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Trump insults Kavanaugh accuser, and the 2019 Vladimir Putin calendar is out

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Canadian woman is first in 55 years to win physics Nobel, and US won’t grant visas to unmarried same-sex partners of UN diplomats. 

Donald Trump imitates, mocks Christine Blasey Ford 

US President Doanld Trump Tuesday mocked Professor Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, The New York Times reported.

Employing a derisive tone at a rally in Mississippi, Trump sought to imitate her testimony before a senate committee last week. “Thirty-six years ago this happened. I had one beer, right? I had one beer,” said Trump, trying to imitate her.

He then mocked the professor for not remembering the exact details of the incident, which happened over three decades ago while the two were in high school, adding, “And a man’s life is in tatters, A man’s life is shattered. His wife is shattered.”

Referring to those who supported Blasey, he said: “They destroy people. They want to destroy people. These are really evil people.”

A very scary time for young men in America: Trump

US President Donald Trump said at a press conference Tuesday that the reactions to the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh indicated that it was “a very scary time for young men in America”, reports CNN.

“It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of,” Trump added.

The allegations against Kavanaugh, that he pinned down a woman and sought to strip her while muffling her screams, have brought the #MeToo movement back to the fore in the US.

Woman wins physics Nobel after 55 years 

The winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for physics include a woman, for the first time in 55 years, CNN reports.

Donna Strickland, a Canadian physicist, was awarded the prize jointly with Gérard Mourou of France for their work on generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses. The duo shares the award with an American, Arthur Ashkin, who developed “optical tweezers”.

Both inventions had “revolutionised laser physics”, the Royal Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel, said.

Strickland and Mourou developed a technology involving very short and intense laser pulses, known as “chirped pulse amplification”, that have made it possible to cut or drill holes in materials and living matter with extreme precision. The technology has led to corrective eye operations for millions of people.

US ends exemption for same-sex partners of UN envoys

The Donald Trump administration has announced that it will no longer grant visas to unmarried same-sex partners of United Nations (UN) diplomatic workers, reports The Independent.

Unmarried same-sex couples were hitherto exempt from the condition, already imposed on heterosexual couples, because of the widespread stigma and ostracism surrounding homosexuality in most nations.

The directive advises such couples to get married by the end of December, saying they would otherwise lose their right to legally reside in the US.

“Same-sex spouses of US diplomats now enjoy the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex spouses,” the state department said in a note to UN members.

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN under the Obama administration, called the new policy “needlessly cruel”, as same-sex marriage is illegal in the vast majority of UN member states.

Melania Trump in Africa on first solo trip as First Lady

Melania Trump is set to visit four African nations in five days as she embarked on her first solo trip as the US First Lady Tuesday, BBC reports.

On her first stop, in Ghana, she was welcomed by dancers and drummers at the airport, though the public reaction has been muted.

Melania started the trip with a visit to a hospital in capital Accra Tuesday, where she was shown how babies are weighed as part of a project that aims to promote nutrition in children.

Her tour, which will also involve visits to Kenya, Malawi and Egypt, focuses on promoting health and education.

She will also promote her ‘Be Best’ initiative, which aims to fight issues such as cyberbullying and encourage healthy living.

Abdulla Yameen got $1.5 m in cash before polls, police told

Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen has been accused of receiving 22.5 million Maldivian rufiyaa (Rs 10.7 crore, $1.5 million) in hard cash a few days before the 23 September presidential elections, Al Jazeera reports.

According to a confidential letter, written by an anti-money laundering body to police, Yameen received the money in two instalments in a private bank account at Maldives Islamic Bank.

The letter, written by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an agency under the Maldives’ central bank, said a “third party” deposited $648,508 and $810,635 in the account on 5 and 10 September, respectively, with the total amount later withdrawn in hard cash.

When the bank asked Yameen about the source of the money, a representative told them that they were third-party private donations for use in the election campaign, Al Jazeera added.

The letter suggested the transactions breached Maldives’ election laws, which oblige candidates to set up separate accounts for campaign activities and declare the identities of donors, the report added.

US warns Russia over banned missile system 

The United States has warned Russia to stop building a banned cruise missile system, saying it may otherwise opt for a military strike to destroy the warheads before they become operational, reports Reuters.

The statement came from Washington’s NATO envoy Kay Bailey Hutchison amid suspicions that Russia was building a ground-launched system that breaches the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a Cold War agreement that bans medium-range missiles capable of hitting Europe or Alaska.

“We have been trying to send a message to Russia for several years that we know they are violating the treaty, we have shown Russia the evidence that we have that they are violating the treaty,” Reuters quoted Hutchison as saying.

However, Moscow has consistently denied any such violation.

Hutchison said Washington remained committed to a diplomatic solution, but was prepared to consider a military strike if Russia continued the development of the missile system

The Russian foreign ministry said such statements were dangerous, adding that it would provide detailed answers to Washington later. It had earlier said Russia would make attempts to uphold the treaty only if the US did.

‘You never think,’ says Trump to woman reporter

US President Donald Trump found himself at the receiving end of backlash yet again as he insulted a female reporter at a White House press conference Monday, telling her she “never thinks” before asking a question, reports RT.

“She’s shocked that I picked her,” said Trump, once he called on Cecilia Vega of ABC News. “She’s, like, in a state of shock,” he continued.

“I’m not, thank you, Mr President,” she said as she rose from her seat.

Trump misheard “thank you” as “thinking”, and said, “I know you’re not thinking. You never do.”

Vega answered, “I’m sorry?”

“No, go ahead,” Trump said.

When Vega asked a question on the FBI investigation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Trump, who first wanted to discuss a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, responded, “What does that have to do with trade?”

He also took a dig at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, shouting, “Don’t do that!” as she questioned him about Kavanaugh.

The 2019 Putin calendar is out

The Vladimir Putin calendar for the year 2019 has been released, CNN reports. Like every year, the calendar features the Russian President in multiple avatars, from cuddling a puppy, to engaging in different outdoor activities.

 

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