Mathematicians, geeks celebrated rare palindrome day 2/ 2/ 2020

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Mathematicians and geeks everywhere celebrated a rare occurrence Sunday, 02/02/2020, a kind of 8-digit palindrome that hasn’t happened for more than 900 years.

A palindrome is any sequence, phrase or word that reads the same backward as forward. And 02/02/2020 is considered a “universal palindrome” because it reads the same whether written as “Month/Day/Year” as the United States does, or “Day/Month/Year” as many other countries do.

The last universal palindrome occurred on 11/11/1111. The next one won’t come until 12/12/2121.

“It’s possible to live your entire life without ever having gone through a universal palindrome, so it’s pretty cool to have one in your lifetime,” said Heather Pierce, a mathematics lecturer at Emmanuel College in Boston.

The date was cause for celebration on Twitter, where even those who don’t specialize in math got a kick out of the rare global palindrome.

“Another one won’t happen for 101 years, so make the most of this one! ” tweeted actor Mark Hamill of “Star Wars” fame.

“Are you guys pumped? The big day is finally here!!” tweeted musical comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic.

“Right now people all across the country are getting together with friends and loved ones to celebrate - so exciting. Anyway, from my house to yours, Happy Palindrome Day!”

The Royal Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas was hoping the date would have special meaning for many couples. The chapel noted in its advertising that couples who marry on 02/02/2020 would have their two-year anniversaries on 02/02/2022. “Two being the ultimate symbolic number representing you and your spouse to be.”

Secret Israeli doc reveals plan to maintain Arabs off their lands – Israel Information

 danilfineman  January 31, 2020   No Comments

Israel’s protection institution has for years endeavored to hide historic documentation in numerous archives across the nation, as was revealed in an article in Haaretz final July.

That article, which adopted up on a research by the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Battle Analysis, famous that for closed to 20 years, the employees at Malmab – the Protection Ministry’s secretive safety division (the identify is a Hebrew acronym for “director of safety of the protection institution”) – had been visiting public and private archives and forcing their directors to mothball documents relating to Israeli history, with particular emphasis on the Arab-Israeli battle. This was accomplished with out authorized authority. The article sparked a furor, and dozens of researchers and historians urged the protection minister of the time, Benjamin Netanyahu, to halt the clandestine criminal activity. Their enchantment acquired no response.

Secret Israeli Document Reveals Plan to Keep Arabs Off Their Lands 
Adam Raz Jan 31, 2020 
A document unsealed after 60 years reveals the Israeli government’s secret intentions behind the imposition of a military government on the country’s Arab citizens in 1948: not to enhance security but to ensure Jewish control of the land
 Israel s defense establishment has for years endeavored to conceal historical documentation in various archives around the country, as was revealed in an article in Haaretz last July.

Secret 60 year-old document reveals israel had no security concerns but a definitive plan to seize control of as much of Palestine as possible

Secret Israeli document reveals plan to keep Arabs off their lands

haaretz.com

For many young evangelicals in Iowa, climate is front and centre

As Iowa kicks off 2020 US presidential primary and caucus season, young evangelicals are demanding climate action.

by Teresa Krug

Protesters in Des Moines, Iowa, demand climate action [Teresa Krug/Al Jazeera]

Pella, Iowa, United States - Seated around long tables over lunch, two dozen students at Iowa's Central College opened their monthly meeting on sustainability by discussing the upcoming Iowa caucuses. Among other things, the group has organised marches to the mayor's office and written letters to the elected officials.

There was no official endorsement, but Efrain Garcia reminded students to register and show up.

"This is a really big election, because we have a real shot at electing a person, you can determine who that person is, that really supports sustainability," Garcia said.

Iowans will gather at different sites around the state on Monday evening to choose candidates for the 2020 United States presidential elections.

For this group of students at Central College, a school affiliated with the Reformed Church of America, the election is just as much, if not more, about engaging with an issue many did grow up talking about as it is about the issues that have historically driven evangelicals and other Christians to the polls.

"I come from a very conservative family and a very conservative background, and so I used to think the sustainability movement was a very liberal agenda and a very liberal idea. And I was very turned off to the idea that I was required to take a sustainability class, because it wasn't something that I was interested in," said Carter Terpstra, who lives in one of the green pods on campus, where residents are required to present projects in order to keep living there, such as examining the recycling system in the athletic facilities. All students are required to take a class on sustainability.

