In US, plant-based diet easier than ever, even at Thanksgiving

When Elysabeth Alfano hosts a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 next week at her home in Los Angeles, the menu will be traditional -- with a few key changes that were all but impossible just a decade ago. While still only around three percent of Americans identify as vegan and six percent identify as vegetarians, more and more offerings are being marketed as "plant-based" -- a term which food industry watchers say is more palatable to all. "Veganism is often linked with some sort of deprivation," explains Michael Robbins, spokesman for the three-year-old Plant Based Foods Association, which represents more than 100 companies including food giants like the Campbell Soup Company.

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Stray dog saves abandoned kittens from cold Canada winter

The two-year-old female mongrel, named Serenity by animal rescue officials, was discovered in a ditch on the side of a rural road near Chatham, Ontario a week ago. It was -3 degrees Celsius (26.6 Farenheit) and dark outside, and the dog was covered in a dusting of snow. When the passerby stopped to help the dog, she was surprised to find five tiny black kittens "snuggling with her," Myriam Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the Pet and Wildlife Rescue, told AFP.

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First Central American Migrant Offered Asylum In Guatemala Returns Home to Honduras Instead

The first Central American migrant offered asylum in Guatemala, under an arrangement between that country and the U.S., has decided to return to his home in Honduras, according to the Associated Press.Erwin José Ardón Montoya, 23, travelled to the U.S. in September in a bid to see his newborn daughter. The daughter's mother had chosen to migrate to the U.S. while still pregnant."I wanted to see my daughter, to help her," Ardón Montoya told his parents through tears as he arrived at his family's home in Trujillo, Honduras.Ardón Montoya was caught by federal agents in El Paso, Texas. He was offered a job and a place to live in Guatemala, but chose to return to his family.The 23-year-old told the Associated Press he might try to enter the U.S. again after Christmas.The Trump administration has enacted a host of policies meant to curb illegal immigration to the U.S., including placing restrictions on asylum seekers who enter the U.S. illegally. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a policy change preventing illegal asylum seekers from obtaining work permits until their applications have been approved.The Department of Homeland Security has also instituted the so-called "remain in Mexico" policy, whereby asylum seekers who enter the U.S. illegally are required to wait in Mexico while their applications are processed.While some of the Trump administration's immigration policies have been challenged in court, a senior Border Patrol official warned in October that striking down those policies could bring the flow of illegal immigration to "crisis level.""We will go back, mark the words, we will go back to the crisis level that we had before," said the Border Patrol’s chief of law enforcement operations Brian Hastings. “It is kind of a new norm. We’re at risk at any time.”

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Iran Strengthens Response to Protests

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Palestinian convicted of murder dies in Israeli custody: officials

A Palestinian convicted over the killing of three Israelis died of cancer in custody Tuesday, officials said. The death, which sparked Palestinian accusations of neglect, comes amid heightened tension with protests already scheduled in multiple places in the occupied West Bank Tuesday. Israel's Prison Authority said a seriously ill unnamed "security prisoner" died after being transferred to an Israeli hospital.

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YIKES: Please Don't Give Israel B-52 Bombers

Foreign governments will hold the United States accountable for Israel's actions with American weaponry.

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Albania earthquake: deadly 6.4 magnitude quake hits near Tirana

Albanian rescuers were digging through rubble as desperate survivors trapped in toppled buildings cried out for help on Tuesday after the strongest earthquake in decades claimed at least 13 lives. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck at 3:54 am local time (0254 GMT), with an epicentre 34 kilometres (about 20 miles) northwest of the capital Tirana in the Adriatic Sea, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. A total of 13 people have now been found dead, according to the defence ministry, while around 38 people have been rescued alive. The worst damage was in and around the coastal city of Durres, a tourism destination on the Adriatic, where soldiers, police and civilian forces were working to reach those believed to be trapped inside buildings that were reduced to dust. Many of the dead were pulled from the ruins in Durres and the nearby town of Thumane. Families looked on in horror as emergency workers sifted through the rubble of a collapsed five-storey building in Thumane, as those trapped cried out to be rescued. Emergency personnel work near a damaged building in Thumane, after an earthquake shook Albania Credit: REUTERS Relatives shouted the names of their loved ones still inside: "Mira!", "Ariela!", "Selvije!". A survivor, a thin man covered in grey dust, was seen carried out on a stretcher. Dulejman Kolaveri, a man in his 50s in Thumane, told AFP he feared his 70-year-old mother and six-year-old niece were trapped, because they lived on the fifth floor of the building. "I don't know if they are dead or alive. I'm afraid of their fate... only God knows," he said with trembling hands. Arben Allushi, another Thumane local, told AFP with tears in his eyes that his wife and niece were in the building when it fell. earthquake in Durres First reported damages! Albaniapic.twitter.com/6jS3Nb0Xiv— Klaudja Karabolli (@KKarabolli) November 26, 2019 Not far away in Kurbin, a man is his fifties died after jumping from his building in panic, the ministry said. Another perished in a car accident after the earthquake tore open parts of the road, it added. The health ministry meanwhile said that more than 600 people received first aid in hospitals. Some 300 soldiers have been sent to Durres and Thumane, defence ministry spokeswoman Qahajaj said, while around 1,900 police officers have also been deployed to help. The European Commission said on Twitter that "rescue teams from Italy, Greece and Romania are already on their way" to assist the rescue efforts. The USGS confirmed the quake off the coast of Albania Albania is known for its chaotic urban planning, particularly in coastal spots popular with tourists where many buildings have been constructed without proper permits and safety regulations. One five-storey building in Durres collapsed completely. "It's terrible. It's horrible. We hope they'll get them out alive," said Astrit Cani, a 25-year-old resident, as tearful relatives looked on. Emergency personnel work near a damaged building in Thumane Credit: REUTERS Speaking to local television in Durres, one resident said his daughter and niece were trapped in a collapsed apartment building. "I talked with my daughter and niece on the phone. They said they are well and are waiting for the rescue. I could not talk to my wife," he said. Tuesday's quake was the strongest to hit the Durres region since 1926, seismologist Rrapo Ormeni told local television. In Tirana, panicked residents ran out onto the streets and huddled together in the darkness when the quake struck. The tremors were felt across the Balkans, from Sarajevo in Bosnia to the Serbian city of Novi Sad almost 700 kilometres away, according to reports in local media and on social networks. The quake was followed by several aftershocks, including one of 5.3 magnitude, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. Albanian Authorities described it as the strongest earthquake in the last 20-30 years. The Balkans is an area prone to seismic activity and earthquakes are frequent.

