WORLD NEWSJANUARY 20, 2019 / 3:48 PM / UPDATED 38 MINUTES AGO

Trump, Erdogan discuss Syria, boosting U.S.-Turkish trade: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. and Turkish presidents agreed to keep pursuing a negotiated settlement for northeastern Syria that meets both countries’ security needs, as well as their mutual interest in expanding U.S.-Turkish trade, the White House said on Sunday.

In a phone call, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed condolences for the death of four U.S. citizens in Manbij, Syria, in a suicide bombing on Wednesday claimed by the Islamic State militant group, while U.S. President Donald Trump stressed “the importance of defeating terrorist elements” in Syria, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a readout of the call.

Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Peter Cooney

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Erdogan: Turkey is ready to take over Syria's Manbij

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria’s Manbij, President Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President Donald Trump in a telephone call on Sunday, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

Erdogan said an attack that left four Americans dead last week in Manbij was an act of provocation aimed at affecting Trump’s decision last month to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

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Trump, Erdogan discuss Syria, boosting U.S.-Turkish trade: White House

Trump, Erdogan discuss Syria, boosting U.S.-Turkish trade: White House

The attack occurred nearly a month after Trump confounded his own national security team with the surprise decision on Dec. 19 to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, declaring Islamic State had been defeated there.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.

Manbij is controlled by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia allied to the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG, which last month invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into the area around the town to forestall a potential Turkish assault.

Ankara deems the YPG terrorists linked to the Kurdish PKK movement that has waged a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.

Erdogan and Trump agreed to accelerate and continue discussions between their chiefs of staff regarding a safe zone in the area, the statement said.

Last week, Trump suggested in a tweet creating a safe zone, without elaborating. The SDF said on Wednesday it was ready to help create the safe zone, as fears grow that the U.S. withdrawal will give Turkey the opportunity to mount a new assault.

Turkey wants the safe zone to be cleared of the Kurdish group.

“We said we won’t let you be here,” Prime Minister Fuat Oktay told broadcaster CNN Turk earlier on Sunday, addressing the PKK. “When we are talking about a safe zone, we talk about one in Turkey’s control.”

(same link)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-usa/trump-erdogan-discuss-syria-boosting-u-s-turkish-trade-white-house-idUSKCN1PE0Y7?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29

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HATE HOAX: Native American Activist Approached Chanting Covington Catholic Teens, Got In Their Face

Native American man told media that teen "just blocked my way and wouldn't allow me to retreat."

Chris Menahan

InformationLiberation

Jan. 19, 2019

The viral Twitter posts claiming a group of Covington Catholic teenagers aggressively "surrounded" a Native American man on Friday and "mocked," "harassed" and "threatened" him is officially the biggest hate hoax of 2019.

An out-of-context video showing one teenager standing still and smiling (with other students around him singing a school chant) while Native American activist Nathan Phillips bangs a drum and chants in his face went viral on Twitter on Saturday, quickly amassing over 5 million views.

The story was picked up by hundreds of news outlets – without a hint of skepticism – who portrayed the kids as evil racists.

***"They were in the process of attacking these four black individuals," Phillip told The Detroit Free Press. "I was there and I was witnessing all of this … As this kept on going on and escalating, it just got to a point where you do something or you walk away, you know? You see something that is wrong and you're faced with that choice of right or wrong."

"There was that moment when I realized I've put myself between beast and prey," Phillips said. "These young men were beastly and these old black individuals was their prey, and I stood in between them and so they needed their pounds of flesh and they were looking at me for that."

As the Free Press reports: "Phillips said he recalled 'the looks in these young men's faces … I mean, if you go back and look at the lynchings that was done (in America) …and you'd see the faces on the people … The glee and the hatred in their faces, that's what these faces looked like.'"

Phillips told CNN he feared the teens may "rip him apart" and "spring" on him:

Newly released video shows it was Phillips who approached the teenagers as they were happily chanting their school's various anthems on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial while getting ready to leave after the March For Life rally finished.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=59696&fbclid=IwAR0rwwl2MGgmjFPhWuZRi-yf9V5ONVA1z2MUZs7WwfqzoxzK9bVUBWciTnI

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1086839064622497792

German mayor slams all-male charity event for refusing to invite her

Bremen's Eiswette charity event refused to invite Bremen's substitute mayor because she is a woman. The president of the men's club said "even the pope wouldn't have been invited if he were a woman."