Terpstra started to change his mind when he saw the issues that the sustainability movement was trying to address some of the things he cared about as a Christian.

"They're fighting for justice. Why wouldn't I be on board with that? But at the same time, there were some things where I was like, well, I agree and disagree with even within the whole spectrum of what sustainability is," Terpstra said. "In hindsight now, it's better that I was educated on it than not. Because now I know what it's all about. My preconceived ideas did not meet reality."

Efrain Garcia speaks to Claire Ackerman and Savanna Henning at Central College [Teresa Krug/Al Jazeera]

Claire Ackerman declined to say what political party she affiliates with, but said her Christian faith compelled her to consider protection for the earth.

"I don't really feel a tension between my political party and my belief in climate change," said Claire Ackerman.

Through one campus ministry she is a member of, Savanna Henning said she and others organised a campus fair that hosted businesses that promote sustainable and ethical business practices.

"I guess I got really passionate about engaging with faith communities when I started seeing people that combined faith with politics and claimed things that aren't true," said Savanna Henning. "I would see things on Twitter where people would say, 'Hey, like even if climate change is real, who cares? It's all in God's hands.' That kind of thing, and I was like, 'Hey, that's not what I stand for. That's not what I believe. We wouldn't say that about people who are impoverished.'"

Stickers and a candidate worksheet at Central College [Teresa Krug/Al Jazeera]

For many of the students who came from religious backgrounds, conversations around climate change were not only absent, they were previously discouraged.

"[In church] we received at least this implicit message on climate change that we needed to keep that out of the church; it was too politicised, it was too liberal, because many of us grew up in more conservative context," said Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, national organiser and spokesman with Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA), a group has been around for less than a decade, and doesn't advocate for one political party over another.
A choice between issues?

Because Iowa kicks off the presidential primary and caucus season every four years, much ado is usually made over the influence that evangelicals have, though most major polls indicate the overall religiosity of the state as "average" for the US. It's not as religious as the southern part of the US, but more religious than the East and West coasts. While Republicans are seen as more vocal when it comes to discussing their faith, a few Democratic candidates - especially former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg - has talked openly about attending church regularly and has called on the Democratic Party not to shy away from this issue.

In general, the last decade has seen a decline in those who identify as Christian. But their influence is still felt, because they reliably show up and vote.

Older evangelicals are generally far more likely to deny climate change is happening than the general public. While there isn't much data on younger evangelicals' opinions of climate change, many people who study this demographic say that in general this group more closely aligns with others in their generation who believe that climate change is a "major threat".

Savanna Henning marches in a climate change protest in Des Moines, Iowa [Teresa Krug/Al Jazeera]

Nationally, the majority of white evangelicals lean conservative and now constitute a third of the Republican base. President Donald Trump, has rolled back many regulations regarding the environment, but has also been applauded by Christian leaders for restricting funding for abortion access and installing new conservative judges on the federal bench.

In a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, 77 percent of white evangelical Protestants approve of the job Trump is doing. That number slides to about half (54 percent ) among white mainline Protestants and white Catholics (48 percent) and overwhelmingly disapproval among Hispanic Catholics (72 percent) and black Protestants (86 percent).

Ryan Burge, assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, said he doesn't see climate change yet translating into a big enough issue for young, conservative evangelicals to prioritise it over other partisan issues, including abortion and smaller government.

"I think that they would like the Republican party to not be full of climate deniers, but it's not enough for almost any of them to change who they vote for," Burge said.

YECA's Meyaard-Schaap said many newcomers to the climate action movement see climate change as an extension of them living out their faith, rather than separate from it, and view it as another pro-life issue.

"I think for younger evangelicals, the choice is not to resist climate action and remain sceptical or go all in on climate action. I think the choice is to leave the church and be active on climate issues or remain in the church and be active on climate issues," Meyaard-Schaap said, adding, however, that he does see young people's views on climate change "complicating" their approach to voting.
'Loud and proud'

Unlike in primaries, counting in Democratic caucuses in Iowa is done publicly, which means the event tends to draw more vocal activists: people who are less concerned with which neighbours see for who and how they vote.

