🇮🇱 **Israel will name a new train station near Jerusalem's Western Wall after TRUMP for his 'historic and brave decision' to recognize it as the capital**
<https://archive.is/9RAvY>

Israel's transportation minister is pushing ahead with a plan to extend Jerusalem's soon-to-open high speed rail line to the Western Wall, where he wants to name a future station after President Donald Trump.

'The Western Wall is the holiest place for the Jewish people, and I decided to name the train station that leads to it after president Trump – following his historic and brave decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel,' Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz told the Jerusalem Post.

Despite the likely opposition to the project, Ovadia said he expects the plans to be approved in the coming year, barring major complications. The Tel Aviv-Jerusalem high-speed line is expected to open next spring. 'There's no reason why this train won't be built,' he said. 'We already know how to deal with no less difficult opposition.'

Katz has previously proposed other ambitious infrastructure projects, including an artificial island off the coast of the Gaza Strip that would serve as an air and seaport for the Palestinian territory, and a railway connecting Israel with Saudi Arabia.
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<:trump:284711336934375425> **TWO HANDS????**

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🇺🇸 **Senate probe expanded to anyone ‘of Russian descent or nationality’ – email**
<https://archive.is/xiV23>

The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence probe into allegations of collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia includes anyone believed to be “of Russian descent or nationality,” according to a new report.

April Doss, the senior counsel to the Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) defined the scope of the investigation as anyone a subject “knows or has reason to believe [is] of Russian nationality or descent,” according to The Young Turks (TYT).

The definition of the investigation’s scope comes in response to a request for clarification by conservative blogger Charles C. Johnson. In July, Johnson received a letter from Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Warner requesting a “closed interview” and that he hand over materials “relevant” to the investigation including “all documents, emails, text messages, direct messages, calendar appointments, memoranda, notes or other documents related to any communications with Russian persons.”
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🇨🇳 **Social network profile to become official ID in China**
<https://archive.is/U8YpF>

China’s largest social media network, WeChat, is set to become an official electronic personal identification system in the country, with a WeChat ID pilot program launched in Guangzhou’s Nansha District.

On Monday, the authorities in the southern province of Guangzhou announced that its citizens will soon be able to identify themselves through WeChat (‘Weixin’ in China), Xinhua reported. The virtual ID card will be as valid as a paper identification issued by the Chinese state, it added.

It will provide access to online and offline government services, hotel registration, delivery services, ticketing and other services that require authentication. The move is aimed at preventing online identity theft, thanks to facial recognition technology used to verify applicants before providing them with online IDs.

Over 30,000 people have applied for WeChat ID cards in the 24 hours following the launch of the trial. According to Xinhua, the program will swiftly cover the whole of Guangzhou, before being expanded to other regions of the country starting from January 2018.
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🇺🇸 **Trump Sends Fewer Mexicans Home Despite Deportation Talk**
<https://archive.is/T4zFH>

President Donald Trump sent 26 percent fewer Mexicans back home this year through November than Barack Obama did in the same period in 2016, despite vows to crack down on illegal immigration, Mexican government data show.

About 152,000 Mexican nationals were repatriated from the U.S. between January and November, according to data from Mexico’s Interior Ministry that were first reported by Milenio newspaper. That compares with just under 205,000 in the first 11 months of 2016.

An ICE report of data through early October showed that removals of Mexican nationals were down, but administrative arrests of all immigrants were up 30 percent in fiscal year 2017. It concludes that the decrease in removal numbers overall compared to fiscal year 2016 was primarily due to about 17 percent fewer migrants apprehended at the border.
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🇺🇸 **Professors claim farmers’ markets cultivate racism: ‘Habits of white people are normalized’**
<https://archive.is/Tssa6>

Two professors from San Diego State University claim in a new book that farmers’ markets in urban areas are weed-like “white spaces” responsible for oppression. Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando J Bosco are part of an anthology released this month titled “Just Green Enough.” The work, published by Routledge, claims there is a correlation between the “whiteness of farmers’ markets” and gentrification.

“Farmers’ markets are often white spaces where the food consumption habits of white people are normalized,” the SDSU professors write, the education watchdog Campus Reform reported Wednesday. The geology professors claim that 44 percent of San Diego’s farmers’ markets cater to “households from higher socio-economic backgrounds,” which raises property values and “[displaces] low-income residents and people of color.”

