New Zealand’s parliament passed legislation Wednesday granting paid leave to domestic violence victims, with supporters calling it a groundbreaking measure to help those trying to escape abusive relationships.
Green Party lawmaker Jan Logie, said granting victims 10 days of extra leave a year would allow them to “stop the violence and get help without worrying about losing their jobs.”
“This is a win for victims, a win for employers, and a win for society,” Logie said, describing the move as a “world first” after parliament approved the bill by 63 votes to 57.
It is the first western country to introduce nationwide paid domestic violence leave. The Philippines in 2004 granted 10 days of paid leave to those suffering domestic violence.
Australia’s Fair Work Commission in March voted to allow five days of unpaid leave for domestic abuse victims, but a labour union push to match the New Zealand proposal was rejected.
Official data shows New Zealand has one of the highest domestic violence rates in the developed world, with family homicide rates more than twice those of Australia, Canada and Britain on a per capita basis.
Logie, part of a progressive coalition government elected last year, said intervention aimed at helping domestic violence victims often came too late.
“We wait until things get really bad or someone gets killed and then we wring our hands,” she said.
Logie said the leave entitlement would give those seeking to escape violent relationships time to perform practical tasks such as attending court dates, moving house and settling children in new schools.
The conservative opposition National Party opposed the legislation, saying it was well intentioned but could affect victims’ chances of getting a job.
“Employers will start to filter and look at whether or not they want to hire someone that may present a risk around domestic violence because ultimately it could impact on their business,” National’s justice spokesman Mark Mitchell told Newshub.
New Zealand has a track record of being progressive on women’s issues — in 1893 it became the first country to give women the right to vote.
Source
AFP
More than two dozen Central Park raccoons have died in an ongoing viral outbreak that causes “zombie” behavior in the critters, authorities determined.
Of 26 raccoons found dead inside the park since June 24, two tested positive for the canine distemper virus, which doesn’t affect humans but can spread to unvaccinated dogs, officials with the city Health and Parks departments revealed on Saturday. The other 24 are believed to be infected by distemper because their deaths were clustered in such a short time and area.
The latest raccoon corpse was found at East 106th Street and East Drive on Saturday morning.
Parks staff also have witnessed distemper symptoms in living raccoons. “They looked like they were circulating, wandering, having spasms,” said Dr. Sally Slavinski, an assistant director at the Health Department. “Some of the raccoons had some sort of nasal discharge.”
Raccoons with distemper act strange — appearing tame or confused before losing their coordination, becoming unconscious and sometimes dying. They can also get aggressive.
None of the raccoons have tested positive for rabies so far. Once authorities ruled out that deadly virus, they sent samples from two dead raccoons to a state lab. The city found out Friday that they were dealing with distemper.
While officials stressed humans can’t contract the disease, dog owners in Central Park were alarmed Saturday when told of the outbreak.
“Now I’m freaked out. Holy moly!” said Upper East Sider Bob Cucurullo, 40, with his beagle terrier Charlie. “He sees a raccoon once a week, and he goes nuts after it. Now I’ll have to be careful where I let him go.”
Most dogs are vaccinated for distemper. The city mandates all dogs and cats get the rabies vaccine, but distemper immunization is only required if pups are going to a boarding or grooming facility.
Distemper spreads when animals make contact with infected saliva, urine, feces or respiratory discharge. Central Park skunks can get the virus. So can coyotes, foxes, ferrets and exotic large cats, like the snow leopards at the Central Park Zoo.
Before last week, most people didn’t know who Sophie Brussaux was. The alleged baby mama to Drake’s so-called secret son became a hot commodity this week after Pusha T brought her up on his diss track “The Story Of Adidon.” But once people found out that she was a porn star, who also went by Rosee Divine, that’s when they really got intrigued.
In fact, sources tell TMZ that popular porn site Pornhub saw a huge increase in search results for Sophie. To give you a comparison, before Pusha’s song dropped, Sophie was searched just 44 times a day, while her alias name, Rosee Divine, was being searched 228 times a day. But once she became known as Drake’s baby mama, her name was searched 513,7660 times, while Rosee Divine was searched 256,374 times.
This spike in searches isn’t a rare occurrence though. Back in March, Stormi Daniels saw a similar spike after she talked about Donald Trump & their sexual relationship on a special 60 Minutes interview. The same thing could be said for Aubrey O’Day as well.
This new surge of attention has Sophie getting a break of sorts. Sources say she’s thinking about dabbling into reality TV now and also getting better adult film offers.
CHERYL'S BEDDING We deal on quality bedspreads and Duvet - Nationwide Delivery
CHERYL'S BEDDING We deal on quality bedspreads and Duvet - Nationwide Delivery
At least 40 people were killed and 23 injured when a Bangladeshi plane crashed and burst into flames near Kathmandu airport on Monday, in the worst aviation disaster to hit Nepal in years.
Officials said there were 71 people on board the US-Bangla Airlines plane from Dhaka when it crashed into a football field near the airport.
Rescuers had to cut apart the mangled and burned wreckage of the aircraft to pull people out.
