Italy Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:03 AM PST  ROME–The tattoo of a shoulder-to-shoulder Nazi eagle above a swastika spanning the back of Francesca Rizzi leaves little to the imagination about her political ideology. The 36-year-old winner of an online beauty pageant in which she was crowned "Miss Hitler" was one of 19 people across Italy put under formal investigation this week for illegally forming a Nazi political party. Her co-collaborators include a 50-year-old female civil servant named Antonella Pavia from Padua who dubbed herself "Hitler's Sergeant Major" and a former mobster from the Calabria 'Ndrangheta mafia who was allegedly in charge of militant training.Italy's anti-mafia and anti-terrorism forces spent two years investigating the group, which has ties to a number of other far-right clusters across Europe, including the U.K.'s Combat 18 and similar hate groups in Portugal, Spain and Greece.Armed special forces carried out the sting operation dubbed "Black Shadows" in 16 cities from Palermo to Milan Thursday morning after someone alerted "Miss Hitler" that police were monitoring the group. Fearful she and others involved might destroy or hide evidence, they swooped in. What they found was more than troubling. In 16 of the homes searched, they found similar caches of weapons including grenades and semi automatic rifles, explosives, Nazi and fascist memorabilia adorned with swastikas and the faces of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler along side militant training texts designed to teach new members how to target Jewish people and gays. Their party motto, "Invisible, Silent and Lethal," was scrawled on the material. Prosecutors who led the investigation from Caltanissetta, Sicily, said Thursday that the suspects were creating "an openly pro-Nazi, xenophobic, anti Semitic group called the Italian National Socialst Workers' Party." Pavin posted a notice with the group's logo on her Facebook page in July 2018 in which she said the group would start "military training" in August. Neo-Nazis' Air-to-Air Missile: An Explosive New Clue to Salvini's Intrigues With the RussiansForming a Fascist or Nazi party is against the law in Italy under post-World War II legislation that passed in 1952, as Italy was rebuilding itself from the ashes of Mussolini's destructive decision to follow Hitler's ideology. More than 7,500 Italian Jews died during the Holocaust. But a resurgence of these hate groups in recent months has become increasingly troubling. In November, 89-year-old Holocaust survivor and senator for life Liliana Segre, was put under armed police protection after receiving more than 200 anti-Semitic messages and death threats a day. Her name reportedly appeared in some of the hate messages found at the homes in Thursday's raids. Last week, new street signs that had just been put up in in Rome dedicated to persecuted Italian Jews were desecrated. Mussolini's Last Laugh: How Fascist Architecture Still Dominates RomeLast summer, police found a cache of weapons including a French-made air to air missile in the hands of two Nazi sympathizers in the northern town of Turin. It is not clear if they were part of this particular group. In November, Segre called for a parliamentary committee to combat hate, which passed even though Italy's far-right former Interior minister Matteo Salvini's Northern League party abstained from the vote. The arrests this week have uncovered an intricate network of hate across the country with group members communicating on a closed group called "Militia" on the Russian social networking service VK. Among the messages were calls for "mass castration and extinction" of Jews and gays. Police say they anticipate more arrests. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| Tens of thousands rally in Europe, Asia before UN climate summit Posted: 29 Nov 2019 02:40 PM PST  Tens of thousands of protesters, primarily in Europe and Asia, hit the streets on Friday to make a fresh call for action against global warming, hoping to raise pressure on world leaders days before a UN climate summit. Carrying signs that read "One planet, one fight" and "The sea is rising, so must we", thousands flocked to Berlin's Brandenburg Gate for the latest "Fridays for Future" protest inspired by 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg. In total, about 630,000 people demonstrated across more than 500 cities in Germany, the Fridays for Future movement said.
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| Hong Kong Police End Campus Siege After Finding 3,989 Petrol Bombs Posted: 29 Nov 2019 01:37 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Police said they had lifted their blockade on Hong Kong Polytechnic University after officers cleared a campus that's been besieged for nearly two weeks amid a violent standoff with demonstrators.Chow Yat-ming, the city's assistant police commissioner, said Friday morning that he believes PolyU could be handed back to university management after dangerous items that remain on campus were removed. Firemen and a police safety team did a final sweep of the campus in the morning after searching every level of each building to handle hazardous items and collect evidence the day before.The police said they seized items including 3,989 petrol bombs, 1,339 explosive items and 601 bottles of corrosive liquids. Every floor on campus suffered various degrees of vandalism and damage, Chow said.Why Hong Kong's Universities Have Turned Into BattlegroundsPolyU urged the public not to enter the campus as it was still unsafe and will remain closed for repairs. But some people still walked around the school after police lifted their cordons, according to live television footage that also showed traffic had resumed in the area.The protests gripping Hong Kong for the past five months have brought unprecedented battles to the city's universities. Several saw extended sieges this month as demonstrators sought to paralyze parts of the city after anger flared over the Nov. 8 death of a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology student who had fallen near near an area where police were trying to disperse a protestThe 12-day siege of Kowloon's PolyU and its surrounding roads were the site of clashes between riot police and students, and initially raised fears of a crackdown on scores of protesters trapped inside. Jarring images from the school showed fires, clouds of tear gas and flaming vehicles.Why Hong Kong's 'Special Status' Is Touchy Territory: QuickTakeThe lockdown dragged on as police declared the situation a riot and remained waiting for protesters to leave on their own accord. People inside the campus meanwhile feared getting arrested for a rioting charge that carries a potential jail sentence of up to 10 years, or being treated unfairly by officers after their arrest. Some managed to escape.PolyU President Teng Jin-Guang said Friday that the situation could serve as a lesson for Hong Kong on how to emerge from crisis."I hope that the way we've done it, by taking a peaceful approach, could be a lesson we could learn from," he said. "We can have different political standings, views and perspectives, but we should be able to talk to each other peacefully, express our views, share our views, exchange our views rationally so that we can find the best solution for Hong Kong."Scores of protesters gathered in nearby Tsim Sha Tsui in support of the PolyU demonstrators late Thursday, while two other rallies were also held across the city, including one to thank Donald Trump and U.S. politicians for signing legislation expressing support for Hong Kong's demonstrators.The police said they didn't encounter any remaining protesters during their operations. In a statement, PolyU said that it also expects the cordon around campus to be removed by Friday after the government added manpower to expedite the disposal of hazardous materials that were widely scattered(Updates with PolyU president comment)To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Jon HerskovitzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Inmate wanted by ICE released on bail. He was arrested weeks later for attempted murder Posted: 29 Nov 2019 04:01 PM PST  A 2019 Colorado law bars law enforcement officials in the state from holding a person based only on a request from ICE.