“The most insidious part of this gentrification process is that alternative food initiatives work against the community activists and residents who first mobilized to fight environmental injustices and provide these amenities but have significantly less political and economic clout than developers and real estate professionals,” the academics write.
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<:shiiiiit:348458410217308170> **At least 12 dead in New York City apartment fire**
<http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/28/at-least-12-dead-in-new-york-city-apartment-fire.html> (Updating)

At least 12 people were killed and others injured after a massive fire broke out in a New York City apartment building, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference Thursday night.

"Tonight here in the Bronx, families have been torn apart," de Blasio told reporters. The mayor called the event the "worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city."

More than 160 firefighters were on the scene of the four-alarm fire, located at a five-story walk-up apartment house in the Bronx, just a block from the borough's famed zoo.

Officials said that one baby died in the fire, which FDNY Commissioner Daniel Niger called "historic in its magnitude." Four people are critically injured and others are also seriously injured. The victims range from 1 to 50 years old.

The building had no elevator, The Associated Press reported, citing city records. Fire escapes were visible on the facade of the building.

The fire started on the first floor of the building before it spread, officials said. The fire department responded to emergency calls within three minutes.

The commissioner added it's too early to determine what sparked the fire.
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🇺🇸 **Oregon Court Upholds $135K Fine Against Christian Bakers Who Refused To Make Gay Wedding Cake**
<https://archive.is/qoymq>

On Thursday, while the nation awaited the outcome in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which is to be decided by the Supreme Court, the Oregon Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a $135,000 fine against two Christian bakers who would not create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

In January 2013, Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery, refused to create a wedding cake for Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries subsequently decided that the Kleins violated a 2007 state law that prohibited a place of public accommodation from denying “full and equal” service to a person on account of their sexual orientation. The Kleins were forced to pay the Bowman-Cryers for emotional distress.

The Kleins appealed the decision in March 2017, but on Thursday the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the fine against the Kleins, writing, “The final order does not impermissibly burden the Kleins’ right to the free exercise of their religion because it simply requires their compliance with a neutral law of general applicability, and the Kleins have made no showing that the state targeted them for enforcement because of their religious beliefs.”
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<:perfect:348458410783539211> ***President Golfs 87 times *** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkeTDZyYFw

🇺🇸 **Argument Over a Call of Duty Wager Match Leads to a Deadly Swatting Incident After False Address Posted**
<http://archive.is/TtjHK>

An argument between two competitive Call of Duty players has lead to a man being killed by police in Kansas after authorities were incorrectly informed he was holding someone hostage.

It is being reported across the competitive CoD community that a $2 wager match on the evening of Thursday December 28th descended into two team mates arguing with each other after losing the match, and threatening each other to be swatted.

The two CoD players reportedly got into an argument over a small money loss on UMG’s wager platform online (view match) and threatened to swat each other, with one of the players sending the other incorrect details of an address nearby to a known swatter, who was reportedly responsible for the CWL Dallas bomb hoax evacuations.

A local news website in Kansas has reported that the Wichita police were responding to a homicide and hostage situation, and when a 28 year old man answered the door, the officer in attendance discharged his weapon. The man was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead.
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<:overjoyed:384631744571244544> **Former White House intern poses with 'white power' hand gesture in photo with Trump: Report**
<http://archive.is/dwiJU>

A former White House intern appeared to display a "white power" hand gesture in a photograph with President Trump, according to a report.

Jack Breuer, an Emory University graduate who interned with White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, used his right hand to form the sign in a picture with Trump and the rest of his intern class in November, per the Daily Mail, in contrast with the "thumbs up" pose Trump had asked the interns to make.

Three outstretched fingers while the thumb and the index finger form a circle creates the "OK" sign, but the gesture has also become popular among white nationalists and supremacists such as Richard Spencer to symbolize the letters "W" and "P" for "white power."

Breuer nor the White House responded to the Daily Mail's request for comment on the image.

"Context is everything," one fellow intern told the publication. "Jack is pictured with President Trump, one of the most controversial leaders we've had."

But "Jack's a good kid and is probably doing it as a joke," the intern added. "Some people do consider it a joke because it is the OK sign."

Despite members of the alt-right adopting the gesture, the Anti-Defamation League has deemed the sign to not represent a hate symbol.

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🇬🇧 **Healthier fry-ups on table as scientific breakthrough cuts cancer risk from bacon**
<https://archive.is/zW4xq>

Britain’s fry-ups are to become healthier following a scientific breakthrough which has cut the cancer risk of bacon. For the first time food scientists have managed to produced bacon that does not include nitrites from vegetables or curing agents.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) currently warns that bacon cured with nitrites is as dangerous as asbestos and smoking, because the chemicals produce carcinogenic nitrosamines when ingested. They have estimated that around 34,000 bowel and colon cancer deaths each year are directly attributable to diets which are high in processed meat.