“Thirty-one people died at the spot and nine died at two hospitals in Kathmandu,” police spokesman Manoj Neupane told AFP, adding another 23 were injured.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but a statement from airport authorities said the plane was “out of control” as it came in to land.
Eye witnesses said the plane crashed as it made a second attempt to land.
Nepal Army spokesman Gokul Bhandaree said seven of the victims had survived the impact but later died of their injuries.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football pitch where the plane crashed, to the east of the runway at Nepal’s only international airport, in the capital Kathmandu.
Airline spokesman Kamrul Islam, told AFP 33 of the passengers were Nepali, 32 were Bangladeshi, one was Chinese and one from the Maldives.
The plane was a Canadian-made Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop, Mahbubur Rahman of Bangladesh’s civil aviation ministry told AFP. Other sources said the aircraft was 17 years old.
“There might be technical problems on the aircraft. But it has to be probed before making a final statement,” Rahman told AFP.
Kathmandu briefly closed after the accident, forcing inbound flights to divert, but it has since reopened.
US-Bangla Airlines is a private carrier that launched in July 2014 with the motto “Fly Fast Fly Safe”, according to its website.
The Dhaka-based airline made its first international flight in May 2016 to Kathmandu, and has since expanded with routes to South Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
In 2015 one of its planes overshot the runway on landing at Saidpur in northwest Bangladesh. There were no reports of injuries.
Nepal has suffered a number of air disasters in recent years, dealing a blow to its tourist industry.
Its poor air safety record has been blamed largely on inadequate maintenance, inexperienced pilots and substandard management.
In early 2016, a Twin Otter turboprop aircraft slammed into a mountainside in Nepal killing all 23 people on board.
Two days later, two pilots were killed when a small passenger plane crash-landed in the country’s hilly midwest.
Zambia is waging a fierce campaign against sex dolls, threatening offenders with heavy jail terms over the dolls which, it says, are “very unnatural”. The government launched the crackdown on the sex toys last month.
The action has propelled the issue of sex dolls to the top of the news agenda and made them a hot topic of conversation and debate on social media, dividing opinion in the largely conservative southern African country.
“No one sells them openly, no one admits to owning one, and no one has been arrested,’’ report said.
“Being a Christian nation, obviously we are anchored in Christian principles and one of the values is morality and ethics,” Minister of National Guidance and Religious Affairs Godfridah Sumaili, said.
Selling or using a sex doll is against Zambian law, she said, vowing to ensure they are not bought on the internet and imported.
“The use of sex dolls is definitely in contradiction to our natural heritage and our principles,” Sumaili added.
“The law actually forbids anybody to trade (in) and to use such objects — and so this is why we are saying for Zambians that this is a very unnatural thing.”
The minister said the ban was necessary after media reports emerged of sex dolls being imported into Zambia, apparently from Asia. Police are investigating, she added.
In recent months, Zambia’s independent and semi-official press have devoted many column inches to reports of sex shops popping up around the capital Lusaka selling sex dolls, as well as chronicling the backlash.
“God created man and woman for sexual satisfaction — but for a man or woman to use a lifeless object is immoral,” Sumaili said.
“Let’s not import foreign beliefs and experiences. Let us just believe in what we are.”
The manufacture of sex dolls has become increasingly sophisticated, with China developing custom-made “smart” dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers.
Sex dolls’ inventors say they can cure loneliness and help elderly men who lack female companionship.
In Zambia, the dolls made of silicone were reportedly in a variety of shapes and shades, but could not be found in any shops.
Source
NAN
CBS and Sony Pictures Television are facing a $30 million breach-of-contract lawsuit for allegedly failing to pay agreed-upon profits from the hit 1990s series Walker, Texas Ranger to its star Chuck Norris. The lawsuit (read it here), filed Tuesday by Norris’ Top Kick Productions in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that CBS has failed to pay Norris via Top Kick, 23% “of the profits earned from any, and all, exploitation of Walker,” effective when CBS agreed to become…
CBS and Sony Pictures Television are facing a $30 million breach-of-contract lawsuit for allegedly failing to pay agreed-upon profits from the hit 1990s series Walker, Texas Ranger to its star Chuck Norris.
The lawsuit (read it here), filed Tuesday by Norris’ Top Kick Productions in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that CBS has failed to pay Norris via Top Kick, 23% “of the profits earned from any, and all, exploitation of Walker,” effective when CBS agreed to become the primary distributor of the series.
“Instead, CBS and Sony materially breached the contractual duties they owed to Mr. Norris and his company Top Kick,” the lawsuit alleges. “Specifically, the Defendants have consciously sought to market, sell and distribute Walker in ways that are designed to collect significant fees and revenues from the ongoing exploitation of Walker but without having to honor or pay Top Kick, and to instead materially breach the 23 Percent Profit Clause.”
In the suit, Top Kick alleges that “CBS was among the networks that were fully aware of Chuck Norris’ success, history, brand and image, which resulted in CBS agreeing to become the primary distributor of Walker.”
