UNITED STATES
One Daniels suit dismissed
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday dismissed Stormy Daniels’ defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump, saying Trump made a “hyperbolic statement” against a political adversary when he tweeted about a composite sketch the actress’ lawyer released. Daniels in April sued Trump after he said a composite sketch of a man she said threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump was a “con job.” Judge S. James Otero said Trump’s statement was protected speech under the First Amendment. Daniels’ attorney vowed to appeal the decision and said he was confident it would be reversed.
NETHERLANDS
‘Night Watch’ to be restored
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is going to restore its most famous painting, Rembrandt van Rijn’s Night Watch, starting in July next year in a project that is to be open to the public and viewable online. Rijksmusem general director Taco Dibbits yesterday said the huge masterpiece is to be encased in a specially built glass chamber as it first undergoes a thorough varnish-to-canvas examination using a precise microscope. The work, which last underwent a restoration 40 years ago, is starting to show blanching in parts of the canvas, he said.
UNITED STATES
Voting records on sale
An estimated 35 million voter records from 19 states have been offered for sale on a darkweb online forum, security researchers said on Monday. The offering does not mean voter databases have been breached, they said, adding that the records could have been stolen from resellers who buy voter data from states for use by campaigns and get-out-the-vote efforts. Policies vary by state on who can buy such records, which typically include telephone numbers and addresses, and sometimes voting histories. Experts said the main risk is of identity theft.
UNITED STATES
Photos trigger resignation
An Idaho state wildlife official on Monday was forced to resign after photographs of him posing with a family of baboons and other wild creatures he killed last month during a hunting trip in Africa went viral online. In a resignation letter to Idaho Governor Clement Leroy Otter, Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer cited poor judgement in posting the images. Otter said he asked for and received Fischer’s resignation on Monday. Among the photographs is one of Fischer smiling while propping up the heads of bloodied baboon carcasses, including that of a baby in its mother’s embrace.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Bentleys bought for APEC
The government has reportedly bought three Bentley limousines to use at the APEC summit next month, in a move set to rev up further outrage after the purchase of 40 Maseratis for the event. The Bentley Flying Spur cars cost more than A$320,000 (US$227,993) each, the Australian newpaper reported. The cars were en route by sea, it said, publishing an invoice purportedly detailing the purchase from a Malaysian company, South Pacific Ventures. “We are disgusted,” Legislator Bryan Kramer said on social media on Monday after meeting with other lawmakers to discuss the issue. A strike was originally scheduled for this week, but Kramer said it had been deferred to Thursday next week to avoid clashing with school exams.
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
Filipino farmers like Romeo Wagayan have been left with little choice but to let their vegetables rot in the field rather than sell them at a loss, as rising oil prices linked to the Iran war drive up the cost of harvesting, labor and transport. “There’s nothing we can do,” said Wagayan, a 57-year old vegetable farmer in the northern Philippine province of Benguet. “If we harvest it, our losses only increase because of labor, transportation and packing costs. We don’t earn anything from it. That’s why we decided not to harvest at all,” he said. Soaring costs caused by the Middle East
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest. However, voters in what Transparency International deems the EU’s most corrupt country believe otherwise — and they might make Orban pay in a general election this Sunday that could spell an end to his 16-year rule. The wealth amassed by Orban’s inner circle is fueling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services. “The government’s communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good,” said Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst
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