If they do decide to caucus, Burge said he would expect to see younger evangelicals, who have warmed to the issue of same-sex marriages more than their parents, choose a more moderate candidate like Buttigieg than more progressive candidates like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

"If you see evangelicals caucus for the Democrats, they're gonna be loud and proud. They can't do it quietly, because you're gonna have to have people talk about it," said Burge. "I think it's worth watching, but white evangelicals are not going to vote for a Democrat over a Republican over the environment. If they don't vote for Trump, it's because they're not voting for Trump because they dislike him as a person, his morality or his policies."

Protesters march through Des, Moines, Iowa to demand climate action [Teresa Krug/Al Jazeera]

Zach Bonner, lecturer of political science at Iowa State University, agreed with Burge that younger evangelicals are considering issues like climate change in a way that runs contrary to their parents, but it's not yet a big enough issue to sway that many votes.

He also pointed out that while climate change has gotten some attention this election from several Democratic candidates, the issue is also not the Democratic Party's number one concern.

"I think the Democratic side has taken it on as a main party platform issue more so than the Republican side, but I think there's still plenty of other issues that are more front and centre, such as dealing with healthcare or gun violence," Bonner said.

As for Henning, who did not divulge her political affiliation, she said she is only considering candidates who consider the environment. Moroever, she said she and other young evangelicals - conservative and liberal - are pushing for more than just what happens at the ballot box.

"It's about changing the mindset of a nation," Henning said.


SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

Thousands protest in US cities against India citizenship law

Indian Americans, joined by civil rights groups, hold demonstrations in 30 US cities demanding repeal of CAA.

by Mohammad Ali 27 Jan 2020

Protesters have accused the Modi government of waging a war against Muslims, students, Dalits and marginalised sections of society [Mohammad Ali/Al Jazeera]

New York, United States - Thousands of Indian Americans, joined by several civil rights organisations, have staged protests across dozens of US cities against policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that critics say undermine the country's secular constitution.

On Sunday, which marked India's Republic Day, Mohammad Mustaqeem and his eight-year-old son, along with thousands of others, gathered outside the Indian embassy in New York to protest against the recently passed citizenship law that makes faith a basis for attaining Indian citizenship.
More:

Protests mark Republic Day celebrations

India's anti-CAA protesters launch postcards to PM Modi campaign

India's Supreme Court refuses to strike down citizenship law

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) coupled with a plan to implement a nationwide counting of citizenship (National Register of Citizens or NRC) by India's Hindu nationalist government has triggered widespread protests in the South Asian nation.

In the northeast Indian state of Assam, nearly two million people were dropped from the citizenship list in 2019 and many fear a nationwide NRC will possibly render millions of Indians stateless.

Mustaqeem from the eastern Indian state of Bihar says his nephew Mohammad Irfan was among those injured last month when police stormed the library inside Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi.
'Modi has started war against Muslims'

Mustaqeem says his nephew's left leg and right hand were fractured in the police action, which caused a public outcry. The students were protesting against the CAA and the NRC that activists say discriminates against India's Muslims.

"I can't go back to India right now. But I have come here to protest against the war Modi has started against India's Muslims," Mustaqeem told Al Jazeera.

He accused the Modi government of waging a war against Muslims, students, Dalits and marginalised sections of society.

"Instead of studying, my nephew is under treatment in Araria [Bihar state]. Is this the India we want to hand over to our next generation?" Mustaqeem asked.

India American protesters hold banners at an anti-CAA demonstration in New York City [Mohammad Ali/Al Jazeera]

Waving hundreds of Indian flags, protesters raised banners against Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The New York protest was part of nationwide protests and marches organised by the recently formed Coalition to Stop Genocide - a broad coalition of Indian Americans and US-based civil rights organisations such as the Indian American Muslim Council, Hindus for Human Rights, Equity Labs, Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha of New York, Black Lives Matter and the Jewish Voice for Peace.

The protesters demanded the repeal of the CAA in India, and called for action by the US government, including possible sanctions on India's Home Minister Shah, as recommended by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

"What is happening in India, is happening in the name of Hinduism. But the Hinduism that we practise is inclusive and has love at its centre. Whereas the Hindu nationalism is exclusive by definition and seems to have hatred at its centre," said Sunita Viswanath from Hindus for Human Rights.

The protesting men, women and children of all ages held banners and shouted slogans against the Indian government's right-wing policies. They unfurled the Indian flag and recited the national anthem to mark their Republic Day.