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| Families of Mexico massacre victims face backlash after cartel shooting Posted: 29 Nov 2019 09:46 AM PST  Members of a U.S.-Mexican religious community who lost relatives in a gangland massacre this month have come under fire from supporters of Mexico's government for pressing the United States to declare drug cartels terrorist groups.
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| A convicted German murderer won the right to have all mention of his crime scrubbed from internet search results under 'right to be forgotten' laws Posted: 28 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST  The man finished a life sentence in 2002 for shooting dead two people in 1981. He told the court he wants to live his new life free from his past.
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| Trump administration appoints man who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan to senior role in arms control Posted: 28 Nov 2019 01:56 AM PST  A Trump adviser who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks has been given a senior role on arms control issues in the State Department.Frank Wuco, a former conservative radio host and naval intelligence officer, has also promoted far-right conspiracy theories, such as debunked claims that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
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| Albanians hold mass funeral for earthquake victims Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:28 AM PST  Thumanë (Albania) (AFP) - Albanian families buried their loved ones on Friday and the country mourned the 49 people known to have died in this week's earthquake, as officials grapple with the destruction left in its wake. Entire families were crushed by their homes when the 6.4 magnitude earthquake -- the most deadly and devastating in decades -- jolted the Balkan country before dawn on Tuesday. In the town of Thumane, where numerous buildings collapsed, loved ones wept before the six wooden coffins of the Cara family and three more belonging to the Greku family.
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| U.K. Police Shoot Man After Potential Terrorist Attack in London Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:52 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Armed police shot a man after a possible terrorist attack sent hundreds of people running for their lives in the heart of London.Several civilians were believed to have been injured in a stabbing just before 2 p.m. in the London Bridge area on the edge of the capital's financial center, police said.Prime Minister Boris Johnson broke away from the general election campaign to rush back to his Downing Street offices where he will be briefed on the events.The streets around London Bridge were locked down and armed police cleared restaurants and shops in the area. Officers are treating the incident as terror-related "as a precaution," although the circumstances are still unclear, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.The U.K. is set to hold a general election on Dec. 12 and the last election campaign in 2017 was interrupted by attacks, including one that killed eight people in the same area of London.During the incident on Friday, armed officers burst into restaurants in the Borough Market area at London Bridge and urged diners to leave as fast as possible. They shouted "Out, out, out," to people at the Black and Blue bar. Diners walked away with their hands on their heads. Nearby, police shouted to pedestrians to "run."The Metropolitan Police said they'd been called to a stabbing and had detained a man at a premises near the bridge. Officers closed off the bridge and evacuated passers-by from the surrounding area."We believe a number of people have been injured," according to a statement posted on the Met's Twitter feed. Sky reported five casualties in the incident, citing police sources.On the north bank of the River Thames, police officers shouted to pedestrians to move back from the bridge 100 meters, and then urged them to take shelter in any nearby building, shouting: "Move inside for your own safety."The same area of London was the scene of a terrorist attack just a few days before the general election in June 2017 in which eight people were killed and 48 injured. Three Islamist terrorists drove a van at pedestrians on the bridge before arming themselves with knives and running into Borough Market, where they stabbed people in restaurants and pubs. Armed police responded and killed the attackers.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was being kept updated on the incident, in a post on the the Twitter feed of his office.(Adds details from the scene from second paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Erin Roman in London at eroman16@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Kesur at skesur@bloomberg.net, Colin KeatingeFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Cruise ship captain charged in deadly Danube River collision Posted: 28 Nov 2019 01:19 AM PST  The captain of a cruise ship involved in a May 2019 collision on the Danube River in which 28 people were killed has been charged for his alleged responsibility in the incident and should be sentenced to nine years in prison, prosecutors in Hungary said Thursday. The 64-year-old captain of the Viking Sigyn river cruise ship, identified only as Yuriy C., was charged by Budapest prosecutors with negligent endangerment of water traffic leading to a fatal mass catastrophe, and 35 counts of failing to give assistance. Only seven of the 33 South Korean tourists aboard the Hableany (Mermaid) sightseeing boat survived the nighttime collision.