Men attend the Eiswettefest charity dinner in Bremen, Germany (picture-alliance/dpa/M. Assanimoghaddam)

An all-male club in the northern city-state of Bremen caused a stir over the weekend when it left a major name off its invite list for a charity event — because she was a woman.

Karoline Linnert, who is the finance senator and one of the city's mayors, was not invited to take part in Bremen's annual "Eiswette" ("ice bet") even though she is the designated representative for Bremen's primary mayor, Senate President Carsten Sieling.

Sieling couldn't attend the event on Saturday because he was in Poland attending the funeral of Pawel Adamowicz, the recently murdered mayor of Gdansk.

"The gentlemen of the Eiswette place great emphasis on etiquette. But protocol suddenly doesn't play a role any more when — horror of horrors — the official substitute for the [male] mayor of Bremen is actually the [female] mayor of Bremen," Linnert wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Bremen mayor Karoline Linnert (picture-alliance/dpa/C. Jaspersen)

Karoline Linnert criticized the club for discriminating against women "under the guise of tradition"

Since 1829, the men's club in charge of the Eiswette takes bets in January on whether or not the local Weser River has frozen or not.

The event culminates in a charity dinner which collects money to donate to the German Maritime Search and Rescue Association (DGzRS).

All-men club dismisses 'gender-gaga'

Federal ministers and diplomats are among the hundreds of attendees at the dinner, who are required to be dressed in smoking jackets.

"We're celebrating 100 years of women's suffrage in Germany — and the Eiswette still believes it is right to exclude women under the guise of tradition," Linnert wrote.

Bremen's interior senator, Ulrich Mäurer, declined to attend the event in solidarity with Linnert.

Prior to Saturday's charity event, the president of the club dismissed criticism over the decision.

"We are a gentlemen's club and don't participate in this gender-gaga," club head Patrick Wendisch told the German daily Bild.

"Even the pope wouldn't have been invited if he were a woman," he added.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-mayor-slams-all-male-charity-event-for-refusing-to-invite-her/a-47160580

Stonewall 100: MI5 and law firm among 'best LGBT employers'

By Michael Baggs

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

MI5, a law firm, a fire brigade and the Welsh government are among the best LGBT employers in the UK, according to Stonewall.

Solicitors Pinsent Masons is number one in a list of the top 100 companies for 2019, says the LGBT charity.

Several universities, the British Army, Lloyds Bank and homeless charity St Mungo's also feature.

Stonewall says LGBT-inclusive employers play a "crucial role in changing society".

Its executive director Darren Towers says Pinsent Mansons is "leading the way, championing lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality in the workplace".

"They know that helping staff feel that they can bring their full selves to work doesn't just make a huge difference to individual team members - it makes real business sense too."

'You're happier, you stay longer'

Image copyrightFINLAY FRASER

Image caption

Lawyer Finlay Fraser works for Pinsent Masons

Stonewall says the law firm topped the list because of its inclusive policies, attitudes towards transgender staff and visitors, and involvement in campaigns - including marriage equality in Northern Ireland.

"When you are able to bring your whole self to work, you are more productive, you're happier and you stay longer," says 27-year-old lawyer Finlay Fraser, who's LGBT and works at Pinsent Masons.

"A goal for me is to be as authentic as I can be and I definitely feel like I am where I work."

Finlay believes the reason the company is number one is because of its diverse workforce and the support and understanding it has for its staff.

"A person who is LGBT and BAME is going to have a different experience than someone who is white and LGBT," he says.

"This company does a lot of work recognising that those two groups will have different experiences.

"It creates an environment where employees from diverse backgrounds want to work."

'We've got rainbow flags flying'

Image copyright CHESHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

Image caption

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service came fourth last year but have now jumped to third

As well as Pinsent Masons, the other companies which make the top five are Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, MI5, the National Assembly for Wales and law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.

Cheshire's fire brigade - which is third - was recognised for its support networks and the work it does with LGBT people in the community.

