USC’s president agrees to step down amid growing outrage over scandals

He agrees to step down amid growing outrage over allegations that the school’s former gynecologist had molested students for many years

The president of the University of Southern California agreed to step down, the school’s board of trustees announced Friday night, amid growing outrage over allegations that the school’s former gynecologist had molested students for many years.

C.L. Max Nikias has led USC since 2010, pushing the private research university to more global ambitions, higher academic prestige and considerable fundraising prowess.

But in the past year, scandals – and the way the administration handled them – came to overshadow his successes, and led to a torrent of calls for his resignation.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that the university had let a gynecologist at the school’s health clinic continue to treat students for years despite complaints about his behaviour.

Within days, hundreds of women said that they had been victimised by George Tyndall, who had been a doctor there for more than 30 years.

Multiple lawsuits were filed, claiming that Tyndall repeatedly sexually abused patients and that the university did not act on complaints.

Tyndall could not be reached for comment, but he defended his exams as medically appropriate in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week.

He was placed on administrative leave in 2016 and later reached a separation agreement with the university, according to USC officials.

John Manly, an lawyer who is representing more than 80 women in lawsuits against USC, has compared the university’s response to complaints about Tyndall to the way Michigan State University leaders responded to women saying they had been molested by Larry Nassar, who had been a doctor there.

Manly was the lead lawyer in a US$500 million settlement reached with Michigan State last week.

The university’s Academic Senate formally asked for Nikias’ resignation Wednesday, more than 8,000 people signed an online petition of alumni demanding USC “hold administrators responsible for supporting sexual predators,” more than 4,000 people signed another online petition calling for Nikias’ resignation, and student leaders demanded answers.

Hilary Schor, a professor of English and law at USC and an author of the letter sent by faculty, said Saturday she was thrilled the board listened to the voices of concern about Nikias. “I think that he really failed to understand the depth of the charges,” the horror felt by many in the campus community and the pervasive sense that their trust in the university had been betrayed, she said.

Schor praised Nikias’ achievements in fundraising, building new programmes; taking the university onto the global stage; encouraging entrepreneurial vision; holding the values of the arts, humanities and sciences in high esteem; and committing the university to combat social problems.

“That kind of vision is rare. His skill in telling the story of USC and attracting donors and faculty is remarkable,” Schor said. “. . . But I fear the university, in its quest for rankings and its quest for prestige has left behind some of its moral values – and this is a wake-up call for all of us. You cannot be a great teaching and research university without being a place of morality and justice for all. ”

http:// www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2147967/uscs-president-agrees-step-down-amid-growing-outrage

Vladimir Putin and Shinzo Abe discuss Kuril Islands and peace treaty

The dispute concerning the four islands has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending second world war hostilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in Moscow on Saturday for talks that included resolving a dispute over four Pacific islands and eventually signing a peace treaty.

Abe has been pushing for a way forward in the dispute that centres on the four most southern of the Kuril Islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories.

The Soviet Union took the islands in the closing days of second world war.

The dispute has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending second world war hostilities.

Japan is seeking to implement joint business projects on the Kuril Islands as a way to gain momentum to resolve the dispute.

“The Japanese and the Russians will be able to reap the fruits of the joint work on the islands,” Abe said. “If we cooperate, we can achieve great results that bring mutual benefit.”

Putin said after the meeting that a Japanese business delegation would visit the islands this year.

http:// www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2147961/vladimir-putin-and-shinzo-abe-discuss-kuril-islands-and-peace

>>1553239

I believe it stays with the Russian's, the real story here is the burying of the hatchet, and moving forward for the benefit of both countries. Trump effect??

North Korea's Kim Jong Un committed to denuclearisation and ending Korean war: Moon Jae In

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reiterated his strong commitment to denuclearisation and his willingness to meet United States President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae In said on Sunday (May 27).

In a televised speech that came a day after his surprise second summit with Mr Kim, Mr Moon said the two of them agreed that the US-North Korea summit slated for June 12 in Singapore “must be successfully held”.

The two leaders also agreed to cooperate closely and work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace, Mr Moon added.

During their two-hour meeting held at North Korea’s side of the truce village of Panmunjom, Mr Moon said Mr Kim agreed with him on the need to have direct communication with Washington to remove misunderstanding between them, and to have sufficient dialogue ahead of the June 12 summit.

“(Mr Kim) also voiced intentions to end the history of war and confrontation through the success of the North-US summit and to cooperate for peace and prosperity,” Mr Moon said.

What’s uncertain to Mr Kim is US intentions, according to Mr Moon.

“Mr Kim has firm intentions towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and he reiterated it yesterday (Saturday). What he’s uncertain about is whether Washington would end its hostile policy and guarantee the security of his regime after denuclearisation,” Mr Moon told reporters.

Mr Moon called for the opening of a hotline between Mr Kim and Mr Trump.

The South Korean President also voiced hopes to hold a trilateral meeting after the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, to discuss a formal end to the Korean War. The war was halted in 1953 by the signing of an armistice, which was never replaced with a peace treaty.

Mr Moon said high-level inter-Korea talks have been scheduled for June 1, and both sides will also hold military talks and Red Cross talks to discuss holding a reunion for families separated by war.