The WHO has also calculated that eating two rashers of nitrite-cured bacon per day increases the risk of contracting bowel cancer by 18 per cent. But now British meat manufacturers Finnebrogue have worked with Spanish chemists to produce the first nitrate-free bacon, called Naked Bacon, which will be available in supermarkets from January.

Neil Parish MP, the chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee, said: "Making bacon without nitrites - and reducing the risk in the famous full English breakfast - is a remarkable feat of food technology and a brilliant British success story.
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<:trump:284711336934375425> **Target pulls Jewish-themed Cards Against Humanity pack after complaint**
<http://archive.is/QWs0l>

US mega-retailer Target has apologized and pulled a Cards Against Humanity game pack off its shelves after complaints that the set is anti-Semitic.

The “Chosen People expansion pack” of Cards Against Humanity, a game known for using edgy, off-color humor, includes cards that make light of the Holocaust and reference “torturing Jews.”

One of the question cards reads: “Can’t you see? The Jews are behind everything — the banks, the media, even_______.” Players must fill in the blank with other cards from the deck. The options include one card reading: “The part of Anne Frank’s diary where she talks about her vagina.”

The pack and a similar “Jew Pack,” which were released over a year ago, were still available online at other retailers, including the Cards Against Humanity website.

Cards Against Humanity did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On the company’s website it claims that (((“100% of the Cards Against Humanity writers are Jewish.”)))

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🇺🇸 **Classified Huma Abedin Emails Found On Anthony Weiner's Laptop Discussing Hamas, Israel And Palestinian Authority**
<https://archive.is/eL9O6>

While the Hillary campaign attempted to dismiss the emails as just another 'nothing burger', the Daily Mail reports that an initial review of the 2,800 documents dumped by the State Department reveal at least 5 emails classified at the 'confidential level,' the third most sensitive level the U.S. government uses.

The classified emails date from 2010-2012, and concern discussions with Middle East leaders, including those from the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas - which was declared a terrorist organization by the European Court of Justice in July. Large portions of the 2,800 page release were redacted prior to release by the State Department.

In a statement issued Friday, Judicial watch called the release a "major victory," adding "After years of hard work in federal court, Judicial Watch has forced the State Department to finally allow Americans to see these public documents. It will be in keeping with our past experience that Abedin’s emails on Weiner’s laptop will include classified and other sensitive materials. That these government docs were on Anthony Weiner’s laptop dramatically illustrates the need for the Justice Department to finally do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law."

Not surprisingly, Abedin was spotted heading into the Hillary Clinton offices in midtown Manhattan earlier today just a few hours before the release of the 2,800 emails. Seems you're never too old to be called into the Principal's office...
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🇮🇷 **Price protests turn political in Iran as rallies spread**

<http://archive.is/R9Kzr>
 
DUBAI (Reuters) - Demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans in several cities across Iran on Friday, Iranian news agencies and social media reports said, as price protests turned into the largest wave of demonstrations since nationwide pro-reform unrest in 2009.

Police dispersed anti-government demonstrators in the western city of Kermanshah as protests spread to Tehran and several other cities a day after rallies in the northeast, the semi-official news agency Fars said.

The outbreak of unrest reflects growing discontent over rising prices and alleged corruption, as well as concern about the Islamic Republic’s costly involvement in regional conflicts such as those in Syria and Iraq.

10-10
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🇸🇪 **Swedish police find ‘no direct links’ after Malmo's 4th gang rape in 2 months**
<https://archive.is/bZOVk>

Yet another woman has been assaulted in the Swedish city of Malmo in another case of suspected gang rape, the fourth in just two months. The attacks come as activists started nightly street patrols to reassure the community. Police said they do not yet see any apparent link between the appalling attacks, amid the ongoing investigations.

The latest attack comes as Malmo grapples with a spate of similar incidents in which three women were raped by several assailants in different districts of the city, notorious for its thriving gang culture and crime. Earlier in December, a 17-year-old teenage girl was gang raped in a children’s playground in Hasselgatan.

The other two cases occurred in November and saw women being sexually assaulted by a number of men as well. And while police said they recovered traces of DNA from some of the crime scenes, no charges have been brought in either so far. The spike in violence against women even forced police to warn against venturing alone after dark. Faced with backlash, they later retracted the warning calling it “unfortunate.”

