Lesbian Firefighter Prevails in Court After Having Brain Matter Flung at Her
Providence, R.I., firefighter Lori Franchina’s colleagues spit on her, threw an injured person’s blood and brain matter at her, and committed other shocking acts of harassment..
UK Firms Will Move Abroad If Brexit Trade Deal Not Agreed Soon, Lords Warn
UK firms will begin to activate their ‘Brexit contingency plans’ and move abroad if a trade deal with the EU is not agreed soon, a House of Lords committee has warned.
In their latest report, members of the EU financial affairs committee say both Britain and Europe risk market fragmentation and financial instability if they can’t agree a deal on market access once the UK has left the bloc.
Peers have called on the government to clarify what outcome it wants from phase two of Brexit negotiations and on transitional arrangements post-March 2019, or face companies putting in place “costly and potentially irreversible” contingency plans.
Committee chair and Lib Dem Baroness Falkner of Margravine said: “There is a risk of market fragmentation and financial instability if the UK loses access to the EU, as well as harm to customers and businesses. The UK’s financial services sector is a global asset and both sides should want it to continue serving clients throughout Europe.
“The financial services sector needs greater clarity from the government about what it wants after Brexit, and it needs it now. A transition period is meaningless without a destination.
“Brexit is an opportunity to tailor the regulatory regime to strengthen the UK’s financial services sector, but the UK must remain committed to the international standards put in place following the financial crisis and continue to shape them to ensure a robust regulatory regime.”
Several firms from a variety of industries, including financiers Goldman Sachs, have warned they are fast-approaching a point when they will have no choice but to leave the UK.
The European Medicines Agency announced late last year that it would move its headquarters from London to Amsterdam.
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said the Lords’ report should act as a “serious warning” to Theresa May’s cabinet following ructions within the Conservative Party this week.
Philip Hammond angered Tory Brexiteers by suggesting Britain and the EU would move only “very modestly” apart after the UK exits the union, but Downing Street insisted the PM still had “full confidence” in the chancellor on Friday.
Cable said: “This is a serious warning from a respected committee. Philip Hammond’s comments this week that the UK and EU economies will diverge only ‘very modestly’ shows he is desperate to reassure the City that nothing is really going to change.
“But obviously things will. Serious business people will, therefore, be assessing their options, including whether or not to relocate to other EU countries.
“The Conservatives must stop their infighting and at least draw up some kind of coherent plan on what they want from Brexit talks.”
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-firms-will-move-abroad-if-brexit-trade-deal-not-agreed-soon-lords-warn_uk_5a6b47b1e4b06e253266efdf
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 Episode 1 | Reaction
Hollywood’s Answer to Accused Men? Make Them Disappear
Vanity Fair scrubbed James Franco from its cover after sexual harassment allegations against him surfaced, but he’s not the only accused predator to vanish from the public eye.
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2018/1/26/hollywoods-answer-accused-men-make-them-disappear
Queer Camaraderie
Local musician Gretchen Phillips speaks at the “Queer Camaraderie” Symposium celebrating the launch of the LGBTQ Studies program at The University of Texas. Lynda Gonzalez for KUT
KJ Apa films ‘Riverdale’ costar Casey Cott in compromising position
“You can’t do that… I’m peeing!”
Gay Journalist Facing Persecution in Uzbekistan Avoids Deportation From Russia
Russia’s Supreme Court has overturned the decision to deport Uzbekistani gay journalist Khudoberdi Nurmatov.
Nurmatov, who writes under the pen name Ali Feruz for the investigative independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, faces torture at the hands of the security services and possibly death if he returns to Uzbekistan.
He has spent the last six months in a detention centre near Moscow. According to MPN News, in 2015, eight people held there opened their veins in protest at the inhumane conditions.
We welcome #Russian Supreme Court ruling not to extradite #journalist Khudoberdi Nurmatov (aka Ali Feruz) to Uzbekistan. We hope he will be released and allowed to travel and work unobstructed very soon t.co/xZEuYUyGuY
— CPJ Eurasia (@CPJ_Eurasia) January 25, 2018
The Moscow Times reports:
A Moscow city court ruled in August to forcibly deport Nurmatov to Uzbekistan, where he holds citizenship, for violating migration law, while his Russian asylum application was turned down by a court in October. The journalist’s supporters say that he risks persecution and torture in Uzbekistan and have launched an international campaign in his defense titled: “We Don’t Have the Right Not to Save Him.”
Russia’s Supreme Court overturned Nurmatov’s deportation order Monday, ruling that his case “had not received the necessary legal evaluation.”
It urged the Moscow City Court to review a letter sent from the German Embassy confirming that Nurbatov has permission to reside in Germany.
The Supreme Court also said that the city court’s indefinite extension of Nurmatov’s stay in a temporary holding facility for foreigners was “an unjustified restriction on his freedom.”
In April last year, the Russian journalist who broke the story regarding Chechnya’s recent crackdown on gay and bisexual men went into hiding following a number of death threats.
The post Gay Journalist Facing Persecution in Uzbekistan Avoids Deportation From Russia appeared first on Towleroad.