The two leaders met for the second time in a month on Saturday, after their historic meeting on April 27 sealed the Panmunjom Declaration promising a new era of peace and collaboration between the two Koreas.

Mr Moon said the second meeting was held after Mr Kim’s request on Friday, which Mr Moon readily accepted. Mr Moon said the second meeting was “like one between friends”, and he stressed the importance of the two Koreas engaging in more of such direct communication.

Mr Moon also said he and Mr Kim agreed to meet and talk in person whenever necessary.

Shortly before Mr Moon’s speech, Mr Trump announced that the June 12 summit “has not changed”.

Meanwhile, a senior South Korean official said on Sunday that North and South Korea are discussing a possible non-aggression pledge by the United States to the North and a start of peace treaty talks to address Pyongyang’s security concerns before a North Korea-US summit.

“For the success of the North Korea-US summit, we’re exploring various ways of clearing North Korea’s security concerns at the working level,” the senior South Korean presidential official told reporters.

“That includes an end to hostile relations, (a) mutual non-aggression pledge, a launch of peace treaty talks to replace the current armistice,” the official said, reported Reuters.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/south-koreas-moon-hopes-trump-kim-summit-goes-ahead-as-planned

>>1553408

Agreed, but I also had another thought. What if Trump stepped back purposefully to allow the 2 Korea's to save face with their citizens, seemed to me that as soon as the Nobel was discussed, things took the appearance of a slide downward, What if Trump didn't want to take all the credit, What if he really understood how important it was for the leaders of those 2 countries to look strong for the people they serve.

>>1553465

I think I hear a new meme of sorts, Trump Effect

>>1553483

Exactly what I was thinking! You stated it so much better than I, kek

US sanctions on Venezuela to continue: Pence

United States sanctions on Venezuela will continue, Vice-President Mike Pence said on Saturday (May 26), despite the release of an American and his wife from a Venezuelan jail.

"Very glad that Josh Holt is now back home with his family - where he has always belonged. Sanctions continue until democracy returns to Venezuela," Mr Pence said in a tweet.

He was commenting after Mr Holt, 26, and his wife, Ms Thamara Caleno, landed in Washington after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered their release after two years.

It was a "gesture" aimed at promoting dialogue between Caracas and Washington, Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez told reporters in Caracas.

Mr Holt, a 26-year-old Mormon missionary from Utah, had travelled to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry Thamara, whom he had met on the Internet.

Shortly after they wed, however, the couple was arrested by the Venezuelan intelligence service Sebin, and accused of possessing weapons and plotting to destabilise the Maduro government.

After a May 20 election which Washington rejected as a "sham", US President Donald Trump tightened pre-existing sanctions against Mr Maduro's regime.

The White House action would complicate Venezuela's efforts to sell off financial IOUs known as "accounts receivable".

Senior US administration officials said the instruments had been used to garner much-needed revenue for the cash-starved regime.

Washington has previously imposed sanctions on Mr Maduro and his senior aides, and banned US entities from buying any more debt from Caracas or state oil company PDVSA.

Mr Maduro has insisted Venezuela is the victim of an "economic war" waged by the conservative opposition and external powers, including the United States, aimed at toppling him.

Most economists attribute the oil-rich country's economic collapse to years of mismanagement, corruption and a period of sharply lower oil prices.

https:// www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-sanctions-on-venezuela-to-continue- pence

Alan Bean, US astronaut and moonwalker, dies in Houston at 86: NASA

US astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth person to walk on the moon, has died, his family announced in a statement released by Nasa. He was 86 years old.

The moonwalker who went on to become a painter died Saturday in Houston after suddenly falling ill weeks before, the statement said.

He was among the elite group Nasa chose for its third group of astronauts in 1963, having served as a test pilot in the US Navy.

He twice ventured into space, originally in 1969 on the Apollo 12 moon landing mission, and later as commander of the second crew to fly to the first US space station Skylab in 1973.

His second foray outside of Earth’s atmosphere saw Bean log a record-breaking 59-day, 24.4 million-mile flight (39.3 million kilometers).

He retired from Nasa in 1981 to embark on a third career as an artist, creating Apollo-themed paintings textured with lunar boot prints or using acrylics infused with small bits of his mission patches sprinkled with moon dust.

Fellow astronaut Harrison Schmitt called Bean "one of the great renaissance men of his generation - engineer, fighter pilot, astronaut and artist."

Born March 15, 1932 in Wheeler, Texas the future moonwalker earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955.

He is survived by his wife, sister and two children from a prior marriage. Walt Cunningham, who flew on Apollo 7 and called Bean his best friend of 55 years, said "we are accustomed to losing friends in our business but this is a tough one."

"Alan and I never missed a month where we did not have a cheeseburger."

In 1994 Bean told The New York Times the otherworldly perspectives he got in space inspired him to devote the latter half of his life to art, to the surprise of many of his colleagues.

"Every artist has the Earth or their imaginations to inspire their paintings,” he said. “I’ve got the Earth and my imagination, and I’m the first to have the moon, too.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/alan-bean-us-astronaut-and-moonwalker-dies-in-houston-at-86-nasa

>>1553622

Anon, I like the way you think!! That's a great view.