Meanwhile, Malmo police believe it’s unlikely the series of crimes are somehow connected. Referring to the two December attacks which appear to share the same pattern, Malmo police spokesman Nils Norling said “you cannot immediately say that they are linked to each other but you cannot rule it out either.”
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🇺🇸 **Florida man booby-traps door to electrocute pregnant wife**
<https://archive.is/wQ29c>

Police say that ***a Palm Coast man updated his Facebook status to “widowed” before jerry-rigging the front door*** of his estranged wife’s house to a car battery charger, in a failed plan to electrocute her.

Michael Wilson, 32, was arrested after police found an elaborate system of wires and electrical devices had been set up on the inside of his wife’s front door “in an attempt to cause great bodily harm” to her, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Friday.

“This is one of the most bizarre domestic violence cases I have seen in my career,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley said in the Facebook post. “Not only did this man plan to electrocute his wife, but he could have injured a deputy or any person attempting to enter this residence.”

Wilson was arrested Thursday in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was charged with two counts of attempted aggravated battery on a pregnant person and one count of grand theft of a firearm. He is currently being held on a $150,000 bond and will be extradited to Florida to face charges.
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🇩🇪 **Germany To Have ‘Safe Zone’ For Women After Migrant Assaults In Past New Year’s Eve Celebrations**
<https://archive.is/LTwaT>

Following the horrifying events that took place in Germany during 2015 New Year’s Eve Celebrations, in which over a thousand women were sexually assaulted by migrants, planners of this year’s celebrations are setting up “safe zones” for women.

Security is expected to be strict for this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations which will take place at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate. Authorities have said that “large bags, such as rucksacks, and alcoholic drinks will be banned” at the event which will feature fireworks, various performers, and a safety zone for women.

Event Spokesperson Anja Marx told a German national broadcaster that the safe zone workers are trained to spot signs of women who are victims. “There will be three to four (German Red Cross) helpers who are specially trained and can look after women who feel harassed or threatened,” Marx said.
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🇺🇸 **U.S. military to accept transgender recruits on Monday: Pentagon**
<http://archive.is/O8y5m>

Transgender people will be allowed for the first time to enlist in the U.S. military starting on Monday as ordered by federal courts, the Pentagon said on Friday, after President Donald Trump’s administration decided not to appeal rulings that blocked his transgender ban.

Two federal appeals courts, one in Washington and one in Virginia, last week rejected the administration’s request to put on hold orders by lower court judges requiring the military to begin accepting transgender recruits on Jan. 1.

A Justice Department official said the administration will not challenge those rulings.

“The Department of Defense has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks. So rather than litigate this interim appeal before that occurs, the administration has decided to wait for DOD’s study and will continue to defend the president’s lawful authority in District Court in the meantime,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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🇮🇷 **Iranian protests: World is watching response, US warns**
<http://archive.is/LQH4e>

The US says "the world is watching" how Iranian authorities respond to anti-government protests that have broken out in several cities.

Thousands of people have joined the protests, with scores arrested.

A White House statement said Iranians were fed up with "the regime's corruption and its squandering of the nation's wealth to fund terrorism".

Meanwhile, authorities urged supporters to turn out for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday.

"The Iranian government should respect their people's rights, including their right to express themselves. The world is watching," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Twitter.

The US State Department urged all nations "to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption".

**Note:** *Regime change in Iran sooner or later, IRGC+Mullahs are losing grasp, hope for Ceausescu treatment for Khameini*

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🇸🇪 **Swedish church pushes for neutral gender reference to Jesus**
<https://archive.is/vltg4>

A church in a Swedish city has defended its choice of gender-neutral pronoun ‘hen’ in reference to Jesus in an advertisement. The church insists the word gives “new perspective.”

In November, the largest religious institution in the country, the Church of Sweden, advised its clergy to avoid terms like ‘Lord’ and ‘He’ in worship services in order to not highlight that God is male, in the new version of a handbook on how to conduct services. The move has triggered a backlash, with critics saying the change undermines the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity and politicizes faith.

While Bishop Mikael Mogren does not deny that Jesus was male, he applauds the fact that the advertisement has sparked debate. He noted, however, that some commenters insult trans people during the discussions and stressed that they are, like everyone else, “created by God.”

