NewsHero (beta) Weekend Update Issue 5
November 9, 2019
Dr. Richard Kojan, an intensive-care specialist, performing a sonogram on a 53-year-old Ebola patient this summer at a treatment center in Beni, Congo. WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG/ALIMA
Welcome to the latest edition of NewsHero (beta), November 9, 2019.
NewsHero stories are the result of scanning the entire field of news platforms that cover the spectrum from left to right.
We are always on the lookout, not just for facts and the truth—we are on the lookout for the heroes. When we say there are more heroes in the world than those causing harm, we believe it. You’ll see it in our headlines, our coverage, our editorials and cartoons.
We give you what you need to keep you in the know, but NewsHero readers are always invited to continue the investigation by following our many links to sources into further detail.
Weekly Brief
It’s November 9, 2019. Thank you for joining us for this week’s edition of NewsHero—where the heroes make the headlines and clickbait news gets zero bytes.
A Congolese scientist has helped develop one of two new drugs being used to effectively combat Ebola. Doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum was one of the first to initially identify the Ebola virus and has dedicated years to researching a cure.
The latest Doctors Without Borders numbers from across the globe show 11,218,700 outpatient consultations, 2,396,200 people treated for malaria, and 74,200 children treated for severe malnutrition.
A new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the first in 17 years, has been approved in China. Authorities there say the seaweed-based drug can be used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s.
Abigail Arias, a seven-year-old honorary police officer in Freehold, Texas has lost a hard-fought battle with cancer. "Her love, compassion, and most importantly, her magnanimous spirit, will live on for generations to come," Freeport police posted on its Facebook page.
John O'Connor, a transportation supervisor for Bay Area Rapid Transit, pulled a man to safety in Oakland, California after he’d fallen onto the tracks moments before a train sped into the station.
UnitedHealth Group, Inc., the largest health insurer in the U.S., will be expanding its recently-tested plan to offer housing to the homeless. The program, which provides apartment complexes, could reach 30 markets in 2020.
The FBI says it has prevented a possible attempt to commit a major hate crime in Colorado. A known white supremacist was arrested last week in an alleged plot to bomb Temple Emanuel in Pueblo.
13-year-old Devin Blake Langford and 9-year-old McKenzie Langford walked separately for hours in search of help after nine of their family members were killed in an ambush in Mexico near the U.S. border. It’s believed the mormon family may have been targeted by drug cartel members.
A prison in Finland is testing a new project that puts laptops and tablets in cells and libraries, allowing prisoners to read the news, practice math, and even take a course in Artificial Intelligence.
The largest single-commutation in U.S. history took place in Oklahoma last week, allowing more than 500 prisoners serving for low-level offenses to go free on Monday. The state says the release of the inmates will save taxpayers about $11.9 million.
In her New York City Marathon debut, Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei beat fellow countrywoman Mary Keitany who was seeking a fifth women's title. Keitany came in second, while Geoffrey Kamworor, also from Kenya, topped the men's division for his second NYC Marathon win.
A major civil rights organization has warned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg he could face criminal liability. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law claims Facebook is potentially liable under several state and federal statutes protecting consumers, preventing discrimination, and promoting voting rights.
Weeks of anti-government protests in Chile have fueled a movement for greater local democracy, with increasing calls for the drafting of a new national constitution.
An unpublished report investigates the possibility that Russia influenced the outcome of the Brexit referendum. It’s been nearly three and a half years since Britain voted to leave the European Union.
With a historic victory, 23-year-old Safiya Khalid has become the first Somali-American elected to City Council in Lewiston, Maine. Khalid said the results show that Lewiston voters want change.