"There are a lot of factors, particularly among older LGBT people that in theory put them at more risk of fire," says Mark Shone, who works in community safety.

"They're more likely to live alone, perhaps have mental health issues, more likely to be affected by substance misuse and they're all factors that make you at risk of fire.

"We've done a lot of work to trying to map where those people are and engage them in community safety."

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A 2018 survey by Stonewall found that more than a third of LGBT staff had hidden they were LGBT at work for fear of discrimination.

Darren Towers adds: "We know that people perform better when they can be themselves. They are more productive, creative and overall, morale is better.

"This is the kind of workforce employers should want and it happens when people are in a workplace where they feel supported and included."

Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46918549

I apologize I don't mean to insult any individual but there are few world issues today that make me rage more than this flaming fagot movement the NWO Globalists started feeding into society, soy, vaccinations that make women infertile in their attempt to de populate ….and we have to have flaming fagots waving their naked painted bodies and rude attachments, their fuck you in our face attitude PISSES ME OFF TO NO END, FUCKING BASTARDS HAVE BROUGHT DEPREAVITY TO THE MOST INTIMATE, SACRED SHARED THING BETWEEN

A FUCKING WOMAN AND MAN AND HETERO SEXUALS DON;T GO AROUND IN PARADES RUBBING THEIR PRIVATE INTIMATE SHARED LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER IN OTHER PEOPLES FACES.

KEEP IT TO YOURSELF I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE FUCKING ANYMORE THAN I WOULD ENGAGE IN THOUGHTS OF COWORKERS OR?????

Wealth inequality growing due to tax system, fueling global anger: Oxfam report

Tax systems that put a high burden on the poor mean public services are underfunded, stretching the gap between rich and poor and fueling global public anger, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said on Monday.

READ MORE: Rise of income inequality in Canada ‘almost exclusive’ to major cities: study

The Nairobi-headquarted charity said in a report that a new billionaire was created every two days last year, just as the poorest half of the world’s population saw their wealth decline by 11 per cent.

The report, released on Monday as political and business leaders gather for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said governments are increasingly underfunding public services and failing to clamp down on tax dodging.

“Poor people suffer twice from being deprived of basic services and also paying a higher burden of taxation,” Byanyima said in an interview.

WATCH: Trudeau empathizes with G20 protesters over economic inequality

(Video in document)

Billionaire fortunes increased by 12 per cent last year, or $2.5 billion a day, while the 3.8 billion poorest people saw their wealth drop $500 million every day, Byanyima added.

The charity said tax rates for the rich and corporations had been cut in recent decades. And when governments fail to tax the wealthy, they pass the tax burden on to poor people through consumer levies like value-added tax, Byanyima said.

“An indirect tax like that, that taxes salt, sugar or soap, the basics that people need … then poor people pay relatively more out of their income than rich people,” she said.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4869278/inequality-growing-oxfam-report/

Filipino Muslims vote in referendum on autonomous region

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MANILA, Philippines — Jan 20, 2019, 7:59 PM ET

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Muslims in the southern Philippines voted Monday in a referendum on a new autonomous region that seeks to end nearly half a century of unrest, in what their leaders are touting as the best alternative to a new wave of Islamic State group-inspired militants.

The vote caps a tumultuous peace effort by the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main rebel group, to seal a deal that was signed in 2014 but languished in the Philippine Congress until it was finally approved last year. Bloodshed including the siege of Marawi city by IS-linked militants and other bombings and attacks in the south threatened to derail it.

Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro rebels, has repeatedly said that the creation of a viable Muslim autonomous region is the best antidote to about half a dozen smaller IS-linked radical groups that remain a threat in Mindanao, the homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation.

"We can roughly conclude that all these splinter groups are a result of the frustration with the peace process," Murad said in July, when President Rodrigo Duterte signed the legislation creating the new region, called Bangsamoro.

Under the deal, the rebels gave up their goal of an independent state in exchange for broad autonomy, although they originally wanted a federal unit with more powers. Their 30,000 to 40,000 fighters are to be demobilized. Murad has appealed to the international community to contribute to a trust fund to be used to finance the insurgents' transition from decades of waging one of Asia's longest rebellions.

