5: US to re-define law on sexual consent, with potentially massive consequences
On 25 October 2016, the American Law Institute (ALI) will debate the draft of a law that attempts to re-define sexual assault, including sexual consent. Few people know about this legal group, and even fewer are aware of this significant debate. But the law as drafted by the ALI could serve as a model for courts and state legislatures for decades to come, with huge consequences.
The Canary
4: Eric Trump doesn’t know what the Spanish word “contra” means
Two Cuban-American sisters, Annie and Ceci Cardelle, performed a public service this weekend, by proving beyond doubt that the Trump campaign does not speak a single word of Spanish.
More precisely, they proved that Donald Trump’s son Qusay Eric and his wife Lara have no idea that the Spanish word contra means “against.”
The proof came in the form of a photograph of the sisters posing with the Trumps on Friday in North Carolina as Annie wore a T-shirt with the words “Latina Contra Trump” scrawled in big letters across the front.
The Intercept
We go to North Dakota for an update on the ongoing Standoff at Standing Rock, where thousands of Native Americans representing more than 200 tribes from across the Americas are resisting the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which is slated to carry oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oilfields through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. On Saturday, over 100 people, who call themselves protectors, not protesters, were arrested at a peaceful march after they were confronted by police in riot gear, carrying assault rifles. They say police pepper-sprayed them and then arrested them en masse, and discharged rubber bullets to shoot down drones the water protectors were using to document the police activity. We are joined by Sacheen Seitcham, media activist with West Coast Women Warriors Media Cooperative who was arrested Saturday along with more than 80 other protesters and journalists at a construction site for the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota.
Democracy Now
2: Battle for Mosul: Iraq forces close in on more villages
Iraqi forces have fought their way into two villages near Mosul as the offensive to retake city enters its second week.
Iraqi special forces began shelling ISIL positions before dawn on Monday near Bartella, a historically Christian town to the east of Mosul that they had retaken last week.
With patriotic music blaring from loudspeakers on their Humvees, they then pushed into the village of Tob Zawa, about 9 kilometres (5.5 miles) from Mosul, amid heavy clashes.
After entering the village, they allowed more than 30 people who had been sheltering in a school to escape the fighting.
Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, fell under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in 2014.
Aljazeera
1: The Brexit economy: falling pound and rising inflation fuel fears of slowdown
The British economy’s post-Brexit vote bounce is losing momentum as the weak pound and higher inflation herald a squeeze in living standards, according to a Guardian analysis.
Although official growth figures to be published on Thursday are likely to show the economy will avoid recession in the second half of the year, the latest Guardian analysis of the post-referendum economy shows a more mixed picture.
The most notable shift over the last month was a further sharp fall in the value of the pound. Against the dollar, the pound is lingering around the $1.22 mark – about 18% lower than on 23 June, the day of the referendum.
At one point a “flash crash” in the currency markets pushed the pound briefly to about $1.15. It quickly recovered, but the underlying pressure on the currency has remained following Theresa May’s declaration that she will trigger article 50 before the end of March 2017.
The Guardian