The suit says the defendants breached this implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by, among other things, failing to account for and failing to pay Top Kick’s required revenue. In addition, the “Defendants have rejected, ignored and failed to consider offers from third parties who were willing to pay a premium license fee for Walker, because Defendants preferred to self-deal by negotiating special licensing deals, with minimal fees, with their own networks. This has cost Top Kick millions of dollars in past and future license fees.”
Deadline has reached out to CBS for comment.
Walker, Texas Ranger, starring Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division, aired for eight seasons on CBS from 1993-2001. The series has been broadcast in more than 100 countries and spawned the 2005 made-for-television movie Trial by Fire.
Attorneys Mark D. Baute and Scott J. Street of Baute Crochetiere & Hartley LLP in Los Angeles are representing Norris and Top Kick in the lawsuit.
Source
Yahoo News!
A homeless man froze to death within months of being evicted from his home of around 20 years. Anthony Barnard, 57, was found dead in the garden of his old house in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on December 28.
Police had raised concerns for his welfare to the ambulance service at 3.46pm the previous day, but it was categorised by the service as a non-emergency call not requiring a response.
After a 999 call to the ambulance service at 10.33am on December 28, Mr Barnard was found dead outside the house in Priors Close.
Andrew McTear, who was dealing with Mr Barnard’s bankruptcy, said that he was made bankrupt in September 2016 and was evicted from his home on September 2017.
‘He wouldn’t have had access to the house itself,’ he said. ‘I think you could get into the back garden by a side path.’
McTear added that he didn’t know where Mr Barnard had been staying since his eviction.
The East of England Ambulance Service said the incident was being ‘formally investigated’ by the trust.
Suffolk Police said they have made a ‘mandatory referral’ to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which will conduct an independent investigation.
An IOPC spokesman said: ‘The matter was referred to us because previous concerns for the man’s welfare had been raised with Suffolk Police. Our investigation will examine the call handling and police response to these calls.’
An ambulance service spokesman said the call from police on December 27 was of a ‘report of concerns for a man who was conscious and breathing and sitting outside at an address in Lowestoft’.
The spokesman continued: ‘We were informed he had no obvious injuries or medical complaint and following triage, the call was categorised as a non-emergency call not requiring a response.’
The call the following day, to the same address in Priors Close, was a ‘report of a man who was not breathing and was in cardiac arrest’.
A paramedic in a rapid response vehicle attended in eight minutes followed by another rapid response vehicle and ambulance officer, the trust said, but the patient was confirmed to have died.
‘This case is being formally investigated by the trust and our findings will be reported back to the family in due course,’ the spokesman said.
A file is being prepared for the Suffolk coroner, with an inquest to be opened and adjourned at a later date.
The human body is amazing, but unfortunately, some of Mother Nature’s quirks can blight people’s lives. While a lot of people are born with a birthmark, few know what it’s like to have a large proportion of their face covered by a huge mole.
But one person who does is 23-year-old Xiao Yan, who has been forced to have four egg-sized balloons inserted into her face.
Xiao has a rare genetic condition known as a congenital melanocytic nevus, which affects one percent of all babies in the world.
Growing up, she accepted that her face was always going to be different, but doctors began to fear for her health when she complained that the mole was hurting – something which indicated that it had the potential to turn into a malignant tumor in the future.
Doctors subsequently told the 23-year-old and her family that they had to take action before it was too late.
However, the treatment that removing the mole involved, which is taking place at the Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital in eastern China, meant that Xiao’s condition had to deteriorate to get better.
In order to save Xiao’s life, doctors inserted egg-sized balloons into her face so that her skin can be stretched enough to successfully remove it. This is being done so that the area removed by the mole can be replaced with skin from elsewhere on her face.
Xiao, who is from the rural village of Longjing in Guizhou province in south-western China, said that the mole has blighted much of her adult life.
“Despite the big black mole on my face, I enjoyed my childhood playing with my friends,” she said. “I was carefree.”
“But as I grew older, the fact that I was ‘different’ became increasingly magnified.”
Her mother, Yang Xiu’e, revealed that she has had to “beg” people not to torment her daughter.
Xiao talks about her innovative treatment:
Despite coming from a poor family, they managed to raise $15,658 to begin Xiao’s treatment, which began in October when doctors inserted expanders into her face. Since then, they have been injecting saline into the devices twice a week.
“During the first month of treatment, my face hurt so much because of the egg-sized expanders and the saline injections that I wanted to slam my face into a wall,” Xiao said.
This particular stage of Xiao’s treatment will continue until June this year. She will then have to have a further five or six surgeries to remove the mole.
“I used to feel sorry for myself,” she admitted, before adding, “But I’ve grown up under the support of my family and now I’m much more positive.”
Xiao has now been dubbed the “Gourd Doll” because of the shape of the balloons, which resemble gourd fruits.
Her family is still in the process of saving up money for her follow up treatments and have currently raised around $7,828.
Xiao, however, is not the first person whose life has been blighted by an extremely bizarre looking medical condition. Twenty-seven-year-old Abul Bajandar from Bangladesh suffers from an even rarer condition than Xiao called epidermodysplasia verruciformis.
In fact, he is just one of four people in the world to have ever been diagnosed with the disease, which has led to people calling him “Tree man”.
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