Gay Journalist Facing Persecution in Uzbekistan Avoids Deportation From Russia
Grüne machen Weg frei für Robert Habeck als Parteichef
Die Grünen haben auf ihrer außerordentlichen Bundesdelegierten-Konferenz für eine Übergangsfrist von acht Monaten bei einem Wechsel an die Parteispitze gestimmt.
► Schleswig-Holsteins Umweltminister Robert Habeck hatte seine Partei um die Übergangsfrist gebeten.
► Bisher verbietet die Satzung der Partei, neben einem Parteiamt auch ein Regierungsamt auszuführen.
► Eine deutliche Mehrheit der Delegierten stimmte für eine Satzungsänderung, die eine Übergangsfrist von Monaten erlaubt, bis ein Regierungsamt ablegt werden muss.
Besonders der linke Parteiflügel pocht auf die Trennung von Amt und Mandat. Sie gehört zu den wichtigen Grundsätzen der Grünen.
Nun hat Habeck nicht nur Zeit, den Wechsel von Kiel aus zu organisieren, wenn er am Samstag zum Parteichef gewählt werden sollte. Die Abstimmung galt auch als Machtfrage – die Habeck für sich entschieden hat.
Neben Habeck kandidieren die Bundestagsabgeordnete Annalena Baerbock und die niedersächsische Landtags-Fraktionschefin Anja Piel.
“Ich brauche diese acht Monate. Und wenn die nicht durchkommen, dann kann ich morgen nicht kandidieren”, sagte Habeck am Freitagabend beim Bundesparteitag.
Er achte aber auch diejenigen hoch, die dagegen stimmten, da Prinzipientreue Anerkennung verdiene.
Mehr zum Thema: Grünen-Mann Habeck hat eine Abrechnung mit der Berliner Politik geschrieben, die die Republik verändern könnte
Mit Material der dpa.
www.huffingtonpost.de/entry/gruene-robert-habeck-frist-uebergang_de_5a6b9bc2e4b0ddb658c672ac
Dan Jarvis Applies For Labour’s South Yorkshire ‘Metro Mayoralty’ Selection
Former shadow minister Dan Jarvis has applied to become South Yorkshire’s new “metro mayor”, HuffPost UK has been told.
The Barnsley MP, who at one stage was tipped as a future Labour leader, has joined former minister Richard Caborn and local councillor Ben Curran on the list of contenders for his party’s selection contest, party sources said.
The election for the newly-created South Yorkshire mayoralty takes place in May along with other local elections across the country.
Labour, which is expected to win the election in one of its strongest northern heartlands, is set to announce its candidate in March.
But the South Yorkshire post centres on Sheffield and will give little power or money to the new region.
Ex-Para Jarvis has been calling for months for a bigger ‘One Yorkshire’ mayoralty, taking in Leeds, Barnsley and Doncaster as well as Sheffield, and his move will be seen as a stepping stone to ensuring the wider plan gets Government approval.
So far 18 out of 20 Yorkshire councils back the mega-mayoralty idea, which would create a new devolved structure even bigger than Manchester or the West Midlands’ metro mayoralties and make it second only to London in scale.
If all 20 support the plan, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid would be under huge pressure to act.
Although he has formally applied for the South Yorkshire selection, HuffPost understands that Jarvis has not yet decided whether to go ahead with a full-blown candidacy.
When the Thursday 5pm deadline for the selection passed, the only contenders were the three men. The party is understood to be keen on a more gender balanced race and is set to extend the deadline.
Jarvis may not be planning on leaving Parliament even if he opts to go for the current mayoral post.
But his enthusiasm from stronger devolution for Yorkshire follows moves by other former Labour frontbenchers who have all decided their political future lies away from Westminster.
Sadiq Khan in London, Andy Burnham in Manchester and Steve Rotheram in Liverpool all now run substantial metro mayoralties with wide-ranging powers and big budgets.
Although the South Yorkshire mayoralty is in theory a four-year post, there is pressure on Javid to curb its tenure to two years and use it as a stepping stone to a wider mayoralty for the whole county.
Jarvis has been lobbying hard for a ‘One Yorkshire’ mayoralty, leading debates on the topic in the House of Commons and writing a blog for HuffPost on his hopes for a radical devolution settlement for the county.
After Ed Miliband’s disastrous 2015 general election, several MPs and party members urged Jarvis to run for Labour leader.
At the time he explained that his young family came first. He pulled out of the Labour’s interim frontbench team before Jeremy Corbyn was elected and as a result was not one of the shadow ministers involved in the ‘coup’ attempt against the leader in 2016.
He has worked with Corbyn in raising the profile of child poverty in Barnsley.
Jarvis refused to comment on his plans when approached by HuffPost.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dan-jarvis-applies-for-south-yorkshire-metro-mayoralty-one-yorkshire_uk_5a6b9a48e4b0ddb658c67095
Grindr Cleared of Charges in Revenge Rape Case
A New York man said Grindr was partly responsible when his ex-partner allegedly created false profiles on the app and directed men to his home, some seeking violent sex.
www.advocate.com/technology/2018/1/26/grindr-cleared-charges-revenge-rape-case