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| Millions Around The World Strike on Black Friday for Action on Climate Change Posted: 29 Nov 2019 02:16 PM PST  The protests are meant to raise awareness of overconsumption and demand action at the U.N.'s COP25, which begins in Spain next week
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| Russia and China deepen ties with River Amur bridge Posted: 29 Nov 2019 06:06 AM PST ![Russia and China deepen ties with River Amur bridge]( "Russia and China deepen ties with River Amur bridge") Russia and China have finished building the first road bridge linking their two countries, Russian officials said on Friday, in the latest sign of warming relations. The bridge across the River Amur will connect the cities of Blagoveshchensk in Russia's Far East and Heihe in northeastern China and is intended to increase the volume of freight traffic and agricultural products between the two countries. It is expected to open in spring 2020, Russia's Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic said.
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| Expectant mother gives birth on American Airlines jetway; gives daughter appropriate name Posted: 29 Nov 2019 04:29 PM PST  An American Airlines flight landed with an extra passenger after Nereida Araujo went into labor while traveling for Thanksgiving.
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| US cryptocurrency promoter charged after advising North Korea Posted: 29 Nov 2019 01:35 PM PST  A prominent American cryptocurrency promoter and former hacker was charged with sanctions violations Friday after he allegedly advised North Korea on using virtual money to avoid international controls. Virgil Griffith, 36, who lives in Singapore and works for the blockchain and cryptocurrency developer Ethereum, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, the Justice Department said.
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| 18,000-year-old puppy discovered in Siberia could be missing link between dogs and wolves Posted: 28 Nov 2019 12:52 PM PST  An 18,000-year-old puppy unearthed in Siberia could prove to be the missing link between dogs and wolves, scientists believe. The puppy was discovered perfectly preserved by permafrost near Yakutsk, eastern Siberia last summer and carbon dating has revealed it has been frozen for around 18,000 years. Researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, Sweden announced this week that extensive DNA tests have so far been unable to confirm whether the animal was a dog or a wolf. The experts believe this may be because the canine comes from the period when dogs were domesticated and hope the creature will prove crucial to uncovering when exactly the evolution began. "It's normally relatively easy to tell the difference between the two," researcher David Stanton told CNN. Dogor was so well-preserved because he was found in a tunnel that was dug into the permafrost "We have a lot of data from it already, and with that amount of data, you'd expect to tell if it was one or the other. The fact that we can't might suggest that it's from a population that was ancestral to both - to dogs and wolves". A 2017 study published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that modern dogs were domesticated from a single wolf population 20,000 to 40,000 years ago but tests on this specimen could offer further clues as to the precise period. "We don't know exactly when dogs were domesticated, but it may have been from about that time. We are interested in whether it is in fact a dog or a wolf, or perhaps it's something halfway between the two," Mr Stanton added. Scientists believe some modern dogs descended from just one wolf population that lived continuously in Europe for thousands of years. If confirmed to be a dog, scientists believe it will be the earliest confirmed "It seems that dogs were domesticated from a lineage of wolves that went extinct," said Mr Stanton. "So that's why it's such a difficult problem to work on to understand where and when dogs were domesticated." The researchers' genome analysis has revealed that the puppy was a male so the scientists, after discussing with their Russian colleagues, have named the puppy 'Dogor'. The name means "friend" in Yakutian - as well as referencing the question "dog or wolf?" The scientists hope that further genome data tests on the creature will reveal more about Dogor's origins. Photographs released by the Centre for Palaeogenetics show the puppy in an almost perfect condition, with its nose, whiskers and teeth remarkably intact. Dogor can be seen almost completely covered in fur except for an exposed rib cage. Dogor was discovered in a remote part of north-east Siberia and is so well-preserved because it was found in a tunnel that was dug into the permafrost. He was later sent to Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit for dating, which revealed that the corpse dated back at least 18,000 years, meaning Dogor would have lived during the last Ice Age. He is being kept in Russia while, in Sweden, Mr Stanton and his colleague Love Dalen study his rib bone.
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| DR Congo buries 27 massacre victims as anger mounts Posted: 29 Nov 2019 10:16 AM PST  The Democratic Republic of Congo town of Oicha on Friday buried 27 victims of the latest massacre in the country's volatile east, with hundreds paying homage while lashing out at security forces for failing to stop attacks. The vast majority of the killings have been carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia that has plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo's east since the 1990s.
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| UPS workers allegedly trafficked 1,000s of pounds of drugs and fake vape pens across the country Posted: 28 Nov 2019 06:56 AM PST  "They've been doing it for so long that they were truly comfortable that they were never going to get caught."
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| Who made the new drapes? It’s among high court’s mysteries Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:05 AM PST  The lack of transparency at the Supreme Court begins with the heavy red drapes that frame the courtroom on all sides. The Supreme Court's role in a bitterly divided Washington and nation may be more important than ever, yet basic details about how the court operates remain obscured. The court is not subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act and the justices are not bound by most ethics rules that apply to all other federal judges.
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| Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work Posted: 29 Nov 2019 03:38 AM PST ![Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work]( "Fired Zimbabwe state doctors reject offer to return to work") Zimbabwe state doctors who were fired for going on strike have rejected a government offer to return to work, their union said on Friday. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government, which responded to the job boycott by firing 448 doctors and pursuing disciplinary action against more than 1,000 others, on Thursday offered to reinstate them if they returned to work within 48 hours. Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade that has seen resurgent inflation soaring to three-digit levels, eroding salaries and bringing back bitter memories of the hyperinflation era of a decade ago.
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| Snow to hit 2,000-mile stretch from Nevada to New England as weekend travelers head home Posted: 29 Nov 2019 01:12 PM PST  Black Friday blizzards and snow expected from Nevada to the Upper Midwest and into New England. Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms are headed south.