Despite attempts to calm the public, the church’s statements triggered heated discussion among social media users. One person (Maria Svanerud) commented on the church’s Facebook post that the ‘hen’ reference is a mockery, while another (Christian Himmelstrand) was “upset” at “messing with the most elementary fundamentals of faith.”
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🇫🇷 **France Sets Up Tax Dept. to Investigate Jews**
<https://archive.is/x2UM3>

Sources inform "Globes" that over the past year, the tax authority in the Fifth Republic founded a special department for dealing with French Jews. The department currently has 20 Hebrew-speaking employees, and is in the process of hiring five more. This extraordinary department is one of a kind.

The French department was established to handle French Jewish tax evaders, and hired employees with professional experience and a profound understanding of Israeli law in order to examine whether Jews were using these laws to evade tax in France. The aim of the department is to catch French tax evaders using Israel as a tax shelter.

The French embassy in Israel said in response, "In the framework of the campaign against tax evasion, the authorities in France conduct investigations concerning individual cases, in accordance with the international agreements. The authorities in France deny the existence of a special department. It is extremely important to state that the things that were written are false.

"Taxes in France are calculated according to risk considerations. There is therefore no connection whatsoever to the national affiliation or ethnic origin of taxpayers. Next year, automatic exchanges of information are scheduled between OECD member countries."
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🇩🇪 **‘End of equal rights’: Police union chief blasts Berlin’s New Year’s Eve safe zone for women** https://archive.fo/GPQvU#selection-451.1-451.93 The head of Germany’s Police Union has slammed the creation of a special safe zone for women at a New Year’s Eve celebration at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, saying it implies that women celebrating outside the zone won’t be safe.
Rainer Wendt of the German Police Union (DPolG) told the Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung, a German-language daily, that the planned ‘Women’s Safety Area’ sends a “devastating message” that women who venture outside the designated safe zone will be vulnerable to sexual assault.

🇺🇸 **‘Nigerian prince’ finally arrested: 67yo American behind 100s of scam emails**
<https://archive.is/JD3P4>

The mastermind who claimed to be Nigerian royalty in order to conduct a well-known ‘phishing’ email scam has been arrested in Louisiana.

Michael Neu, 67, was arrested this week following an 18-month investigation by Slidell Police Department's Financial Crimes Division. He has been charged with 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering and is believed to have set up hundreds of scam email accounts costing unassuming citizens thousands of dollars.

In an interesting twist to the tale, Neu did in fact wire money to co-conspirators in Nigeria. The investigation is ongoing and has been further complicated as multiple leads point to additional conspirators based outside of the US.

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🇺🇸 **Multiple officers down in shooting near US city of Denver – police**
<https://archive.is/RuDRg>

Multiple police deputies are reportedly “down” in an active shooter event near Denver, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reports. The exact number of casualties is not yet known.

A Code Red alert has been issued by the sheriff’s department, warning citizens to stay indoors as the shooter is believed to still be at large. Several local law enforcement agencies have been put on alert, including Douglas County, Parker Police Department, Lone Tree Police Department, Castle Rock Police Department, and Colorado State Patrol.

A reporter from the local TV channel Denver7 said he heard several gunshots and saw roadblocks being put in place.
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🇰🇵 **‘US mainland in our nuclear strike range’, Kim Jong-un warns in New Year’s speech**
<https://archive.is/4EDod>

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared his county a nuclear power in possession of technology capable of striking the US mainland should there be a need.

The US mainland is in our nuclear strike zone,” Kim said in his New Year’s message which was broadcast on Chosun Central TV. “The United States will never start a war with me and our country,” and Pyongyang has “completed the creation of North Korea’s nuclear forces," he added.

Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang reached unprecedented levels last year, as the North continued to pursue its missile and nuclear programs. Washington said all options, including a military solution, are on the table to tame North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. While the US is still on course to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Pyongyang has so far refused to negotiate its nuclear status.
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🇩🇪 **Several arrested in Berlin, Cologne over suspected sexual assault during NYE celebrations**
<https://archive.is/p86XI>

Police have arrested several people in Berlin and Cologne over suspected sexual assault against women during New Year’s Eve celebrations, police and media say. Most of the suspects were young men from Syria and Afghanistan.

At least seven people were arrested for sexual assault in the German capital, police said, as cited by Die Welt newspaper. The incidents took place during a New Year’s Eve festival at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate area, which drew hundreds of thousands of spectators, accordingto the event’s organizers.

In Cologne, nine women claimed to have been touched inappropriately during the celebrations, a police spokesman said on Monday, adding that three suspects were identified. German media reported that these three suspects were later arrested. The spokesman, however, noted that there were no incidents like those of the notorious New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne two years ago.