Evangelicals Worry Withdrawal Of Troops In Syria Leaves Christians And Kurds Open To Persecution
Family members of al-Baghdadi captured by Turkish forces in raid
(Middle East)
The suspension of enrichment at the Fordow plant was one of the main curbs on its nuclear activities that Iran accepted four years ago in return for the lifting of international sanctions. Photo/AFP / HO / ATOMIC ENERGY ORGANIZATION OF IRAN
Evangelicals are harshly criticizing the Trump administration amid fears that the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Syria is setting up the persecution of Kurds and Christians as they flee Turkish forces. Televangelist Pat Robertson commented on the Christian Broadcasting Network that Trump was “in danger of losing the mandate of heaven.”
Turkish officials have announced the capture of 65-year-old Rasmiya Awad, the older sister of the recently deceased ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Awad was captured in a raid on Monday in northwestern Syria. She is suspected of being affiliated with the extremist group. It was reported that one of Baghdadi’s wives and his brother-in-law had also been taken into custody.
The next mission in Syria for U.S. troops is underway. As special operations forces who were targeting ISIS are leaving the country, they’re being replaced by infantry who are helping Syrian Kurds hold territory.
Democratic senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is hoping for a report on human rights violations by Turkey. Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced Tuesday he will introduce a resolution that would force the Trump administration to provide Congress with a report on whether Turkey has committed human rights abuses in Syria.
The U.S. is investigating whether Turkey violated agreements with Washington regarding the use of weapons provided by the U.S., including whether any were improperly transferred to Ankara’s proxies in Syria, groups that some U.S. officials say may have committed war crimes. President Trump has confirmed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will soon visit the White House. Several members of Congress have opposed the meeting.
French President Emmanuel Macron, a strong supporter of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, is criticizing Iran's announcement that it will begin enriching uranium at a controversial underground nuclear facility. It's the latest in a series of breaches by Iran following President Trump's decision to abandon an international nuclear deal and impose economic sanctions.
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has disputed Iran’s claim that the U.N. inspector it blocked from a nuclear site last week tested positive for suspected traces of explosive nitrates.
Demonstrators in Iraq are accusing Iran of controlling the country and its interests. Iran has strong links to Iraqi security and intelligence forces. The protests, the biggest since 2003, have weakened the structure of the Iraqi government. Demanding jobs and better public services, more than 250 protesters have been killed and thousands more wounded since the demonstrations began in early October.
Sudan has been rattled by a historic revolution over the course of the last ten months. The uprising has overcome institutional obstacles and fears of political violence to depose the country’s president and pressure the military to transition to a civilian government. In August, an agreement was reached for a new interim constitution, though now the military and the opposition are grappling for influence.
CNN reported that American-made weapons are arriving in Yemen despite bipartisan outrage in Congress over the way the U.S. is backing Saudi Arabia in the country’s deadly fighting. Secrecy surrounds the flow of weaponry to Yemen's conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people since 2015 and divided the country's north from south.
The rights groups tasked with tracking the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan often find different results with those numbers on the rise. Both the United Nations and the NATO-led Resolute Support mission count civilian deaths and injuries, though the NATO mission frequently reports fewer casualties. The bigger discrepancy comes when assessing responsibility among militant groups like the Taliban, ISIS, or pro-government forces, which include the Afghan army and international militaries.
Human Rights Groups Say US 'Unsafe' For Would-Be Refugees
Federal judge says new immigrants don't have to prove health insurance
Sudanese refugees receive a final briefing from a UNHCR staff member in Chad prior to resettlement to a third country, May 2016. ©UNHCR/Ibrahima Diane
A federal court has blocked the Trump administration from implementing a policy that would require new immigrants to show proof of health insurance or the means to afford it. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon issued the order last week, temporarily barring the administration from applying the new policy for 28 days.
It was reported this week that Customs and Border Protection confirmed smugglers are sawing through sections of the wall at the southern border, although there wasn’t great concern. The Washington Post first reported Saturday that in recent months smugglers have used commercially available power tools to saw gaps in new parts of the border wall, and have also used makeshift ladders to climb over the wall.