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| Donald Trump Sees Another Opportunity to Teach Cuba a Lesson Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:30 AM PST  Is Trump using "health attacks" on US diplomats in Havana as an excuse to punish Cuba?
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| Suddenly, the Chinese Threat to Australia Seems Very Real Posted: 29 Nov 2019 12:07 PM PST ![Suddenly, the Chinese Threat to Australia Seems Very Real]( "Suddenly, the Chinese Threat to Australia Seems Very Real") CANBERRA, Australia -- A Chinese defector to Australia who detailed political interference by Beijing. A businessman found dead after telling the authorities about a Chinese plot to install him in Parliament. Suspicious men following critics of Beijing in major Australian cities.For a country that just wants calm commerce with China -- the propellant behind 28 years of steady growth -- the revelations of the past week have delivered a jolt.Fears of Chinese interference once seemed to hover indistinctly over Australia. Now, Beijing's political ambitions, and the espionage operations that further them, suddenly feel local, concrete and ever-present."It's become the inescapable issue," said Hugh White, a former intelligence official who teaches strategic studies at the Australian National University. "We've underestimated how quickly China's power has grown along with its ambition to use that power."U.S. officials often describe Australia as a test case, the ally close enough to Beijing to see what could be coming for others.In public and in private, they've pushed Australia's leaders to confront China more directly -- pressure that may only grow after President Donald Trump signed legislation to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials over human rights abuses in Hong Kong.Even as it confronts the specter of brazen espionage, Australia's government has yet to draw clear boundaries for an autocratic giant that is both an economic partner and a threat to freedom -- a conundrum faced by many countries, but more acutely by Australia.Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues to insist that Australia need not choose between China and the United States. A new foreign interference law has barely been enforced, and secrecy is so ingrained that even lawmakers and experts lack the in-depth information they need.As a result, the country's intelligence agencies have raised alarms about China in ways that most Australian politicians avoid. The agencies have never been flush with expertise on China, including Chinese speakers, yet they are now in charge of disentangling complex claims of nefarious deeds, all vigorously denied by China.In the most troubling recent case, first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, the Australian authorities have confirmed that they are investigating accusations made by Nick Zhao, an Australian businessman who told intelligence officials that he had been the target of a plot to install him in Parliament as a Chinese agent.Zhao, a 32-year-old luxury car dealer, was a member of his local Liberal Party branch. He was a "perfect target for cultivation," according to Andrew Hastie, a federal lawmaker and tough critic of Beijing who was briefed on the case. He told The Age that Zhao was "a bit of a high-roller in Melbourne, living beyond his means."Another businessman with ties to the Chinese government, Zhao said, offered to provide 1 million Australian dollars ($677,000) to finance his election campaign for Parliament. But a few months later, in March, Zhao was found dead in a hotel room. The state's coroner is investigating the cause of death.In a rare statement, Mike Burgess, the head of Australia's domestic spy agency, said Monday that his organization was aware of Zhao's case and was taking it very seriously.The Chinese government, however, called the accusations a sign of Australian hysteria."Stories like 'Chinese espionage' or 'China's infiltration in Australia,' with however bizarre plots and eye-catching details, are nothing but lies," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said at a regular news briefing Monday.Beijing has similarly dismissed the case that emerged last week, which involves a young asylum-seeker named Wang Liqiang.Wang presented himself to the Australian authorities as an important intelligence asset -- an assistant to a Hong Kong businessman who Wang says is responsible for spying, propaganda and disinformation campaigns aimed at quashing dissent in Hong Kong and undermining democracy in Taiwan.China asserts that he is simply a convicted swindler. On Thursday, a Communist Party tabloid, The Global Times, released video of what it said was Wang's 2016 trial on fraud charges, where a young man confessed to bilking someone out of $17,000.Xiang Xin, the man Wang identified as his former boss, has denied having anything to do with him, or even knowing him.The challenge of the case is just beginning. While some analysts have raised doubts about Wang's assertions, elements in the detailed 17-page account that he gave to the authorities as part of an asylum application are being taken seriously by law enforcement agencies worldwide.Taiwan's Ministry of Justice detained Xiang and another executive with the company Wang said he worked for, China Innovation Investment Limited. Investigators in Taiwan are looking into assertions that their business acted on behalf of Chinese intelligence agencies.Other details in Wang's account -- about the kidnapping of booksellers in Hong Kong, spying on Hong Kong university students, and the theft of military technology from the United States -- are still being examined by Australian officials."Australia's peak intelligence agencies are being put to the test," said John Fitzgerald, a China specialist at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. "It's a tough call, and they cannot afford to get it wrong."What's clear, though, is that they are helping to push the public away from supporting cozy relations. Polls showed a hardening of Australian attitudes about China even before the past week.Now Hastie, the China hawk and Liberal Party lawmaker who chairs Parliament's joint intelligence committee, says his office has been overwhelmed by people across the country who have emailed, called and even sent handwritten letters expressing outrage and anxiety about China's actions in Australia.Questions of loyalty continue to swirl around