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Members of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s legal team were blocked from entering the Ecuadorian embassy in London this weekend, WikiLeaks’ official Twitter account said Saturday. Ecuadorian officials turned away attorneys Jen Robinson and Aitor Martinez scheduled to meet with Assange, who is preparing for a court hearing at a “national security court complex at Alexandria, Virginia,” according to the whistleblowing non-profit organization. The aim of the hearing is to “remove the secrecy order” concerning the U.S. charges Assange faces, the group tweeted.

The vast majority of Chinese students studying abroad never have contact with authorities from their country, but Chinese government operations on foreign campuses seeking to use and influence students do exist. The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation warned last year – not naming China specifically – that Australia needs to be conscious of foreign influence in its universities, which affects the behaviour of lecturers and foreign students. The scope of these operations is difficult to determine, but professors at universities around the world have recounted instances of students reporting back to higher officials on the activities of their...

All modern humans descended from a solitary pair who lived 100,000 to 200,000 years ago, scientists say. Scientists surveyed the genetic 'bar codes' of five million animals - including humans - from 100,000 different species and deduced that we sprang from a single pair of adults after a catastrophic event almost wiped out the human race. These bar codes, or snippets of DNA that reside outside the nuclei of living cells, suggest that it's not just people who came from a single pair of beings, but nine out of every 10 animal species, too

At least 100 people were injured s militants shelled residential districts of the Syrian city of Aleppo with chlorine-laden projectiles, the Al Maydeen TV reported on Sunday. Earlier in the day, the state-run SANA news agency said extremist groups fired shells loaded with chlorine at Aleppo on Saturday evening. A police source told Syria TV that the shopping area on the Nil Street, where citizens were strolling in the evening, came under fire. Earlier, reports about a chlorine attack came from the neighborhoods of Al-Khalidiyah and Jamat al-Zahr.....

A new deal between the Trump administration and Mexico's recently elected government will force asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while U.S. courts process their claims, two administration officials confirmed to NBC News. They added that operational and legal details are still being worked out, and it is still at least few weeks away from going into effect. On Saturday afternoon, Jesus Ramirez Cuevas, a spokesperson for recently elected Mexican President Andrés Manuel López, denied to NBC News any such agreement and insisted talks of such a deal were premature.

After the White House declined on Saturday to deny a new report saying that President Donald Trump’s administration had reached a deal with Mexico that would require asylum-seeking migrants to wait there while their claims are decided by U.S. courts, Mexican officials denied it themselves. ... Still, it remained unclear into Saturday night where exactly leaders of the two neighboring countries stand on the idea. ... Asked about the prospective plan on Saturday afternoon, a White House spokesperson did not deny it. ...

“We are horrified that a former teenage employee would conduct themselves in that way and make such a video of which we are investigating its authenticity,” said Richard Stula, the president of Teddy’s Bigger Burgers. The company initiated a “complete sanitization” and is replacing equipment and utensils at the fast-food restaurant after the video was shared with them several days ago, Stula said in the statement. “We will then send a corporate team in to inspect and complete a thorough audit of the location before it is allowed to re-open..."

"The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, trying to destabilize Iraq's fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the terror group Hezbollah, propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens) and much more....." From the first full paragraph of President Trump's statement supporting Saudi Arabia under the heading "America First!" 11/20/2018 "Is President Trump about to replicate President Bush's folly?" Columnist Pat Buchanan It is patently obvious that President Trump has made Iran into the nasty guy just like all the nasty characters...

      THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION During my second month of night school, our professor gave a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Obviously this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question...

YUMA, Ariz. – Last night, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents and a CBP pilot had rocks thrown at them when they tried to arrest a subject who claimed to have been part of the migrant caravans. On Friday night, at approximately 5:45 p.m., Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents discovered footprints from a subject who had illegally crossed from Mexico into the United States just east of the Andrade, Calif. port of entry. Agents radioed for a CBP Air and Marine helicopter to assist and it responded a short time later. The agents tracked the suspect for almost a mile until...

