Reuters: World News
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 Reuters: World News
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

Isle of Wight County Press

Man arrested after unexplained death of woman in Amesbury Isle of Wight County Press The death is not thought to be linked to the Novichok incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury earlier this year. Detective Inspector Gemma Davies, who is leading the investigation, said: “Firstly, I would like to express my condolences to the family of the …

 Amesbury Novichok – Google News
Operation Novichok from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

(JERUSALEM) — Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bribery charges related to a corruption case involving Israel’s telecom giant, prompting immediate calls for his resignation.
Police say their investigation has established an evidentiary foundation to charge Netanyahu and his wife Sara with accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. The case revolves around suspicions that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister on Bezeq’s subsidiary news website, Walla.
Police have already recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges in two other cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, and the second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a newspaper in return for positive coverage.

The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media.
“The police recommendations regarding me and my wife don’t surprise anyone,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “These recommendations were decided upon and leaked even before the investigation began.”
The Bezeq case, known as Case 4000, is the most serious of all those of which Netanyahu has been accused. Two of his top confidants have turned state witnesses and are believed to have provided police with incriminating evidence. Netanyahu held the government’s communications portfolio until last year and oversaw regulation in the field. Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Netanyahu.
Police say the investigation, which included the testimony of 60 witnesses, revealed that Netanyahu and Bezeq boss Shaul Elovitch engaged in a “bribe-based relationship.”
From 2012 to 2017 the prime minister and his associates “blatantly intervened” on a near-daily basis in the Walla news site, using the connections with Elovitch to influence appointments there and to promote flattering articles and pictures while quelling critical stories of the prime minister and his family, police said.
Police are also recommending charges be brought against Elovitch and members of his family.
“The most serious bribery case yet leaves no room for doubt: a prime minister who is accused of the most serious offense for a public servant in the Israeli rule book cannot keep serving one minute longer,” said Tamar Zandberg, head of the dovish opposition Meretz party.
“The prime minister has no moral mandate to keep his seat and must resign today. Israel must go to elections.”
Other opposition figures, including opposition leader Tzipi Livni, quickly joined in the call for Netanyahu to resign.
Netanyahu’s colleagues in the ruling Likud party have lined up behind up, attacking outgoing Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh for releasing the recommendation on his last day on the job. The appointment of Alsheikh’s potential successor is being held up after a government-appointed committee rejected his candidacy.
The other coalition partners have previously deferred bolting, saying they would await a formal decision by Israel’s attorney general to press charges. But the latest development further threatens the wobbly government, already weakened by the recent departure of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his party. Netanyahu’s coalition currently enjoys only the slimmest of parliamentary majorities.
Elections are currently scheduled for November 2019.
Police are also recommending that charges be brought against Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, who has been at the center of much of the corruption allegations surrounding the longtime Israeli leader. Reports have surfaced of Sara Netanyahu relaying requests to Bezeq officials.
She has already been charged with fraud and breach of trust for allegedly overspending roughly $100,000 on private meals at the prime minister’s official residence, even as there was a full-time chef on staff.
Sara Netanyahu has long faced allegations of extravagant living and abusive behavior. In 2016, a court ruled she abused an employee and awarded the man $42,000 in damages. Other former employees have accused her of mistreatment, charges the Netanyahus have vehemently denied, and of excessive spending and charging the state for her private, expensive tastes.


 World – TIME
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

  

 Reuters: World News
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

  

 Reuters: World News
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

  

 Reuters: World News
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

  

 Reuters: World News
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)

(PARIS) — French President Emmanuel Macron visited the graffiti-damaged Arc de Triomphe monument and held an emergency meeting on security Sunday, a day after central Paris was hit by France’s worst riot in a generation.
Macron, who was meeting with his prime minister and interior and environment ministers, has vowed that those responsible for the violence and the damages will pay for their actions. His tour of France’s beloved monument came just hours after he flew back from the G-20 summit in Argentina.
Macron paid tribute to the Unknown Soldier from World War I whose tomb is under the monument. He then headed to a nearby avenue where activists wearing yellow jackets had torched cars, smashed windows, looted stores and battled police on Saturday. There he met with firefighters, police officers and restaurant owners.

Paris police said Sunday that 133 people had been injured and 412 had been arrested as protesters trashed the streets of the capital during a demonstration Saturday against rising taxes and the high cost of living.
Charred cars, broken windows and downed fences from the riot littered many of the city’s most popular tourist areas on Sunday, including major avenues near the Arc de Triomphe, streets around the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue, and the Tuileries garden. Graffiti was also sprayed on many stores and buildings.
Activists wearing yellow jackets had torched cars, smashed windows, looted stores, threw rocks at police and tagged the Arc de Triomphe with multi-colored graffiti. French police responded with tear gas and water cannon, closing down dozens of streets and Metro stations as they tried to contain the riot.
Police said 23 police officers were among the injured and 378 of the arrested have been put in police custody.
By Sunday morning, Paris city employees were cleaning up the graffiti on the Arc de Triomphe. One slogan read: “Yellow jackets will triumph” — a reference to the fluorescent yellow vests that protesters wore to demand relief for France’s beleaguered workers.
Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Saturday’s violence was due to extremists who hijacked the protest, people who came “to loot, break and hit police forces.” He was asked why thousands of French police couldn’t prevent the damage, especially to the Arc de Triomphe.
“Yesterday we made a choice … to protect people before material goods,” Griveaux told French broadcaster BFM TV.
It was the third straight weekend of clashes in Paris involving activists dressed in the yellow vests of a new protest movement and France’s worst urban violence since at least 2005. The scene in Paris contrasted sharply with protests elsewhere in France on Saturday that were mostly peaceful.
“It’s difficult to reach the end of the month. People work and pay a lot of taxes and we are fed up,” said Rabah Mendez, a protester marched peacefully Saturday in Paris.
The demonstrators say Macron’s government does not care about the problems of ordinary people. The grassroots protests began Nov. 17 with motorists upset over a fuel tax hike but now involve a broad range of demands related to France’s high cost of living.
Macron, speaking in Buenos Aires before he flew home, welcomed the views of the protesters but said there was no place for violence in public discourse.
“(Violence) has nothing to do with the peaceful expression of a legitimate anger” and “no cause justifies” attacks on police or pillaging stores and burning buildings,” Macron said.


 World – TIME
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (22 sites)