A poster said "Hindu + Muslim = India’s greatest love stories. You can't change that," while another said, "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." Many posters referred to "Martin Luther King’s dream vs India's Nazi vision".
'We, the people of India'

With a banner flaunting Dalit icons like Saint Ravidas along with Baba Bhimrao Ambedkar – the architect of India's constitution - Sitaram joined the protest along with his friends from Connecticut.

"It is wrong to assume that the CAA is only against Muslim community. Laws like CAA and provisions like NRC and NPR represent the destruction of the constitution brick by brick by Narendra Modi," the 52-year-old said.

"If we don't speak now, there will be nothing and no one left to speak for," said Sitaram, who is associated with the International Bahujan Organization - a Dalit group.

He and other protesters read the preamble of the Indian Constitution reminding Modi that India belonged to "We, the people of India", as Modi has been accused of pushing a Hindu supremacist agenda.

Shaik Ubaid, one of the organisers, said that protests were happening not only in India but around the world and it represented a global consensus against the "draconian" policies of the Modi government.

"They are also a clear indication that the world will not stand idly by while Hindutva's supremacist worldview takes India down the path of fascism," said Ubaid who was part of an initiative which led to a ban on Modi's entry into the US after the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.

Reverend Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York, said that Martin Luther King Junior, who was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, "called to speak for the voiceless".

"The CAA makes an enemy of India's own precious people, damaging the pluralistic democracy that has existed since 1947 and has been such an inspiration to the world," Breyer told Al Jazeera.

Hope

Students of Harvard University and representatives from the Indian diaspora also staged a 24-hour protest at Harvard Square in Boston to coincide with India's Republic Day.

"A lot of times I get tokenised because of my Dalit identity. It becomes almost a vulgarised presentation of Dalit body on a stage. But this protest I feel like I have agency and I am part of a larger dialogue," said Suraj Yengde, a researcher at Harvard University.

"But I would also hope that now that Dalits are coming for Muslims, there will be reciprocity in future," Yengde, author of a recent book, Caste Matters, told Al Jazeera by phone.

The protesters in Washington DC marched to the Indian Embassy.

"The brutal crackdown by government in India on the anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests has created a situation in which women in large numbers have come out on the streets to challenge the divisive-communal-fascist agenda of the government," said rights activist and Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey, who travelled to Washington, DC from India.

"It gives a hope that democracy and constitution can ultimately be saved by the common people from a government which is bent upon destroying them," he added.

A protest was also organised outside the Indian consulate in San Francisco.

"Indian Americans and people of conscience in the US are seeking accountability from the Hindu nationalist regime that wants to turn Indian Muslims into foreigners and render them stateless," said Ahsan Khan, President of the Indian American Muslim Council.

‘I’ll destroy your family’: India’s activists tell of false arrest and torture in custody

Uttar Pradesh’s leading protesters against new citizenship law believe they were rounded up to quell further dissent

The Observer
India
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Shaikh Azizur Rahman in Lucknow
Sat 1 Feb 2020 
 

Police officers confront protesters in Lucknow on 19 December. Photograph: STRINGER/Reuters

At 73 years old, Mohammad Shoaib had grown used to harassment from police. As one of India’s highest-profile activists, he had made a name fighting for Muslims falsely accused of being terrorists by the police, earning him powerful enemies.

But in late December, as he was brought into the police station in Lucknow, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in the middle of the night, he felt something had shifted. “Police officers abused me badly while I was in their custody and they threatened me in many ways,” he said. “One [senior officer] said to me at the police station: ‘I will fuck your mother. I am going to throw all your family members in jail where they will rot for life. I will destroy your family’.”

As India erupted in protest over a controversial new citizenship bill late last year, Shoaib was among dozens of leading social and legal activists who began to be systematically and illegally targeted, rounded up and detained by police, with several tortured and most kept in prison on fabricated charges, without ever being presented to a magistrate, as the law requires.


While the BJP government is notoriously intolerant of critics, the systematic crackdown on some of the most recognisable civil society activists has been unprecedented in both scale and fervour. It has also been concentrated in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP government led by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, known for his anti-Muslim and staunchly Hindu nationalist rhetoric, vowed “revenge” on those who had taken to the streets to protest at the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Police have been accused of firing on protesters, rounding up hundreds of innocent Muslims in the state and torturing men, women and children in custody.

