Amy Schumer and Emily Ratajkowski were among the 300 people arrested in Washington on Thursday night as they protested Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The Senate is poised to take a crucial vote Friday on whether to advance Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court as key Republican senators remain undecided amid allegations of sexual misconduct and intense protests that have divided the nation.
Schumer, a comedian and a distant relative of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, raised her fist in defiance to photographers as she was led away from by police.
Ratajkowski, a model and actor, tweeted that she had also been arrested outside the Supreme Court.
Today I was arrested protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault. Men who hurt women can no longer be placed in positions of power. pic.twitter.com/nnwq1O4qk3
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) October 4, 2018
US Capitol Police said 302 people were arrested Thursday for illegally protesting inside Senate office buildings.
The protesters had originally planned to protest on the Capitol steps. But after police blockaded the steps, they headed to the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.
The vast majority of the arrests – 293 – took place on the Hart atrium floor. Another nine people were arrested for another demonstration on the fourth floor of the adjacent Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Actress and comedian Amy Schumer and model and actress Emily Ratajkowski were detainedCredit:
Photo by Paul Morigi/WireImage
During the protests, at a signal from organisers, the group began holding up signs and chanting.
Others who were watching on upper floors unfurled banners that said "we believe Christine Ford," referring to the Dr Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who claimed Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high-school party in 1982. Mr Kavanaugh denies the claim.
Tensions have been high at the Capitol with opponents of Mr Kavanaugh, including survivors of sexual assault, confronting senators in the halls and holding vigil across the street at the Supreme Court.
Ratajkowski and Schumer were among hundreds of protesters who came out in force against conservative judge Brett KavanaughCredit:
Paul Morigi/WireImage
Supporters of Mr Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s first choice to sit on the Supreme Court, also turned out.
Mr Trump, the US president, said the protesters’ "rage-fueled resistance is starting to backfire at a level nobody has ever seen before."
Friday’s vote is a procedural one to end the debate, and some fence-sitting senators could conceivably vote to advance Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination but still hold out their support ahead of a final confirmation roll call over the weekend.
The vote follows the conclusion of a week-long FBI investigation into the claims made by Dr Blasey Ford.
The provincial district of Gatineau in Qubec, just across the river from Ottawa, has for decades been a stronghold of Justin Trudeau’s sister party.
But on Monday a little-known upstart populist movement seized the riding from the liberals in a shock election win that has thrown a grenade into the Canadian political system.
The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) swept up the seat as they were elected as the ruling party of Quebec, jolting the liberal established order that has existed in the Canadian province for nearly half a century, and sparking soul searching among their dejected rivals.
The election marked effectively the first time a populist party has come to power in North America, with immigration…
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Crash Lucha Libre based in Tijuana announced today that booker Charles “Konnan” Ashenoff is no longer with the promotion.
Rumors had started about two weeks ago coming off the conclusion of a tour around Mexico that saw some small crowds and canceled shows.
The promotion released a statement saying, “The Crash Lucha Libre brand is known for the way we treat people and value each and every single person that works in this company. Bettering the economical and habitual needs. Showing the support for each element and giving opportunity to new talent. In this way, the value and professionalism shown between each of its partners. Not being able to comply to the Crash Lucha Libre code of ethic is something we do not tolerate in this company. With that being said, we now announce that Carlos Santiago Espada, ‘Konnan,’ will be longer be working with The Crash.”
The departure of Ashenoff leads to a lot of questions since he booked all the talent, from the company’s strong undercard to the American independent talent. While Crash had garnered a reputation for having the best live shows in Mexico, they had struggled to draw in many markets with no television.
He had been working as of midweek on future dates. Also, it is mostly The Crash roster that is booked for Arolucha, which he is booking for Ron & Don Harris for a show on December 10th in Nashville with the attempt to get television in the United States.
Another key is that Konnan is tight with Rey Mysterio Jr., who is the biggest star with The Crash.
The ex-wife of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, has denied a string of torture charges, including one relating to a woman witnessing the shooting of her two children while she was tied up.
Agnes Taylor, 52, is also accused of conspiring to use rape to torture women during the west African country’s civil war in 1990. Another allegation states that the former university lecturer was involved in the torture of a child, who was tied to a tree and witnessed the shooting of others.
Ms Taylor appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday by video link from Bronzefield Prison, in Surrey.
She entered not guilty pleas to eight charges, which can be reported for the first time.
The first relates to alleged rapes by (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) NPFL forces in a village in Liberia. Three more relate to the alleged torture of a 13-year-old boy by severely beating him. A fifth relates to the alleged torture of a man by severely beating him, while a sixth relates to the alleged torture of another man by shooting him in the leg.
The seventh relates to the alleged torture of an unnamed child, who was allegedly tied to a tree and witnessed the shooting of others, while the eighth relates to the alleged torture of a “pastor’s wife” in 1990 by tying her up and her witnessing the shooting of her two children.