another Liberal Party member of Parliament, Gladys Liu, who fumbled responses to questions in September about her membership in various groups linked to the Chinese Communist Party.The espionage cases also follow several months of rising tensions at Australian universities, where protests by students from Hong Kong have been disrupted, sometimes with violence, by opponents from the Chinese mainland.Several student activists have told the authorities that they have been followed or photographed by people who appear to be associated with the Chinese Consulate.It's even happened to at least one high-profile former official, John Garnaut. A longtime journalist who produced a classified report on Chinese interference for former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017, he recently acknowledged publicly that he had been stalked by people who appeared to be Chinese agents -- in some cases when he was with his family.These actions of apparent aggression point to a version of China that Australians hardly know. For decades, Australia has based its relations with Beijing on a simple idea: Let's get rich together. And the mining companies that are especially close to Morrison's conservative government have been the biggest winners.But now more than ever, the country is seeing that for the Communist Party under President Xi Jinping, it's no longer just about wealth and trade."The transactions aren't satisfying them enough; they want more," said John Blaxland, a professor of international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University. "They want to gain influence over decisions about the further involvement of the United States, about further protestations to Chinese actions in the South China Sea, in the South Pacific, in Taiwan."Blaxland, along with U.S. officials, often points out that Australia's biggest export to China, iron ore, is hard to obtain elsewhere reliably and at the prices Australia's companies charge. That suggests that the country has more leverage than its leaders might think.Hastie, who was recently denied a visa to travel to China as part of a study group that included other members of Parliament, agreed. In an interview, he said the recent revelations were "the first time the Australian public has a concrete example of what we are facing."Now, he added, it's time to adapt.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Why the LDS Church Joined LGBTQ Advocates in Supporting Utah's Conversion Therapy Ban Posted: 29 Nov 2019 04:24 PM PST  Utah Gov. Gary Herbert proposed a new rule banning therapists from practicing LGBTQ conversion therapy on minors that is supported by LGBTQ advocates and the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
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| Turkey's Erdogan to Macron: 'You should check whether you are brain dead' Posted: 29 Nov 2019 09:24 AM PST  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Emmanuel Macron's warning that NATO was dying reflects a "sick and shallow" understanding, telling the French president, "You should check whether you are brain dead."
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| Third occupant of Spain 'narco-sub' arrested: police Posted: 29 Nov 2019 12:54 PM PST  The third occupant of a submarine seized off the Spanish coast carrying three tonnes of cocaine worth 100 million euros ($110 million) was arrested on Friday, police said. Police intercepted the 20-metre (65-foot) submarine -- thought to be the first of its kind captured in Europe -- off the northwestern region of Galicia on Saturday. Two Ecuadorans were arrested as they tried to escape from the submarine, but the third occupant managed to flee from police.
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| The Latest: 4 more anti-government Iraqi protesters killed Posted: 29 Nov 2019 04:44 AM PST  Iraqi officials say four protesters were killed amid ongoing violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq, hours after Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced his intention to resign. Security and hospital officials say one protester was killed and 18 wounded Friday by security forces who fired live rounds and tear gas to repel them on Baghdad's historic Rasheed Street, near the strategic Ahrar Bridge. Officials say three protesters were shot dead by security forces in the southern city of Nasiriyah, bringing the total killed there to six on Friday.
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| Pakistani man aims to bring shade to Iraq's Arbaeen pilgrims Posted: 29 Nov 2019 03:16 AM PST  A retired Pakistani industrialist sent thousands of saplings to Iraq on Friday to bring shade to pilgrims, an idea formed when his relatives returned from a holy site with sunburn. Mohammedi Durbar, 85, wants to plant nearly 50,000 trees along the entire 80-km (50-mile) pilgrimage route between Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala. Among the worshippers last year were Durbar's grandson and daughter-in-law, who returned to Pakistan tanned and with photographs showing a barren landscape.
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| Thanksgiving storms dump snow on much of the US – and it isn't over yet Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:23 AM PST  A new storm, already pummeling California, could disrupt Thanksgiving travelers in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states heading home on Sunday.
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| Thanksgiving photo Bill O'Reilly posted to Twitter freaks people out Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:54 AM PST  Bill O'Reilly's promotional tweet for his interview with President Trump went viral on Thursday, but not in the way he likely would have wanted.
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| Zimbabwe facing 'man-made' starvation, UN expert warns Posted: 28 Nov 2019 05:40 PM PST  Zimbabwe is facing "man-made" starvation with 60 percent of the people failing to meet basic food needs, a UN special envoy said Thursday after touring the southern African country. Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, ranked Zimbabwe among the four top countries facing severe food shortages outside nations in conflict zones. "The people of Zimbabwe are slowly getting to a point of suffering a man-made starvation," she told a news conference in Harare, adding that eight million people would be affected by the end of the year.