In seven cases recounted to the Observer, activists alleged they had been detained on entirely falsified charges by police. For Shoaib, his detention was particularly farcical. He stands accused of leading a protest that turned violent in Lucknow on 19 December, despite the fact it occurred while he was under police house arrest, having been detained the night before. “Police kept my house under watch and restrained me from going out. How could I possibly be present at the protest site, away from my home that afternoon?” he said. “Yet, the police charged me with attempted murder, arson and rioting. For years many police officers have viewed me as their enemy and now they are portraying me as a conspirator and violent rioter, without any basis.” 

FacebookTwitterPinterest Mohammad Shoaib, 73, was accused of leading the Lucknow protest while he was under house arrest Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman

After police failed to produce any evidence before a judge, Shoaib was bailed last month, following weeks behind bars. But the charges have not been dropped. “Activists are facing an increased level of pressure or crackdown,” he said of the past three months. “The government is trying to silence all types of dissent and shrink the space for activism. It is trying to break the backbone of activism in the state.” Sadaf Jafar, another prominent activist in Uttar Pradesh and spokesperson for the Congress political party, wept as she recounted the torture she says she endured when arrested on 19 December.

She says she was arrested while protesting peacefully at the Lucknow rally against the new citizenship law, and was among those later facing 20 charges, including inciting violence and attempted murder. She was detained until early January, when a judge granted her bail due to lack of evidence. While in the police station, Jafar said, officers subjected her to relentless racist and Islamophobic slurs. “They started slapping and beating me, calling me ‘Pakistani’ and other language I could never repeat.

“One of the female officers, who was filled with this anger, shouted: ‘I am going to beat you so hard I draw blood’,” said Jafar. “She pulled my hair and clawed my face and hands. And then another senior male officer told me he had seen me ‘talking big’ at the protest and that he would teach me a lesson; that he would charge me with attempted murder and make sure I ‘rotted in prison’. He pulled me down by my hair, kicked me in my stomach and knees… I have spent my life fighting for people’s rights but I never imagined the police would act in this way.”

It is not just Muslim activists who report torture. Deepak Kabir, 46, a prominent Hindu poet and activist, said he had been arrested and badly beaten after he went into a police station to look for fellow activists. “They are going after activists because we are willing to fight,” he said. “It’s a very thought out process to target well-known faces because if they crush us, then everyone else is immediately intimidated.” SR Darapuri, 76, a former senior police officer turned activist, who has long irritated authorities in Uttar Pradesh with his outspoken comments about extrajudicial killings by police, alleged the police had gone to “extreme lengths” to arrest and then charge him with rioting, attempted murder and criminal conspiracy related to Lucknow protests that turned violent. “For 46 hours they kept me without food,” he said. “I am a retired senior police officer from the rank as high as inspector general and I was forced to endure such torture.” Darapuri described how, after his arrest at home on 20 December, police brought him before a magistrate, as is legally required before he could be sent to jail. But the magistrate refused to grant permission, citing lack of evidence, and criticised the officers for Darapuri’s “wrongful arrest”. But that did not stop them. “After taking me back to Hazratganj police station, the police officer recorded a report in which he stated that I had been taken to a magistrate but he was not available,” he said. “This was not the truth. The magistrate refused to remand me in custody because he believed I was innocent. 

”
\Activist Sadaf Jafar says she was kicked in the stomach and knee by a senior police officer and told she would ‘rot in prison’. Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman

The same day, Darapuri was taken to jail where he was kept until 5 December, when he was bailed. At the hearing the Uttar Pradesh police failed to produce any evidence against him, claiming video footage of his alleged offences was “too hazy or grainy and none of the people there could be identified”.

The Uttar Pradesh police and government have denied any wrongful and illegal arrests and torture in custody. Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said: “Bail doesn’t mean that Sadaf and Darapuri have been given a clean chit. They will have to face trial in court. The statements made by them after release are objectionable, baseless and provocative.”

Yet the arrests of activists have continued. Last Wednesday, hours before he was due to address an anti-CAA rally in Mumbai, activist Dr Kafeel Khan was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force for allegedly delivering a “provocative” speech in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, at a rally on 12 December. On Friday, police filed new complaints against Shoaib, Kabir and several other activists after they staged a peaceful candlelit vigil against the act.

Sandeep Pandey, another prominent Lucknow-based activist involved in the anti-CAA protests described the escalation in attacks on critics. “My emails and phones have been kept under surveillance by the government,” he said. “We have been jailed before for activism-related activities but we used to get bail and come out of jail. Police didn’t misbehave with us. Now, in recent months, police have changed their attitude towards us and we are being badly abused by them… The rights activists are facing the worst crackdown in Uttar Pradesh; in no other state in India is the situation is as bad,” he said. “This is out and out a fascist regime.”