All of the alleged offences are said to have been committed while Ms Taylor was “a public official or person acting in an official capacity”.
Each of the torture counts states her alleged actions were “in the performance or purported performance of [her] official duties”.
Ms Taylor, of Dagenham, in east London, who previously worked as a lecturer and head of department at Coventry University, faces trial next January. She remains in custody.
The entrepreneur behind a luxury music festival in the Bahamas that collapsed in chaos in 2017 was sentenced to six years in prison by a US judge on Thursday after admitting fraud.
Billy McFarland, 26, was the force behind the Fyre Festival, which billed itself as the ultimate upscale getaway amid a fast-growing market for music events.
Hundreds of partygoers headed to the Bahamas, some paying more than $100,000 each, but instead found tents that wouldn’t have looked out of place in relief camps and cuisine that was just rudimentary sandwiches.
"Today, McFarland found out the hard way that empty promises don’t lead to jet-setting, champagne and extravagant parties – they lead to federal prison," said US Attorney for Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman.
The New Yorker admitted wire fraud, bank fraud and making false statements in a two-pronged plea in March and July. Had he gone to trial and been convicted, he could have faced 20 years in prison.
In addition to his jail time, he was ordered to forfeit $26 million.
Prosecutors said McFarland repeatedly misrepresented himself to build his Fyre Media tech company and the ill-fated festival.
Tents and mattresses being set up for the festivalCredit:
Jake Strang
He falsified statements to show investors that his company earned millions of dollars from April 2016 and February 2017 through talent bookings, which in reality has grossed just $57,443, prosecutors said.
The US Attorney’s office said that at least 80 investors fell victim to his scheme, losing more than $24 million.
McFarland also falsely boasted about Magnises, a credit card and private club geared at millennials, prosecutors said.
He told investors that he sold Magnises for $40 million while in truth no sale had taken place, they said.
In the first damages awarded, a judge in North Carolina earlier this year handed two fans each $1.5 million in compensation, plus $1 million each in punitive damages, far more than the minimum sought.
Seth Crossno and Mark Thompson said that they shelled out $13,000 with a promise of exclusive accommodation on a private island but instead wound up in a relief camp-style tent and left when they felt unsafe.
Numerous festival-goers posted pictures on social media of shambolic scenes, leading to online mockery of the high prices many had paid.
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/I8d0UlSNbd
— Tr3vor (@trev4president) April 28, 2017
The Fyre Festival was abruptly canceled and attendees evacuated, leading to online mockery of many of the young fans who had bought into the advertising of the event as a uniquely high-end music party.
The government of the Bahamas, a country of more than 700 islands where tourism is the largest industry, apologized and assisted in evacuations – but stressed it was not involved directly in the event.
Melania Trump’s plane was forced to return to an airbase after a mechanical issue caused smoke to fill the cabin.
Journalists travelling with the First Lady reported that a thin haze of smoke and a burning smell spread through the plane around 10 minutes after it took off.
Reporters were brought wet towels to hold over their faces if the smell became too strong. Nobody was hurt in the incident and the plane landed safely back at Joint Base Andrews.
Mrs Trump was travelling to a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to meet with families of children who were affected by exposure to opioids while in the womb when the incident occurred.
One of the journalist’s on the plane said an aide to the First Lady came into their compartment to inform them that there was a “mechanical problem”.
Photos from pool producer @meghankwelsh showing @FLOTUS getting off her plane this morning. Meghan reports the First Lady’s trip is still on; and a new plane is being readied now. pic.twitter.com/XnvtQlEsWj
— Mike Emanuel (@MikeEmanuelFox) October 17, 2018
The Boeing C-32A jet returned to Joint Base Andrews shortly after 9am local time and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for the trip.
Mrs Trump could be seen departing the original plane dressed in a belted blue coat. Alex Azar, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, was also on the flight.
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s communications director, told CNN the incident was a "minor mechanical issue". "Everything is fine and everyone is safe," she said.
Mrs Trump also plans to tour a neonatal intensive care nursery on Wednesday and speak at a US health department conference on a new system that tracks infants suffering from opiate withdrawal.
Regarding this morning’s incident with @FLOTUS plane to Philly, which made an emergency return to @AndrewsAFB minutes after takeoff after smoke entered the cabin, @StephGrisham45 tells, CNN it was a “minor mechanical issue. Everything is fine and everyone is safe.”
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) October 17, 2018
The First Lady’s visit is part of her "Be Best" campaign, which focuses on major issues affecting children, including the importance of healthy pregnancies.
As Hollywood deals with the fall-out of the MeToo movement Snow White has become the latest target, amid claims the Disney version of the fairy tale encourages men to kiss women without consent.