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| It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas in Maduro’s Venezuela, but Only if You’ve Got U.S. Dollars Posted: 28 Nov 2019 02:50 AM PST  Photo Illustration by Kristen Hazzard/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyCARACAS—The Spanish version of "Jingle Bells" is blasting through loudspeakers in the street, while large inflated Santas are hanging from trees and holiday lights are piercing the dark night.The Yuletide season is in full swing in this affluent Caracas neighborhood called Las Mercedes. People here meander through the streets, searching for a Christmas tree and there are many places to choose from. The trees are for sale in specialized Christmas pop-up stores that have appeared in recent weeks on almost every corner.Evo Morales Is Out. Is Nicolás Maduro Next?This busy-ness is a stark contrast to last year's Christmas season, when even this upscale neighborhood, once famous for its dazzling night life, bore no resemblance to Christmastime at all. The area was dimly lit and most of the stores were closed, or left in ruins.So what is fueling these signs of economic renewal? The answer is simple: the U.S. dollar. It's become routine now for greenbacks to be used for purchases, and some business owners now attach price tags in the American currency, once a banned and punishable practice."[President] Nicolás Maduro decided to abandon the price control and ease up on the import regulations." says Henkel García, a financial analyst whose company Econométrica is located right in the middle of Las Mercedes. "Since then, the economy's free fall has been stopped and the dollar circulation is for many a respite. Still, the economic situation continues to be bad."With dollars now circulating here in the Venezuelan capital, the stores are flooded with products imported from various countries. But the source of the goods depends on the neighborhood. In the more affluent east side of Caracas, the stores are mostly stocked with American goods. On the west side, however, the merchandise is made in Russia and Turkey. Those neighborhoods are dominated by partisans of the Maduro government, who are known as chávistas after the late Hugo Chávez, who built this country's "revolutionary" regime."The government relaxed the so-called puerta a puerta [door to door] system of delivery," says José Antonio Souza, owner of a restaurant in the Caracas neighborhood of Santa Fe. "I buy the imported goods through a middleman who obtains the stuff from a truck or ship, others use underground channels like the system of direct couriers."Right next to his establishment there is the so-called bodegon, a store that sell exclusively imported goods mostly in exchange for dollars and euros. In contrast to the stark images of empty supermarket shelves, here the shelves are full of fancy chocolate bars, various boxes of cereals, cosmetic products, and even some medicines and vitamins not seen in Caracas for a long time.The absurdity of it all is that the imported goods are far cheaper than the ones produced here in Venezuela. Henkel García points to many factors like inflation, bureaucracy, theft, and inefficient systems of production and distribution that contribute to pricey domestic products."Another explanation is society's behavior. People generally don't trust Maduro's economic policies and prefer to be part of the dollar economy to get access to imported goods that would cover their necessities," says García. Maduro's regime has simply proved unable to control the economic activity of ordinary Venezuelans.The fact is that people here have developed many ways to survive in one of the longest economic crises of modern times. Often, they get their dollars in dangerous endeavors, both legal and illegal. Sometimes it's drug trafficking, more often it's selling the gas they smuggle from Venezuela to Colombia through the hidden paths known as trochas.Contraband fuel is a lucrative business. The current price for a gallon of gas in Colombia is around $2.70 U.S., while in Venezuela gas stations charge $0.004 dollars per gallon, rendering the gasoline essentially free.Another source of hard currency comes from selling the gold mined in the states of Amazonas and Bolívar located in the south of the country, close to the border with Brazil. Venezuela used to be an oil-producing state, but now it is a state with oil that it's not producing, says economist Luis Vicente León, director of the domestic polling company Datanálisis. "It has to find different ways to get the hard currency revenue outside of the oil production like selling gold, cacao, coffee or rum."Still, the biggest inflow of hard currency, he points out, comes from remesas, remittances, sent into the country by some five million Venezuelans in the diaspora. Those who have escaped the crisis in the last few years have settled mostly in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Spain.Some experts believe that chávistas, led by Maduro, are devising plans to turn Venezuela into a Chinese model of governance. That is to say, a system in which the autocratic leadership exercises absolute political control but tolerates, in some sectors of the society, a free market economy."Maduro has been following the Chinese model for months," says Caracas based political analyst and commentator Dimitris Pantoulas. "He focuses on the political control while providing more economic freedoms." Pantoulas believes this government strategy is to defuse ongoing opposition-led street protests.Chávistas used to sneer at the potential use of the U.S. dollar in Venezuela, calling it "Yanqui money." They would declare in unison that the country could and would do without greenbacks. "Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar," President Maduro declared in the fall of 2017, addressing the Constituent Assembly packed with his allies.Now Maduro, who publicly admires Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro, and embraces the moniker "tropical Stalin" (given to him by his adversaries not least because of a certain physical resemblance to the late Soviet dictator) has offered a stunning about-face."I don't see it as a bad thing… this process that they call 'dollarization,'" Maduro declared in an interview for a domestic television channel Televen just a week ago."It can help the recovery of the country, the spread of productive forces in the country, and the economy… Thank God it exists," the leader went on, calling the dollar an "escape valve."The Venezuela Uprising Has Gone from Bang to WhimperThis jaw-dropping statement is perceived by many as merely the official blessing for the process that has been already unfolding on the streets for some time. Ecoanalitica estimates that in the first two weeks of October of this year, almost 54 percent of transactions were carried out in dollars. The economist Luis Vicente León predicts that, starting early next year, this number could climb to 70 percent.But Maduro's "escape valve" is not for everyone. Far from it, experts warn. In the poor parts of the capital and elsewhere in the country, possession of dollars is rare. If this year's Christmas will be one big feast for some Venezuelans, the poor living in the sprawling Caracas slums will be mostly left with an empty table and no gifts.A traditional Christmas Eve these days might cost up to $200 U.S., and would include, among many other things, hallacas, a mixture of beef, pork, chicken, raisins, and olives that is wrapped in plantain leaves. And those Christmas trees? They cost on average another 100 bucks."Maduro's neoliberal turn will unleash the market's potential," says Pantoulas, "but it will also result in higher inequality and more poverty, making people's suffering much greater."The irony is manifest as a regime founded on promises to the poor now aims to survive by making life more comfortable for the well-to-do, including a Feliz Navidad.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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| Transgender paedophile sues NHS for refusing her reassignment surgery while she serves prison sentence Posted: 28 Nov 2019 12:11 PM PST  A transgender paedophile has sued the NHS for refusing her reassignment surgery after she transitioned from male to female while in prison. The 60-year-old, known only as KK for legal reasons, is serving an indefinite sentence for public protection for making indecent photographs of children, and also has a previous conviction for sexual activity with a young girl. She has been in prison for over a decade and has been living as a woman for the last eight years, The High Court heard. The prisoner claims the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has unlawfully adopted a "de facto policy" of refusing to refer serving prisoners with gender dysphoria for gender reassignment surgery (GRS). But the trust argues that the reason KK was not referred was because "the treating clinicians at a world-class clinic for gender dysphoria did not consider it clinically appropriate to refer her for surgery". In brief | Transgender prisoners policy On Thursday, KK's barrister David Lock QC told a judge in London that the refusal to refer his client was "solely based on the fact that the claimant has lived as a woman in prison for the last eight years as opposed to living outside of prison". He submitted that the trust refused to make the referral over "concerns that there was a possibility that the claimant may not wish to continue to live as a woman following her release from prison". Mr Lock concluded that KK "was forced to endure her present level of distress by being denied otherwise clinically appropriate medical treatment because of the minority chance that she would later express regret at having had GRS". In written submissions, Jenni Richards QC, for the trust, argued that the court should not interfere in a decision involving "the application of clinical expertise in a developing area of medical practice". She said the number of patients affected by gender dysphoria was relatively small, adding: "The number of patients affected who are in prison is smaller still. "The number of prisoners who are imprisoned as a result of sexual offences, which further complicates the clinical picture, will be still smaller." Ms Richards said GRS is "major, irreversible surgery which may destroy existing parts of a patient's body, personality and sexuality". She argued that "the fact that the claimant's real life experience (as a woman) has been acquired in prison ... is relevant to the determination of whether surgery is an appropriate intervention for her, at this stage and in her present circumstances". Mr Justice Supperstone, who is hearing the case, is expected to reserve his judgment.