One of the largest incidents was reported in Cologne, where “heavily intoxicated” men of “Arab or North African” origin allegedly attacked local women en masse in the city center on New Year’s Eve. Investigators gathered evidence to prove there were over 1,500 criminal cases on New Year’s Eve, with more than 1,200 victims across the country, German media reported. Subsequent probes, however, have since stalled, as CCTV footage from the scene turned out to be of low quality, while the victims failed to identify their attackers.
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🇺🇸 **New era opens in California with first sales of recreational marijuana**
<http://archive.is/BgQUk>

The day has been long anticipated by cannabis advocates who pushed for voters to pass Proposition 64 in November 2016, largely decriminalizing marijuana and allowing — starting Monday — for the commercial sale of products to adults 21 or older.

In Berkeley, Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner joined a couple dozen people outside the Berkeley Patients Group for the first sales.

Marijuana remains illegal by federal standards. But several states, including Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, and now California, have legalized both medicinal and recreational use.

As of November 2016, California law allows adults 21 or older to possess and transport up to one ounce of cannabis flower, as well as up to eight grams of extract or infused foods. Smoking in public is still prohibited.

Bulk buys are not allowed, with state law limiting daily purchases to one ounce of cannabis flower, eight grams of concentrated cannabis, and six immature plants per customer.
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*Note: Weed is still illegal under federal law, 'The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicial or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.'*
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🇵🇰 **Trump withholding millions in aid to Pakistan, as he accuses country of giving 'safe haven' to terrorists**
<https://archive.is/Iy8rk>

The Trump administration has decided to withhold millions in military aid to Pakistan as the president accuses the Muslim-majority nation of harboring terrorists and telling “lies” to the United States.

“The United States does not plan to spend the $255 million in [Fiscal Year] 2016 Foreign Military Financing for Pakistan at this time,” a National Security Council official told Fox News on Monday.

The official added, “The president has made clear that the United States expects Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorists and militants on its soil, and that Pakistan’s actions in support of the South Asia Strategy will ultimately determine the trajectory of our relationship, including future security assistance.”

The Trump administration will continue to “review Pakistan’s level of cooperation,” the official said.
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🇬🇧 **Freemasons in British police ‘obstacle’ to reform – ex-chief**
<https://archive.is/qOT5C>

Reform in policing is being blocked by Freemasons, the former chair of the Police Federation has said. Steve White claimed the fraternal organization may undermine attempts to recruit women and those from minority communities. White, who resigned from his post after three years in service, claimed there have been times when members of the police who were also Freemasons were considered an “obstacle” to reform.

Masonic police officers have been accused of giving preferential treatment to their brethren over more talented, non-Mason officers. White said: “Some female representatives were concerned about Freemason influence in the Fed. The culture is something that can either discourage or encourage people from the ethnic minorities or women from being part of an organization.”

One previous Metropolitan Police commissioner, the late Sir Kenneth Newman, opposed the presence of Masons in the police. White claimed there are a number of Freemasons members holding key positions in the Federation, but fell short of naming them.

“It’s about trust and confidence. There are people who feel that being a Freemason and a police officer is not necessarily a good idea,” the former police chief said. “I find it odd that there are pockets of the organization where a significant number of representatives are Freemasons.”
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🇮🇸 **Feel the Bern, Iceland becomes first country to legalise equal pay** https://archive.fo/QtF92 A new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland.
The legislation, which came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018, makes Iceland the first country in the world to legalise equal pay between men and women.

🇺🇸 **FBI thought Hillary broke the law, drafted acquittal despite ongoing investigation – report**
<https://archive.is/5idBI>

The FBI believed Hillary Clinton and her aides broke the law by using an insecure server to email classified data, yet drafted an exonerating statement even before the probe was over, according to several Republican senators.

The unnamed Republicans on key congressional committees looking into the Clinton probe have uncovered passages in FBI documents stating that large amount of classified data that passed through Clinton’s private emails was proof of criminality, The Hill reported. By doing so, the lawmakers have confirmed and expanded on earlier reports in the US media.

“The sheer volume of information that was properly classified as Secret at the time it was discussed on email (that is, excluding the “up classified” emails) supports an inference that the participants were grossly negligent in their handling of that information,” said a draft FBI statement from May 2, 2016, according to a source who has seen it. The “grossly negligent” wording, supporting a criminal charge for mishandling classified information, was changed to the more palatable “extremely careless” in later versions of the statement, according to The Hill.
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