Actress Kristen Bell, who voices Princess Anna in another Disney blockbuster "Frozen" said the way the prince kisses Snow White while she is asleep is "weird," and she had warned her young daughters about the male character’s behaviour.
Bell, 38, said she reads every night to daughters Lincoln, five, and Delta, three, but had to have a serious conversation with them about Snow White.
She told Parents magazine: "Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because…
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Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist, was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and his body was "dismembered and destroyed", a Turkish prosecutor said Wednesday.
The statement from Irfan Fidan, the chief Istanbul prosecutor, is the first official confirmation from Turkey that the journalist’s body was cut to pieces after he was killed in a premeditated operation on October 2.
The Istanbul prosecutor also expressed frustration that a series of meetings with the chief prosecutor of Saudi Arabia had not yielded any “concrete results”.
Turkey is demanding to know where Mr Khashoggi’s body is and who gave the order for the operation to kill him.
“In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was choked to death immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on October 2,” Mr Fidan said.
“The victim’s body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation – again, in line with advance plans.”
Saudi Arabia insists Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not involved in the killingCredit:
REUTERS
The statement by Mr Fidan only deepens the mystery over what happened to Mr Khashoggi’s body.
Saudi officials initially claimed the corpse had been given to a “local collaborator” who disposed of it, prompting Turkey to demand that Saudi Arabia hand over the name of the accomplice.
But in his statement, Mr Fidan said Saudi Arabia was no longer making the local collaborator claim, raising further questions about why the kingdom has not been able to say where Mr Khashoggi’s body is.
Saudi Arabia invited Turkish investigators to come to Riyadh to continue cooperating over the investigation.
Both Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, and Hatice Cengiz, Mr Khashoggi’s fiancée, have called for Saudi Arabia to help locate the body.
"We still don’t know where Jamal’s body is," Ms Cengiz told ABC News. "There is no explanation about this. He did not have a funeral yet. This is not acceptable in Islamic rules.”
Hatice Cengiz, during an interview with Reuters in LondonCredit:
DYLAN MARTINEZ/ REUTERS
Turkish investigators have searched a forest north of Istanbul for the body and taken water samples from a well at the residence of the Saudi consul-general.
Mr Erdogan initially expressed optimism that the body could be found quickly but nearly a month after Mr Khashoggi’s death, investigators are still struggling to locate it.
Mr Fidan did not say how he knew that Mr Khashoggi had been strangled. Turkey is widely believed to have bugged the Saudi consulate but to be unwilling to admit that publicly.
Turkey has grown increasingly frustrated with Saudi Arabian authorities in recent days as meetings with Saud al-Mojeb, the Saudi chief prosecutor, yielded little information.
A Turkish official said Mr al-Mojeb and his team seemed "primarily interested in finding out what evidence Turkey had against the perpetrators".
"We did not get the impression that they were keen on genuinely cooperating with the investigation," the official said.
The new statement also contradicts previous leaks from Turkish officials, who said Mr Khashoggi had been interrogated and tortured for some time before he was killed.
Meanwhile, one of the Saudi king’s brothers, who appeared to be living in exile in London after criticising Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, returned to the kingdom.
The return of Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, fuelled speculation that the royal family was trying to shore up the heir to the throne as he faces allegations of ordering Mr Khashoggi’s murder.
The prince fell out of favour after he was caught on video appearing to blame Crown Prince Mohammed and the king for the stalemated war in Yemen.
Two major Dutch hospitals say they will stop importing human body parts from American firms, which they have been doing without any regulation for a decade.
The hospitals told Reuters in recent weeks they made their decisions on ethical grounds. The move comes amid investigations by US law enforcement into some so-called body brokers – companies that obtain the dead, often through donation, dissect them and sell the parts for profit.
Earlier this year, Reuters reported that one broker under scrutiny by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation – Portland, Oregon-based MedCure – has used a Dutch hub to distribute tens of thousands of kilograms of human body parts across Europe since 2012. American authorities have reportedly accused MedCure of selling some body parts tainted with disease to American and foreign customers, a concern triggered in part by such shipments to Canada and Hong Kong.
Reuters found that importers of US body parts included two Dutch hospitals. The news agency uncovered no evidence body parts used in the Netherlands were infected, but the Dutch hospitals said they would drop the suppliers in response to reporting by Reuters which raised questions about how the brokers acquired body donations.
The country’s largest hospital, Amsterdam’s Academic Medical Centre (AMC), said it bought between 300 and 500 heads from US brokers, which in the past included MedCure, to cover a shortfall. The parts, used for research and training courses, were bought as early as 2008 and as recently as November 21, the hospital said.
Outside view of Erasmus MC Medical Centre in RotterdamCredit:
Eva Plevier/Reuters
Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam said it bought knees and shoulders from a US supplier but declined to provide details. The hospital said it used the parts for research and training courses which were not designed to make profits.
