Film-makers who targeted Planned Parenthood face charges
26 January 2016
A Texas grand jury has cleared Planned Parenthood of misconduct after the abortion provider was accused of selling foetal body parts for profit.
Instead, the panel charged the film-makers behind the accusations with tampering with government records.
The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) secretly filmed videos that set off an effort to withdraw the Planned Parenthood's federal funding.
CMP founder David Daleiden was also charged with buying human organs.
"We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," said Devon Anderson, the prosecutor who is now in charge of the case.
"As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us."
Sea level rise from ocean warming underestimated, scientists say
Thermal expansion of the oceans as they warm is likely to be twice as large as previously thought, according to German researchers
The amount of sea level rise that comes from the oceans warming and expanding has been underestimated, and could be about twice as much as previously calculated, German researchers have said.
The findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal, suggest that increasingly severe storm surges could be anticipated as a result.
Sea level can mount due to two factors – melting ice and the thermal expansion of water as it warms.
Until now, researchers have believed the oceans rose between 0.7 to 1mm per year due to thermal expansion.
Rescuers watch 31 refugees drown in the Aegean Sea because they feared being charged with people smuggling
Lifesavers were in international waters while the sinking boat was stranded on the Turkish side of the sea
At least 31 refugees drowned in the Aegean Sea while rescue workers looked on unable to help because they feared being charged with people smuggling.
Australian national Simon Lewis says he and a team of rescue workers were sailing in international waters near the Greek island of Lesbos when they spotted a refugee boat in trouble.
On closer inspection the team realised the sinking boat was technically on the Turkish side of the sea, meaning they were unable to get closer than five metres from the desperate men, women and children on board.
Gold rush triggers tensions in Chad
When word got out that gold had been discovered in the Batha region in central Chad, gold diggers came running. They spilled in from all over the country and, in some cases, from neighbouring states as well. But tensions have been flaring between these gold diggers and soldiers sent in to secure the zone.
So far, the gold seems to have brought nothing but unhappiness for the soldiers, the locals and the fortune-seekers hoping for a little luck.
News that gold had been found near the village of Djaya started spreading about two weeks ago. Locals immediately decided to try their hand at gold digging. Soon, gold diggers from all over the country were pouring in, as were people from Sudan to the east and Niger to the west.
But Chadian authorities weren’t happy about this influx of fortune-seekers and, last week, they deployed soldiers to secure the zone. The security forces cordoned off the area around the site of the gold discovery and asked all the diggers to leave, to their dismay. Some had travelled hundreds of miles to try their luck.
Minority Ahmadiyah Muslim group in Indonesia told: convert or be expelled
Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies
Jakarta: A minority Muslim group has been ordered to convert to Sunni Islam or be expelled from Bangka island, off the coast of Sumatra, in the latest religious crackdown in Indonesia.
Ahmadiyah identify as Muslim and follow the teachings of the Koran but regard an Indian preacher, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as a "messiah" who followed the Prophet Muhammad, a belief considered heretical by some Muslims.
In a letter seen by Fairfax Media, Bangka Island's most senior bureaucrat, Fery Insani, says: "The Ahmadiyah congregation are not allowed to spread their religion. Ahmadiyah followers in Srimenanti village must immediately repent in accordance with Islamic sharia that there is no prophet after the prophet Muhammad." He said if they did not abide by this a meeting had decided they must immediately leave Bangka and return to their place of origin.Trial by media? Confessions go prime time in China
Updated 0612 GMT (1412 HKT) January 26, 2016
An influential online commentator caught hiring prostitutes. A prominent journalist detained for allegedly leaking state secrets. And a well-known human rights lawyer accused of leading a criminal syndicate.
These myriad characters have one thing in common: they all have appeared on state-run China Central Television (CCTV) since President Xi Jinping took power three years ago, confessing their alleged crimes in front of a nationwide audience amid public outcries over trumped-up charges.
The latest additions to the growing list were two Swedish citizens: Gui Minhai, a Hong Kong-based book publisher of juicy political gossip about China's Communist leaders including Xi, and Peter Dahlin, who co-founded an organization that provides training and funding to Chinese human rights advocates.
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