Centuries of conquest — first by Spanish and American colonial forces that had ruled the Philippine archipelago followed by Filipino Christian settlers — have gradually turned Muslims into a minority group in Mindanao, triggering conflict over land, resources and sharing of political power. Uprisings seeking self-rule have been brutally suppressed, feeding more resentment. Insecurity is fueled by proliferation of weapons and armed groups that have resorted to ransom kidnappings and extortion for survival, such as the brutal Abu Sayyaf, which is not part of any peace process.

Bangsamoro replaces an existing poverty-wracked autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful entity. An annual grant, estimated at $1.3 billion, is to be set aside to bolster development.

Western governments have welcomed the autonomy pact. They worry that small numbers of IS-linked militants from the Middle East and Southeast Asia could forge an alliance with Filipino insurgents and turn the south into a breeding ground for extremists.

In 2017, Philippine troops backed by U.S. and Australian surveillance aircraft routed the militants who occupied Marawi for five months in battles that left more than 1,200 people, mostly Islamic fighters, dead and the mosque-studded city in ruins. Overall, the conflict has left about 150,000 people dead over several decades and stunted development in the resource-rich but underdeveloped southern region that is the country's poorest.

The Commission on Elections said it has printed 2.1 million ballots for the plebiscite. Results are expected no later than Jan. 26. If the measure is approved, a second referendum on Feb. 6 will ask residents of Lanao del Norte province and seven towns in North Cotabato province with a sizeable Muslim population to decide whether they want to join the new region as well.

Possible pitfalls include petitions to the Supreme Court to strike down the autonomy deal.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/filipino-muslims-vote-autonomy-deal-southern-region-60512769

Thousands of caravan migrants request temporary asylum in Mexico; some try returning to US

Thousands of Central American migrants, many of them from Honduras, are taking Mexico up on its offer of temporary asylum and work visas.

Mexican immigration officials said Sunday that 3,691 people associated with various migrant caravans have registered for temporary status in the country, and the number is expected to grow as more people arrive at the border with Guatemala.

Meanwhile, local officials in the southern town of Huixtla provided several buses to transport some of the more than 2,000 migrants on the next stage of their journey towards Tijuana. Others weren’t so lucky and pressed on in blistering 90-degree heat.

TRUMP OFFERS IMMIGRATION COMPROMISE TO END PARTIAL SHUTDOWN

Mexico has promised to allow migrants through the border crossing as long as they are orderly, and the country's new government has agreed to house third-country asylum-seekers while their claims are heard in the United States. The caravan is estimated to contain 1,800 people, including about 100 from El Salvador.

TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION OFFER BRINGS SHARP REACTIONS FROM DEMS AND GOP

One migrant from Honduras told Fox News on Sunday that he was in the first caravan that reached the U.S.-Mexico border last October. The man said he made it to San Diego illegally, was caught and deported.

Another migrant named “Alex,” who previously received protection under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, told Fox News he grew up in Indiana after being brought to the U.S. from El Salvador as an infant. Alex said he received a letter nine months ago, after he turned 18, informing him that his DACA status was expiring and that he had 24 days to return to El Salvador or face prosecution.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Alex told Fox News he did’t know what to do as he watched the ongoing battle over immigration policy play out in Washington.

“I just want to get back to the life I had," he said. "It's all I know."

Also Sunday, a second caravan set out in the morning from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the same location from which the current caravan originated last week. Local reports said that caravan had more than 1,000 people in it.

The second caravan's departure coincided with calls for a week-long national strike in Honduras to protest the policies of the country's president, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/thousands-of-caravan-migrants-request-temporary-asylum-in-mexico-some-try-returning-to-us?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20foxnews%2Fworld%20%28Internal%20-%20World%20Latest%20-%20Text%29

Toddler 'surrenders' to armed police1:19

Shocking footage shows a barefoot toddler walking towards armed Florida cops with her hands up in the air during an arrest - but there's more to the story thanks to new vision provided by police.

January 21st 2019

https://www.news.com.au/video/id-5348771529001-5991734747001/toddler-surrenders-to-armed-police

kids that put their parents at risk. geeze honestly KEK short video in article