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| K-Pop Suicide Sparks a Reckoning on Revenge Porn, Sexual Assault Posted: 28 Nov 2019 06:40 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The suicide of a popular South Korean singer has prompted calls in the country to overhaul laws on sexual assault and to more harshly punish revenge porn.Koo Hara, 28, was found dead at her home in Seoul on Sunday. Her last message on Instagram showed her staring into a camera lens from beneath blankets on her bed with a message of "good night." Police say a note was found at the scene in which she expressed hopelessness.Many in South Korea were already aware of her past that included assault by a former boyfriend who she alleged was threatening to release a sex video of her. The two most popular hashtags on social media in South Korea this week called for punishment of the ex-boyfriend and for the definition of sexual assault to be revamped.A petition filed with the president's office demanding changes to laws had one quarter of a million signatures. Lawmakers said it is time to push forward measures stalled in Parliament that make it easier to impose harsh penalties on those who engage in revenge porn or clandestinely take sexually charged videos.Liberal lawmaker Lee Jung-mi of the minor Justice Party said in a social media post that Koo's death shows that change is needed because the nation "cannot neglect illegal filming and circulation of videos."Lee in September 2018 introduced a bill to revise how South Korea's criminal law defines rape. She said recent verdicts on sexual crime show the current standards don't focus on consent but how much "resistance" there was from the victim.President Moon Jae-in has called for a wide-ranging investigation of sex offenses linked to the entertainment industry and ordered the reopening of inquiries into past allegations. He issued a decree in June 2017 that set punishment of up to five years in prison, with the measure mostly pertaining to filming through hidden cameras.Moon has not commented on Koo's death or on revamping sexual violence laws. On Nov. 19 he did comment on women's social status saying, "It's still quite a dark reality compared to the rest of the world. I can tell you that I will pay more attention on gender equality."Some of those who are fighting for changes to the laws say they are frustrated with the pace of change."The current justice system sends a message to women that it will never be able to protect them," said Yun Dan-woo, a writer and and women's rights activist.Recent CasesSome recent cases illustrate critics' concerns. In May 2018, a male judge ruled that a man wasn't guilty of raping a woman who walked to a motel with him, according to the Law Talk legal journal and local media. Surveillance video presented as evidence showed the man pulling the woman. The judge acknowledged she had rejected sex but ruled this wasn't a case where she was in danger, the reports said.In a case in November, a male judge found a man not guilty of rape even though he had sex with a woman against her will. The judge ruled she gave consent by holding hands and giving the defendant an extra piece of meat at a restaurant, according to the legal journal and local media.Koo, who used the stage name HaRa, was a member of the group Kara, which had nearly a decade-long run as a top act in the notoriously fickle K-pop music industry. One of group's biggest songs, "Step," garnered nearly 100 million views on YouTube, helping Koo win fame in Japan, China and other major markets outside of Asia.In Koo's case, a judge found her boyfriend guilty of assault yet acquitted him of illicitly filming Koo and trying to blackmail her. On Friday, dozens of people rallied in front of the Seoul District Court, demanding that the judge in the case resign.K-Pop's Dark Side: Assault, Prostitution, Suicide, and Spy camsAlthough the laws on clandestine recording could be applied to revenge porn -- posting without permission explicit images of individuals that may be taken in acts including consensual sex -- that sort of prosecution is almost unheard of in South Korea. More than 40 U.S. states have laws banning the practice as do other countries.Proponents of more stringent measures say they want to act now while Koo's death is fresh in the public mind and may give a push for change."Korean society has this misconception of rape of always being done by some random monster who comes out of nowhere in a dark alley at night, which is why it doesn't acknowledge that someone close and intimate is more likely to be the perpetrator," said Claire Park, an activist at the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center.(Adds rally in on Friday in Seoul in the 14th paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, ;Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Jon Herskovitz, Jodi SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China warns U.S. over Hong Kong law as thousands stage 'Thanksgiving' rally Posted: 27 Nov 2019 06:33 PM PST  HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned the United States on Thursday that it would take "firm counter measures" in response to U.S. legislation backing anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, and said attempts to interfere in the Chinese-ruled city were doomed to fail. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law congressional legislation which supported the protesters, despite angry objections from Beijing, with which he is seeking a deal to end a damaging trade war. Protesters in Hong Kong responded by staging a "Thanksgiving" rally, with thousands, some draped in U.S. flags, gathering in the heart of the city.