The passing of the citizenship amendment act in December has led to India’s greatest unrest for more than four decades. The law says all Hindu, Christian, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh migrants who arrived from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before 2014 can claim citizenship. But the same does not apply to Muslim migrants. Many believe the act brazenly discriminates against Muslims and could tear apart the secular foundations of India. There are also fears that associated plans for a national register of citizens will require only Muslims to produce evidence of their nationality, and could lead to detentions and deportation. Over the past month, millions have taken to the streets every week in the first backlash against Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP government, and the response has increasingly been one of force, with public gatherings banned and peaceful student protesters met with violence and openly communal and anti-Muslim rhetoric used in the BJP campaign for the Delhi state elections which will be held next weekend.

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BREXIT; THIS SAYS IT ALL

Police called in after poster tells residents of flats to speak English

‘Happy Brexit Day’ sign in Norwich block said foreign tongues would not be tolerated

PA Media

Sat 1 Feb 2020 22.52 GMT

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 Brexit poster seen in a block of flats in Norwich Photograph: Anonymous via Twitter

A poster telling residents of a block of flats “we do not tolerate” people speaking languages other than English in the building has been reported to police.

The typewritten poster, bearing the title “Happy Brexit Day”, was reportedly found stuck to fire doors in Winchester Tower in Norwich on Friday morning. The discovery came hours before the UK officially left the European Union at 11pm later that day.

A photo of the poster shared in news reports and on social media revealed that it declared: “We finally have our great country back.”

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 Brexit poster seen in a block of flats in Norwich. Photograph: Anonymous via Twitter

Addressing Winchester Tower residents, it said the “Queens (sic) English is the spoken tongue here” and suggests that people wanting to speak a language other than English should leave the country.

Writing on Twitter on Saturday, Norwich city council said: “You may have seen a photo of a poster that has appeared in one of our properties.

“Norwich has a proud history of being a welcoming city, and we will not tolerate this behaviour. As soon as we became aware of this incident, we reported it to Norfolk police and they are investigating.

Racism rising since Brexit vote, nationwide study reveals

 

Read more

“We take this very seriously and encourage residents to contact us or the police if they have any concerns.”

According to the BBC, which spoke to a resident, the signs were left on fire doors across all 15 floors of the block of flats before being removed by the caretaker.

Mike Stonard, a cabinet member on Norwich city council, told the Eastern Daily Press: “I absolutely condemn this abhorrent poster. Whoever put it there has committed a hate crime, it is as simple as that.

“Many people voted for Brexit for a range of different reasons, however I am sure not many of them will condone this kind of thing.”

Norfolk police have been contacted for comment.

Protesters who demanded Huawei CFO's release revealed to be paid actors

More than a dozen people outside Vancouver courtroom with ‘Free Meng’ signs were promised C$100 for two hours’ work on a movie


Leyland Cecco in Toronto and agencies
Wed 22 Jan 2020 The Guardian
 

Protesters stand outside a Vancouver courtroom 

on 20 January 2020. Photograph: Alia Dharssi/AFP 

via Getty Images

Protesters calling for the release of a senior Chinese telecommunications executive arrested in Canada have admitted they were paid actors, in the latest twist in a closely watched extradition case that has chilled relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

More than a dozen people joined a demonstration on Monday outside a Vancouver courtroom where the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is fighting extradition to the US for alleged fraud related to sanctions against Iran.

The protesters held handwritten signs that read “Free Meng” and “Trump stop bullying us” – but it soon emerged that they were actors who had been promised C$100 ($76) for two hours’ work on a movie.

In a Facebook post, one of the actors, Julia Hackstaff described the fake protest as a “filthy cheap scam” that has resulted in her receiving hate messages online.


Huawei CFO's extradition would let US criminalize behavior in Canada, say lawyers

Hackstaff said she had been offered work as a movie extra, but soon after arriving at the court realized she had been duped into attending a real event.

“I feel cheated, used, abused, angry, deeply saddened and emotions that I don’t even have words to describe,” she wrote. It was unclear who had recruited the actors.

A Huawei spokesman told the AP that the company had no involvement with the protest. China’s embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Another protester, Ken Bonson, gave an identical account to the Toronto Star, saying she “had no idea what I was going into”.