Activists are set to gather Saturday to protest construction of President Trump’s border wall at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The new 30-foot-tall barrier will block the migration of wildlife, destroy archeological sites, and imperil endangered species and wilderness lands, stated a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity.
Lawyers for refugees and rights groups argued in a Canadian federal court that the United States is unsafe for would-be refugees and that a Canada-U.S. agreement pushing seekers to first apply for U.S. sanctuary ought to be discarded. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, asylum seekers at a formal Canada-U.S. border crossing traveling in either direction are turned back and told to apply for asylum in the country they first arrived in. Lawyers for unnamed refugees who had been turned away are challenging the agreement, saying the United States does not qualify as a “safe” country under President Donald Trump. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees, have also joined the case, which could change the way the two countries cooperate on refugee issues.
According to a new analysis released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, Salt Lake City’s homeless population will be coping with “long-term damage” caused by Operation Rio Grande as they adapt to a major shift in services. The ten-page report criticizes the two-year law enforcement campaign—which focused on the city’s Rio Grande neighborhood near a downtown emergency shelter—for an “over-reliance on arrests and fines” that it said has placed a “substantial, long-term burden” on those needing shelter, local service providers, and the overall community.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says it is troubled by the U.S. decision to reduce, for the third consecutive year, the number of refugees it will admit for resettlement in the United States over the coming year. The admissions ceiling of 18,000 leaves thousands of the most vulnerable refugees in risky circumstances, the agency says.
Human rights organizations say a new asylum law in Greece will result in major violations. Nearly 44,000 asylum seekers have crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands so far this year, and the new law aims to facilitate the return of more people to Turkey under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal signed in March 2016 to curb migration across the sea. Rights groups claim the law will make it more difficult for people to access protection, leave thousands in limbo, and do nothing to improve the situation for almost 100,000 refugees and migrants in Greece.
Public Impeachment Hearings Set To Begin
Sondland changes his story; Bolton a no-show but may still testify
ERIC BARADAT / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff announced impeachment hearings will begin next week as Democrats prepare to take their case against President Donald Trump to the public. Schiff, a California Democrat, said that three witnesses will testify next week: U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor and State Department official George Kent are scheduled to appear Wednesday, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is set to be testifying Friday.
Jennifer Williams, a foreign service officer detailed to work in the office of Vice President Pence testified behind closed doors on Thursday. She is the first person from the vice president's office to testify in the probe of whether the president withheld military aid from Ukraine while seeking a political favor. Williams said that Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine was political and not a normal diplomatic call.
Former national security advisor John Bolton did not turn up Thursday for a scheduled deposition in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, but Bolton is reportedly still willing to testify under certain conditions. Bolton, who maintains that he resigned in September despite Trump’s claim that he was fired, is expected to confirm prior testimony in the inquiry from other officials, The Washington Post reported.
Impeachment investigators are calling on acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to testify in the inquiry. “We believe that you possess substantial first-hand knowledge and information relevant” to the probe, congressional committee chairs wrote to Mulvaney.
President Trump reportedly asked that Attorney General William Barr hold a news conference to declare that he had broken no laws in a telephone call with Ukraine’s president, but Barr is said to have declined.
Pressure is building on CIA Director Gina Haspel to take a stand on the protection of the whistleblower who filed a complaint with the Inspector General over President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s president. Trump supporters continue to denounce the whistleblower whose complaint led to the impeachment inquiry.
A lawyer for the anonymous whistleblower sent a cease and desist lawyer to the White House Thursday, demanding Trump stop attacking his client, according to reports.
A reversal by diplomat Gordon Sondland, who now says that a quid pro quo was needed from Kiev to free up military aid, shook Washington this week. In testimony released by impeachment investigators, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union also testified that he assumed it would be “illegal” for Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to push Ukraine to investigate the President's political opponents.