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| Worker who survived New Orleans hotel collapse deported Posted: 29 Nov 2019 02:52 PM PST  A construction worker hurt in last month's collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site in New Orleans has been deported to his native Honduras on Friday. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, 38, was flown to Honduras from Alexandria International Airport, which is near several ICE detention facilities in central Louisiana. Border Patrol officers arrested Ramirez Palma two days after he fell several stories as the upper floors of the hotel project caved in on Oct. 12.
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| America's Chemical Warfare Tour: How Agent Orange Destroyed Vietnam Posted: 28 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST  More than 10 years of U.S. chemical warfare in Vietnam exposed an estimated 2.1 to 4.8 million Vietnamese people to Agent Orange. More than 40 years on, the impact on their health has been staggering.
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| Airlines are joining in on Black Friday and Cyber Monday with major flight sales — here's how you can save Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:41 AM PST  Delta, American Airlines, Southwest, Emirates, and more have posted Black Friday and Cyber Monday flight deals. We expect more sales, too.
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| Romania's 1989 generation relive pain at ex-president's trial Posted: 29 Nov 2019 07:21 AM PST  On the morning of December 22, 1989, Bogdan Stan drank his usual cup of coffee and went to join the wave of protests against Romania's communist regime. Almost 30 years later, his mother Elena Bancila was one of around 600 victims and relatives who gathered Friday in Bucharest for the opening stage of former president Ion Iliescu's crimes against humanity trial -- the most prominent leader to face charges over those events. Bancila, now 75, believes Iliescu, who took control of the government on December 22, is responsible for the death of her son.
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| 7 Homes for Sale in the Most Secluded Parts of the World Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| French hunters should take breathalyser tests, campaigners say after string of deadly accidents Posted: 29 Nov 2019 10:49 AM PST  French hunters are facing calls for compulsory breathalyser tests before bearing arms amid fears that a spike in the number of deaths this year could be drink-fuelled. Eight people have already died in hunting accidents since September and the season still has another three months to run. The death toll has already surpassed the seven who were killed last year out of a total 131 recorded accidents. The spike prompted a plea from environment minister Emmanuelle Wargon for hunters to fully implement new safety regulations. Last year, French parliament passed a bill tightening security for hunters, who are obliged to wear high-visibility vests, post signs to warn walkers about "collective hunting actions", and take a security training test every ten years. In the past, they were briefly shown hunting guidelines over an induction course lasting a day or two and then handed a permit for life. But animal welfare groups say the new measures are clearly insufficient, in particular as they fail to address the issue of alcohol consumption. A hunter walks with his shotgun in the nature on December 9, 2016, in Vouvray, Central France Credit: AFP "Today, you can hunt drunk in France, it's perfectly legal," said Marc Giraud of the wildlife protection group ASPAS and author of How to Walk in the Woods Without Being Shot. "There are no breathalyser tests for hunters as it is not a crime to hunt in an inebriated state nor is being drunk considered an aggravated circumstance in case of homicide," he told the Telegraph. "As a result, state rangers do not have the right to conduct breathalyser tests. That should change." The problem, he said was that being "merry, a bon vivant who likes to drink and eat well" was part of the hunter's image "but there is a price to be paid that can be someone's life". The National Hunters Federation, FNC, in France stresses it has improved security, making it harder to get new licences and that the deaths have generally dropped from an annual average of around 20 over the past 20 years. It insists that accidents are generally down to "fatigue" rather than drink and has baulked at stricter drink controls, saying that alcohol consumption is "more a question of judgement" on a par with "deciding to drive home or not". But the FNC slammed as unacceptable the number of deaths this year. Two of the victims killed were not even taking part in a hunt. One man in the Charentes-Maritime was shot dead while mushroom picking in September. "Enough is enough," said Nicolas Rivet, director general of the FNC, who said the majority of deaths were down to "failure to respect security measures". "The problem is you can create as many rules as you like and drum them into people but some will continue to do stupid things. It's like when you're driving and send a text message behind the wheel despite the dangers for others," he said. Errors occur when hunters fail to respect a 30 degrees rule meaning you shoot downwards to avoid hitting a colleague and only shoot once you have identified the prey. Numerous fatal accidents happen when hunters forget to disarm their rifles while climbing obstacles. Anti-hunt groups are also calling for a national hunting on ban on Sundays, when the majority of accidents occur but say the powerful hunting lobby, which represents around a million hunters, holds sway over politicians. They point to the fact President Emmanuel Macron recently agreed to halve the price of hunting permits. Hunters say they are making efforts but that the sport does carry risks by definition. Thierry Coste, lobbyist for the FNC, said that carelessness was "intolerable" but "with ricochet, (an accident) is totally possible." "Zero risk doesn't exist." Hunting has been the subject of fierce debate this week after a pregnant woman was killed by dogs in northern France while walking her own pet in a wooded area during a deer hunt. Prosecutors have launched an investigation and taken DNA tests from all dogs in the local hunt's hound pack and others in the area. Her funeral is to be held on Saturday.
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