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World
Taliban claims US representatives moving the goal posts in peace negotiations, the militant organization seeks Qatar as a venue over Saudi Arabia to deny participation of Afghan government, declares USA is its sole true adversary which it claims is engaged in "unlawful pressures" during negotiations
US arrests Iranian news reporter Marzieh Hashemi in St Louis while she visits family, the woman was born Melanie Franklin and changed her name following her convertion to Islam after marrying an Iranian, she claims she is being held in poor conditions and denied food and clothing necessary to observing her faith
NYPD using China's "Skynet" facial recognition technology in NYC on large scale, the program designed by Chinese firm Hikvision has been deployed in River Park government housing project since 2014, the system is identical to mainland China system which enables government to identify any individual within 3 seconds
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Miscellaneous
Californian man attempts to light gas station on fire over dispute at filling pump, police engaged in a standoff with Juan Roman after fears he was armed, the situation was resolved when negotiations led to a request for cigarettes in return for surrender which was settled by a police robot with a vaping pen
Media
YouTube announces new monetization policies to reduce incentive for prank videos, wave of dangerous behaviors aimed at creating viral videos include man shot through a book by girlfriend, challenges to eat laundry detergent pods and attempts to drive vehicles while blindfolded inspired by recent Netflix movie "Birdbox"
Turkmenistan launches its first messaging app, the privately developed BizBarde app will allow the exchange of messages, files, photos and videos, one of the world's most isolated regimes blocks Western services including Facebook, Twitter and Viber, along with popular Russian networks Odnoklassniki and VKontakte
Politics
Italian senator receives 18-month prison sentence for defamation aggravated by racial hatred, Roberto Calderoli of right-wing League party claimed at a rally in 2013 that Italy's first black minister Cécile Kyenge reminded him of the "features of an orangutan", the charge was celebrated by Kyenge as "a very important signal"
Michael Bastasch: 2018 has seen a number of high-profile defeats for policies aimed at fighting global warming; voters in Ontario province and Washington state rejected carbon tax programs, Australian Prime Minister Turnbull lost power over CO2 emissions bill and French President Macron yielded to Yellow Vests protesters over fuel tax increases
Opinion
John Garnaut: Xi Jinping has continued and distilled the Marx-Lenin-Stalin-Mao belief system, central to Chinese Communist thought is the perpetual struggle against counter-revolutionary forces, Mao's most dedicated research was in the area of Chinese epics which told of imperial decay, Xi seeks to re-invigorate Chinese communism to break the historical curse of decline of the rulers
Will Burns: Gillette especially poorly positioned to talk about toxic masculinity after marketing male confidence for the last 30 years, if they were serious about their new position they should start by apologising, instead comes off as utterly disingenuous and inauthentic, probably result of echo-chamber mentality in the marketing department
Milo Yiannopoulous: I am seeking asylum in US for fear of living as a gay man in Islamist Britain, public surveys of UK's Muslim community show high levels of intolerance, despite minority status Muslim communities have outsize influence on local social norms and rules, the true state of affairs is not accurately publicized because of intimidation campaign between Left and Muslim activists
Andy Duncan: In a Hoppe-World, if a private security company closes down an airport because of a "drone" threat, then discover its own drones provided that threat, it would be tossed out and replaced, instead in the "reward of failure" system on Planet Socialist tax-provided resources will be increased to hopefully plug the gaps of the police’s stupidity
Gareth Porter: Senior national security officials have played political game aimed at keeping Trump from wavering on indefinite presence in Syria, Trump blew up their schemes and offered country new course that does not involve permanent war state, president now aware that it is virtually impossible to carry out the foreign policy he wants without advisors who are committed to the same objective
Europe
Liberal mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz dies following knife attack at charity event, the politician was stabbed on stage in front of a crowd of hundreds by 27 year-old suspect with criminal history, police say the assailant claims he was wrongfully imprisoned by Adamowicz's party and experienced torture
Viktor Orbán welcomes creation of anti-immigration axis in Europe for like-minded EU leaders to join forces to run the union, Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini earlier called for a Rome-Warsaw axis to build "new Europe" against migration, echoing similar calls from Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki and Austrian Sebastian Kurz
North America
Hotel laborer awarded USD 21.5 million in damages following jury trial over violations of her religious rights, a cap at USD 300,000 on punitive damage awards in federal court will make her receive a lot less, Marie Jean Pierre claims Conrad Miami forced her to work on Sundays knowing she was an observant member of Soldiers of Christ Church, the hotel says they made numerous accommodations and ultimately terminated her for violations of their own policies
Criticism raised over art installation featuring Saudi Arabian flag near World Trade Center Memorial, "Candy Nations" by Laurence Jenkell features sculptures of the G-20 national flags and had been shown without incident in other parts of NYC, predominance of Saudi nationality amongst 9/11 hijackers stoked feelings of insensitivity to survivors
Complaints by Council on American-Islamic Relations prompt Amazon to remove products sold by independent merchants they deem offensive to Muslims, includes doormats, bath mats and shower curtains imprinted with Islamic calligraphy or references to the Prophet Muhammad, CAIR claims they represent intentional Islamophobia and stands ready to police "bigotry for commercial gain"
Asia
Pseudoscience moves from fringe to mainstream in India, academics and scientists at Indian Science Congress claim stem cell research was discovered in India thousands of years ago, a demon king had 24 types of aircraft, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were both wrong and that gravitational waves should be renamed "Narendra Modi Waves"
Middle East
Israeli Medical Association threatens to ban any doctors performing "gay conversion therapy", the practice is believed to cure the mental illness of homosexuality but risks creating anxiety and depression, religious authorities and political organizations stand opposed to the ban despite lack of evidence
Economy
University of Cambridge economic study shows gamblers predicted Brexit hour before financial markets, the results support the belief that "prediction markets" are better forecasters of future events than investor actions, suggests a valuable arbitrage opportunity exists between prediction market outcomes and financial markets
Technology
Blind man wins appeal case against Domino's Pizza over accessibility issues with phone app, Guillermo Robles sued the company for violation of 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, judges ruled that the company failed to provide "full and equal enjoyment" of their pizza ordering services for persons with disabilities
Science
Study finds risk of death reduced by as much as 35% if half hour of sitting replaced by activity of any kind, results published in American Journal of Epidemiology followed 7,999 individuals over four years, highlights risk of sedentary lifestyles and the simple means by which health outcomes can be improved