Federal prosecutors disclosed the calls at the trial of President Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone, who faces charges of lying to federal investigators about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign. According to newly released interview notes from Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation, President Trump and other top 2016 Trump campaign officials repeatedly privately discussed how the campaign could get access to stolen Democratic emails from WikiLeaks.
A three-judge appeals panel ruled that President Trump’s accounting firm must comply with a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney and turn over eight years of tax returns.
The New York Attorney General's office announced Thursday that a judge has ordered President Trump to pay $2 million in damages for improper use of funds at the Trump Foundation in connection with the 2016 presidential primaries and his own political purposes, as part of a lawsuit Trump and the foundation settled with state Attorney General Letitia James.
Allegations of sexual assault against President Trump by former “Apprentice” star Summer Zervos appear to be further corroborated through newly public cell phone records, according to a memo filed by Zervos' attorney.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing to file paperwork to qualify for the Democratic presidential primary in Alabama. The move would be a first step toward a national campaign, though Bloomberg has not made a final decision to run.
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday that he is running for his old Senate seat from Alabama, addressing his turbulent relationship with President Trump.
There were some major moves made as Democrats in Virginia took full control of the state government for the first time in decades. In Kentucky, an unpopular, Trump-endorsed Republican governor appears to have lost by the thinnest of margins. But Kentucky Republicans won every other statewide race, and an establishment Republican cruised past a moderate Democrat in the Mississippi governor’s race.
NewsHero Editorial:
One of the founding principles of NewsHero has been to avoid the advertising model in all its forms. We delved into this principle in a previous editorial: "Why does it lead if it bleeds? NewsHero is looking for the heroes." The practice of luring in readers with loaded headlines feels doubly worse in political advertising. Especially when the platforms that aggregate these ads decline to let viewers/consumers know if falsehoods are contained within that from which they're collecting revenue.
Twitter made the right move when it (as we reported) decided to ban all political advertising. While perhaps not a perfect solution to what will be an ever-growing problem, we see it as a good start and believe that paying to spread the reach of lies in order to change votes has no place in a democracy.
Art by Mark Minnig
Human Rights Watch Condemns Russian 'Sovereign Internet' Law
Federal court dumps rule involving refusal of care based on religious beliefs
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - 2019/03/10: Participants in an opposition rally in central Moscow protest against tightening state control over the internet in Russia. SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Human Rights Watch and other human rights, media, and internet freedom organizations are condemning a new law that went into effect in Russia that they say allows the government to block access to content that it deems a threat anytime it wants. The Kremlin says its “sovereign internet” law is a security measure to protect Russia in the event of an emergency or foreign threat like a cyberattack. Protesters have taken to the streets in opposition rallies against the new law seen as an infringement on free speech.
Described by critics as a threat to free expression, Israel's Supreme Court has upheld a decision to deport the regional director of Human Rights Watch. The ruling means that Omar Shakir, a U.S. citizen who oversees Israeli and Palestinian policy for the international rights monitor, can be removed under a 2017 law that bans foreigners who publicly call for boycotts of Israel or its West Bank settlements. “Anyone who acts against the country should know we will not allow them to work or live here,” said Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri. Speaking out against the move to deport Shakir, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said, “The Supreme Court has effectively declared that free expression in Israel does not include completely mainstream advocacy for Palestinian rights.”
A federal court in Manhattan has done away with a rule making it easier for doctors to refuse care for religious reasons. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled Wednesday that the Department of Health and Human Services exceeded its authority and “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in promoting the rule. The Trump administration had said that the rule would give health care professionals the choice to opt-out of providing services, such as abortions, that go against their conscience. Employers not complying with the rule could have had their federal funding withdrawn.
Kuwaiti authorities have summonsed the alleged owners of social media accounts connected to the selling of domestic workers as slaves, following a recent investigation into slave markets found on apps like Instagram. Initial investigations revealed part of the trade was carried out on Instagram, where photos of the women were promoted with hashtags. Sales were done via private messages.