The Border Patrol reported the first major instance of migrant caravan-related violence Saturday, saying a Honduran man threw rocks at agents to try to keep from being arrested Friday in Arizona. The 31-year-old, whom authorities didn’t name, had climbed a tree to try to avoid capture, then lit the tree afire and began to throw rocks at the agents as well as a helicopter called in to help track him. Neither the agents nor the helicopter were hit by the projectiles. The man was eventually arrested, and agents said he told them he was part of the migrant caravan that...

At around 12.14 in the afternoon, it will come as close as 15 lunar distances, which is 15-times the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or about 3.7 million miles). TWO asteroids are set to drift uncomfortably close to the Earth on Sunday, with the pair of objects passing the planet within five hours of each other. The largest of the asteroids is estimated to have a diameter as long as 120 metres, making it bigger than most football pitches. What's exciting this time around, however, is that the largest (sexily named "2009 WB105") has an estimated diameter of...

Next Thursday, I will get a vagina. The procedure will last around six hours, and I will be in recovery for at least three months. Until the day I die, my body will regard the vagina as a wound; as a result, it will require regular, painful attention to maintain. This is what I want, but there is no guarantee it will make me happier. In fact, I don’t expect it to. That shouldn’t disqualify me from getting it. I like to say that being trans is the second-worst thing that ever happened to me. (The worst was being born...

Florida's 41-14 victory over Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. on Saturday ended a pair of streaks. The Gators' win snapped Florida State's five-game winning streak in the rivalry, and also ended the Seminoles' 36-year run of reaching a bowl game. 2018 will mark Florida State's first year without a postseason appearance since 1981, ending the longest streak in college football history. The Seminoles had three coaches in their 36-year streak, with Bobby Bowden leading the way for 28 seasons. Florida State went 26–9–1 in bowl games since 1982, winning 11 straight from 1985-95. The Seminoles won...

- Nothing will happen in this town, but... Lars Hedegaard is a Danish historian, journalist and author who established the International Free Press Society in 2004, and because he is outspoken about Islam, in 2013, an assassin posing as a postman attempted to shoot Hedegaard in his home. The attempt failed, and the assailant escaped. Recently Hedegaard received a disturbing call from a friend in Sweden, he writes on Facebook: On December 29, 2016 I received a call from a friend in Sweden. I've known him for years and I know he would not lie. My friend had just come...

Franciscan Media Image: St Andrew Dung-Lac and Companion Martyrs | photo by Lawrence OP | flickr Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions Saint of the Day for November 24 (1791 – December 21, 1839; Companions d. 1820 – 1862)  Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions’ Story Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951. All were canonized during the papacy...

Erdogan tells 6-year-old she should die as a martyr Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest waltz into absurdity suggests that he might actually be mad, otherwise known as Islamism. At a campaign event on Saturday, Erdogan welcomed a nervous six-year-old girl, Amine Tiras, onto the stage. That was fine. But then Erdogan jumped off the deep end. He declared that "[Tiras'] Turkish flag is in her pocket. If she becomes a martyr, Allah willing, she will be wrapped with it." Looking directly at the girl, Erdogan remarked "She is ready for everything, aren’t you?" For a kindergartener, the prospect of dying in...

Swedish Bishop is looking forward to Muslim call to prayer SWEDEN -- The Växjö Muslim Foundation has submitted an application for a call to prayer once a week from the mosque in the immigrant district of Araby, Växjö. While the plans have upset some, they are welcomed by Fredrik Modéus, the Bishop of Växjö. - I welcome the application and look forward to hearing both church bells and calls to prayer in our city, he writes in a statement on Twitter. "It is natural in a multicultural and multi-religious society that different traditions and religions are heard, are visible and...

“What you see Trump and Rick Scott and other Republicans doing here is counting on the power of racism to serve as fact," said an Emory University professor. (excerpt) This week, after nearly 15 years in office, Snipes announced that she will step down from her post as Broward County Elections Supervisor on Jan. 4. Snipes, an election administrator with a problem track record long before the 2018 midterms, is said to have been deeply troubled by descriptions of her and her staff as something far worse than slow-moving or inattentive to the details key to operating a smooth election....

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