Reuters said that the health ministry declined to comment on the hospitals’ decision, and said there was no specific regulatory body which oversees the use of such samples.
From 2012 to 2016, according to manifest records reviewed by Reuters, MedCure shipped body parts valued at a total of more than $500,000 from the United States to the Netherlands. MedCure said it helps connect donors and scientific, research and medical entities. "We are an accredited and regulated institution and adhere to the best-in-class industry standards for safety ethics, and transparency," the company said in a statement to Reuters.
Dutch laws govern the use of donated organs, the transportation of bodies and cremation, but there are none pertaining to body parts used for training or research, Dutch Minister for Medical Care Bruno Bruins told parliament in April. The health ministry said it saw no need to regulate the trade in body parts because hospitals take precautions.
In the Netherlands and much of Europe, people who bequeath their bodies to research do so as a charitable donation, with no payment involved. In the United States, many brokers offer donor families free cremation in return for donating a body – a potential saving of up to $1,000.
Containers of embalming fluid at the AMC
AMC’s current supplier Science Care, one of the largest body brokers in America, is not under FBI investigation, the company told Reuters; an FBI spokeswoman said policy prevents the agency saying whether a company is or is not being scrutinised. But Science Care’s business model is reported to rankle some Dutch lawmakers and doctors.
Freek Dikkers, the professor of ear, nose and throat medicine at the AMC whose department bought the heads, said it was stopping after learning that the company was accused of soliciting donors at hospices and old age homes and that its former owners earned millions from the trade. Prof Dikkers said that was "unacceptable."
One frozen head from Science Care that passed through Dutch airport customs belonged to a 53-year-old who died in April 2017 after treatment to remove a brain tumour. Although the declared value of the head on the customs form was $25, the going rate for a human head in the US market is currently around $500, Reuters found. Reuters said that Science Care did not respond to the question about the price of body parts.
Neither of the hospitals would say how much they paid for the parts. The heads were used, sometimes multiple times, to train young doctors before they operated on live patients, said Prof Dikkers.
"It was a rising trend in recent years, initially around 30, and then increasing to 50 (per year), in four shipments," he said in an interview with Reuters and Dutch TV programme Nieuwsuur.
The AMC said documents provided by US-based brokers indicated the heads the hospital bought tested negative for disease. A hospital spokeswoman said it had not carried out its own tests, but doctors always wear protective clothing.
Science Care said it follows all regulations and has been accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). The company uses "an extensive medical screening process for our donors, including testing for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV-1, and HIV-2, to reduce potential risks." All specimens are packaged and shipped according to international standards, it said.
The Rotterdam hospital, Erasmus, said it imported body parts – mostly sample knee and shoulder joints – for orthopaedic surgery courses. It declined to say how long it has imported the parts, which company or companies supplied them, or how many it has bought.
Even though the hospitals say they plan to stop using the US suppliers, the business of sending body parts through the Netherlands continues.
Rhenus Logistics, a Dutch company, transported and stored body parts for MedCure between 2015 and 2018. The contract ended this year, said Rhenus spokeswoman Ellen Visser, when MedCure set up its own Dutch distribution hub.
A month later, a new company was established in the Netherlands: Rise Labs, with three people affiliated to MedCure listed as board members. From two addresses in Amsterdam, it offers "services to donors leaving their whole body and providing services to medical professionals working in the field of anatomical research."
The company did not respond to requests for comment. A receptionist at one Rise Labs’ address did not open the door when a reporter called for comment. MedCure declined to comment.
Bobby Steveson’s won the 197-pound title at the Finn Grinaker (Cobber) Open on Saturday in Moorhead, Minn., leading a group of eight Gophers who placed in the event. In addition to Steveson’s title, Minnesota wrestlers claimed a pair of third- and a pair of fourth-place finishes.
Steveson wasn’t the only Gopher to leave Moorhead with a career-best finish. Fellow true freshman Carson Brolsma placed fifth at 149, putting him on the podium for the first time in his young collegiate career. Another newcomer to the program this season, Ben Brancale, placed fourth at 141, matching his previous career best from the Daktronics Open earlier this winter.
Nate Rose, who has bumped up from 197 to heavyweight this year, finished third, scoring a pair of falls and a major decision on the day. The third-place finish was his best finish wrestling at his new weight. Rose placed second at 197 in last season’s Cobber Open.
Colin Carr’s third-place finish at 165 was an improvement for him over his finish in last season’s event. Then wrestling at 174, Carr placed fifth in Moorhead a year ago. His third-place performance also marked his highest placement in a tournament so far this season.
Overall, the 10 unattached wrestlers who made the trip from Dinkytown to Moorhead posted a 28-15 (.651) record against the competition.
Finn Grinaker Cobber Open results
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