An ongoing crisis in Venezuela is forcing HIV-positive residents to migrate in an effort to survive. Shortages of antiretroviral drugs—combined with violence from paramilitaries seeking to punish those speaking out against the government for not providing medication—threaten roughly 8,000 people.
Social media celebrity Alex Chang is using her place in the spotlight to bring awareness in China to sexual consent. The Chinese public has been slow to embrace the #MeToo movement, partly because of government suppression and lack of sex education. Chang hopes to change that. She has interviewed men in her life with questions sent in by her followers, and created a pop-up bar event inviting followers to come and discuss issues on consent.
Protests that began three weeks ago in Chile calling for the draft of a new constitution have led to violent clashes with police. Chile's independent National Human Rights Institute says it has brought legal action over 181 cases, including alleged murders, sexual violence and torture by the military police. Chile's President Sebastian Pinera has defended a decision to declare a state of emergency, but promised to look into allegations of police violence and abuse. Pinera said that he will not resign in the face of the deadly protests over inequality and poor social conditions.
Calling it an attack on the LGBTQ community, civil rights groups are criticizing a newly proposed law by the Department of Health and Human Services that would allow recipients of federal grants, including faith-based adoption agencies and foster care providers, to turn away same-sex couples. The rule would roll back an Obama-era regulation that included non-discrimination language on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity when determining the recipients of grants from the agency.
An investigation conducted by the global civic movement Avaaz found that a flood of fake news in 2020 could be bigger than during the 2016 election, unless Facebook makes an effort to curb disinformation. The report says political fake news in the U.S. has already passed 150 million views this year. The research, which analyzed the top 100 viral political fake news stories on Facebook in 2019, found that the number of views was enough to reach every registered voter at least once.
Italy Will Be First To Require Climate Change Ed In Schools
Activists fight to continue with Paris Agreement goals despite US withdrawal
Protesters hold a banner outside the BlackRock office during an Extinction Rebellion demonstration in the City of London, Britain Oct. 14, 2019. Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Italy will become the world’s first country to make it mandatory for children to study climate change and sustainable development in school. Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti said all state schools would dedicate 33 hours per year, almost one hour per school week, to climate change issues from the start of the next academic year in September.
New Zealand lawmakers have joined forces to pass a bill aimed at combating climate change. The Zero Carbon bill hopes to see New Zealand reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to become mostly carbon-neutral by 2050.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping will sign a pact that includes a paragraph on the “irreversibility of the Paris Agreement,” as the Trump administration files paperwork to formally withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the first step in a one-year process to exit the global plan to fight climate change.
Walmart is one of over 3,800 American businesses, states, cities and other entities joined together in the coalition called We Are Still In to continue efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, despite the Trump administration moving forward with U.S. withdrawal.
More than 11,000 researchers from around the world have issued a warning of the "untold suffering” that will be caused by climate change if humanity doesn't alter its ways. The group said that as scientists, they have the “moral obligation to tell it like it is.” Phoebe Barnard, one of the lead authors of the report and the chief science and policy officer at the Conservation Biology Institute said "there's no more wiggle room" for policymakers.
Extinction Rebellion, a coordinated series of demonstrations that began in 60 cities around the globe last month, involves activists using disruption, and often getting arrested, for climate action. Also known as XR, Extinction Rebellion, aims to force governments to respond to the climate crisis by using nonviolent civil disobedience. The group’s uncompromising tactics include blocking traffic, grounding flights and gluing themselves to public buildings and to each other.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported Tuesday that last month was narrowly the hottest October on record. The European Union's satellite monitoring service said last month was slightly warmer than October 2015, the previous hottest October on record.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is readying to cross the Atlantic once again, this time for the December 2 climate talks scheduled to be held in Spain. Thunberg, who doesn’t fly for environmental reasons, has reached out to her followers on social media for suggestions for methods by which to travel.
Thanks for reading.