“I’m honestly pretty ashamed and embarrassed,” she said, explaining that she had not known about Meng or her legal saga.

The revelations came as Canadian government lawyers returned to court for the third day, to argue that Meng – Huawei’s chief financial officer – should be extradited because she was guilty of fraud – and not because she violated US sanctions against Iran.

Meng’s legal team has argued that she was caught up in a US effort to use its extradition treaty to get Canada to enforce US banking sanctions against Iran.

The US alleges Meng lied to HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with its Iran-based affiliate Skycom, putting the bank at risk of violating US sanctions against Tehran.

“Lying to a bank in order to get banking services that creates a risk of economic prejudice is fraud. Fraud – not sanctions violations – is at the heart of this case,” Canadian prosecutor Robert Frater told the court on Wednesday.

In order to win extradition, lawyers for Canada’s attorney general – acting on behalf of the US justice department – must demonstrate that the US accusations against Meng would be considered a crime in Canada if they had occurred there.

Meng has maintained her innocence, saying the alleged conduct was not illegal in Canada. Unlike the United States, Canada did not have sanctions against Iran at the time Canadian officials authorized commencing with the extradition, her lawyers have said.

The proceedings are expected to conclude on Friday, but a ruling is not expected this week.

BEST HARVEY WEINSTEIN HEADLINE

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP DEPT.

Weinstein Accuser Says He Has No Testicles

Jessica Mann testified in a Manhattan courtroom Friday that Harvey Weinstein engaged in forced oral sex and raped her in early 2013...

As Mann tearily described alleged incidents, she also made the bombshell claim that Weinstein doesn’t have testicles and appeared to have a vagina, saying she thought he was “intersex” the first time she saw him naked.

The first time I saw him fully naked,” she said, “I thought he was deformed and intersex. He has an extreme scarring that I didn’t know, maybe [he] was a burn victim …”

“He does not have testicles, and it appears that he has a vagina,” she claimed, saying she had oral sex with Weinstein.

As Mann claimed that he had deformed genitals, Weinstein dropped his head

Here is what #HarveyWeinstein had to say when asked if #jessicamann's description of yr body accurate: pic.twitter.com/jdT2JDK7ZI

— Victoria Bekiempis (@vicbekiempis) January 31, 2020

Greensboro Sit-in: The US civil rights activists who sparked nationwide protests against segregation

Google commemorates 60th anniversary of protest with Doodle

Tom Embury-Dennis @tomemburyd

Google marks the 60th anniversary of the Greensboro Sit-in in North Carolina ( Google )

The “Greensboro Four”, a group of civil rights-era activists, are being remembered on the 60th anniversary of their iconic stand against segregation in the US.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr’s nonviolent protests for racial equality, four black college students in 1960 requested service at a “whites-only” café at a local Woolworth’s department store in Greensboro, North Carolina.

After being refused, the students – Ezell Blair Jr, David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil – remained in their seats and refused to leave until the store closed for the evening.

Despite being met by aggressive counter-protesters, the students were in the weeks following joined by hundreds of fellow demonstrators.

Willing to repeat the sit-ins for as long as necessary, by July the activists had forced Woolworths to integrate their canteen.

The protest ultimately helped spark a nationwide nonviolent sit-in movement, and contributed to the banning of segregation of public spaces in 1964 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Part of the Woolworths counter where the men sat is now housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, while the department store has been converted into a civil rights museum.

To commemorate the sit-in, Google are marking its 60th anniversary with a Doodle created by Los Angeles artist Karen Collins of the African American Miniature Museum.

“Creating art honouring the Greensboro sit-in (and the Civil Rights Movement it was part of) is my way of giving back to today’s generation, especially to those who are in desperate times and troubles – to lift them up and teach them about their history,” Ms Collins said.


Saturday Marks 60th Anniversary of Historic Greensboro Four Sit-In

JAN 31, 2020


Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the Greensboro Four sit-in protest at the lunch counter at Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. On February 1, 1960, four freshmen students at North Carolina’s A&T State University — Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond — refused to leave the whites-only lunch counter after being denied service. Their action inspired a nationwide wave of sit-ins aimed at desegregating businesses and public spaces. Within weeks of their action, sit-in protests spread to over 250 cities and towns across the country, sparking a nationwide movement that saw more than 400 protests by the end of the year.
TOPICS:
Civil Rights

Race in America