5: 

John Key’s ‘prison rape’ stunt goes international

United Kingdom newspapers The Times and The Guardian, as well as US broadcaster CNN, are among those that have reported on Wednesday’s incident, in which Mr Key agreed to get into a cage in The Rock’s studio. He was then asked to pick up a bar of soap – a reference to rape in prison.

Most of the foreign media reports focused on the stunt being the latest of a number of incidents in which Mr Key has raised eyebrows. They mentioned “blunders”, including the recent furore in Parliament over his attack on Labour for “backing the rapists”, in response to opposition accusations that the government had been weak in its dealings with Australia over the detention of New Zealanders on Christmas Island.

The Times said the prime minister had “come under fire after appearing to make light of rape while taking part in a crude radio station stunt”.

“The Rock stunt is the latest in a series of live radio appearances Mr Key has taken part in in which he has revealed more personal information than many New Zealanders might wish to know,” the article said.

The newspaper also called attention to New Zealand’s record of sexual violence: “In the 2011 United Nations Report on the Status of Women, New Zealand was ranked worst of all the OECD countries for rates of sexual violence,” it said.

RNZ

4: 

Trump on Putin’s crackdown on journalists: ‘it’s never been proven’

Donald Trump on Sunday defended Russian president Vladimir Putin’s record on press freedom, challenging journalists to provide him with evidence that the Kremlin has ever sponsored efforts to murder reporters. The Republican frontrunner also vowed again to work closely with Russia, if elected president.

The Guardian

3: 

CBS Edits Out Criticisms of U.S. Policy From Frank Luntz Focus Group With Muslim Americans 

When a CBS News segment featuring a focus group of American Muslims aired Friday, it highlighted their relationship to terrorism, with a particular fixation on how much responsibility they felt to condemn terrorist attacks.

But in interviews with The Intercept, two Muslim Americans who took part in the group complained that CBS edited out parts of the discussion where they raised their own concerns — including critiques of U.S. militarism, surveillance and entrapment.

They also said that Frank Luntz, the right-wing pollster who led the focus group, silenced members of the group when they criticized discriminatory U.S. government policies.

When Luntz asked the group how they respond to attacks such as the recent one in San Bernardino, New York City activist Amelia Noor-Oshiro told The Intercept she asked Luntz “Why don’t you ask that to people who actually commit acts of terror? Why don’t you ask that to White America who are responsible for a majority of domestic terror attacks?”

That didn’t make it into the on-air segment.

The Intercept

2: 

Afghan Official Warns President on Facebook That His Province Is Falling to the Taliban

Afghanistan’s Helmand province could fall to the Taliban after months of heavy fighting, with 90 members of the security forces killed over the past two days, the deputy governor of the volatile southern province warned on Sunday.

Mohammad Jan Rasulyar said unless President Ashraf Ghani took urgent action, the province, a center of opium production and a Taliban heartland that British and American troops struggled to control for years, would be lost.

“Your Excellency, Helmand is standing on the brink and there is a serious need for you to come,” he wrote on Facebook.

The highly unusual public plea from a serving official painted a picture strikingly similar to the situation that led up to the fall of the northern city of Kunduz in late September, when Taliban fighters seized and held on to for several days before government troops regained control.

If Helmand were to fall, it would deliver a blow to government claims that Afghan security forces, fighting largely alone since international troops ended combat operations last year, are controlling the insurgency, in spite of setbacks such as the fall of Kunduz.

Vice News

1: 

Protests Erupt in Turkey as Military Campaign Intensifies in Country’s Southeast

Armed clashes persisted on Sunday across Turkey’s southeast, where an operation by Turkish forces intensified on the sixth day of a campaign that security sources said had resulted in the death of 110 Kurdish militants.

Protests erupted in Istanbul and Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the country’s southeast, with hundreds demonstrating against the military operations. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.

Vice News