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Texas woman killed by feral hogs in 'tragic, rare incident'

Christine Marie Rollins, 59, attacked outside a home in Anahuac in ‘one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen’, county sheriff saysThe issue of feral hogs in the US has been bubbling under the surface for some time. Photograph: Rebecca Santana/APA 59-year-old Texan woman has died after being assaulted by feral hogs, in what the county sheriff described as “one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen”.Christine Marie Rollins, 59, a healthcare worker, arrived to look after an 84-year-old patient who she had been caring for almost two years when she was attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning.Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said he would not go into the details of the incident but said he was disturbed by the attack. In a statement, he said: “This is an unbelievably tragic, a very rare incident. In my 35 years I will tell you it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”Hawthorne said that bites and bruises of varying sizes made it clear that multiple animals were involved in the attack. He said the pigs had taken over some of the pasture and woods of the family land.The issue of feral hogs in the US has been bubbling under the surface for some time.In August, self-proclaimed libertarian William McNabb became a viral sensation when he waded into the debate on gun reform by posing the question: “How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?”Multiple news outlets – including the Guardian – raced to see how much of an issue wild hogs really are in the US.According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are about 5 million feral hogs in the US, half of which are in Texas. They cause billions in damage every year, destroying local wildlife and native habitats, and disturbing locals. However, the USDA does not recommend shooting as a method to control groups of the pigs, which can weigh between 100 and 400lb.Hawthorne, the police sheriff, said there have been six deaths by feral hogs reported in US history. A University of Nebraska paper from 2013 put the total number of wild hog killings in US history at four.Rollins died outside a home in Anahuac, near Houston, with multiple injuries to her body. An autopsy said she had died from exsanguination – bleeding to death – due to feral hog assault. Hawthorne said officials had immediately believed the cause of death to be an animal attack, but “it was not something we could even come close to announcing until we had the [official] cause of death”.

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Buttigieg claims 2nd, Warren sinks in new US 2020 poll

Political wunderkind Pete Buttigieg rocketed into second place in the Democratic presidential nomination race, polling showed Tuesday, with support for progressive ex-frontrunner Elizabeth Warren sliding as voters sour on her universal health care proposal. Buttigieg, the moderate millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana, leapfrogged the race's main liberal candidates, Warren and fellow senator Bernie Sanders, to claim second behind the resilient national leader Joe Biden, according to Quinnipiac University's latest poll. Former vice president Biden leads with 24 percent among Democratic voters and independents who lean Democratic, a rise of three percentage points and a reclaiming of pole position since Quinnipiac's last poll on October 24, when he trailed Warren.

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Pompeo urges Egypt to respect freedom of press after journalist detentions

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called on Egypt to respect freedom of the press, days after Egyptian security forces raided the office of independent news website Mada Masr and briefly detained three of its staff.

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TikTok Blocks Teen Who Posted About China’s Detention Camps

By BY RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2XQVtUa

What $30 Million Gets in TV Ads

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Pete Buttigieg Responds to Uproar Over Past Comments on Minority Students

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After Trump's intervention, Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher returns to work, for now

Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL at the center of a controversy in a case that President Trump intervened in, went to work Monday, unsure of what lay ahead.

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Founder of U.S. private jet firm tied to Venezuelan VP pleads guilty to sanctions evasion

Victor Mones Coro, founder of Florida-based American Charter Services (ACS), had been charged in March by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, along with El Aissami, for violating Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act sanctions imposed by the United States in 2017.

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Elizabeth Warren tumbles 14 points in Democratic primary poll

The latest Democratic primary poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University did not come bearing good tidings for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).Warren, one of the presidential primary's frontrunners, had been leading the poll for the past several months, surging ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden. But she appeared to be in free fall this time around, dropping 14 points. Biden took back the lead and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg jumped up 6 points into second place.> New Q-poll has good news for Biden/Buttigieg, terrible news for Warren, flat for others. > > Biden: 24% (+3)⁰ > Buttigieg: 16% (+6) > Warren: 14% (-14) ⁰ > ⁰Sanders: 13% (-2)⁰ > Harris: 3% (-2) ⁰ > Klobuchar: 3% (-)⁰ > Yang: 2% (+1)⁰ > Booker: 2% (+1) > ⁰Castro: 2% (+1)⁰ > Gabbard: 1% (-)> > -- Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 26, 2019The good news for Warren is that she's still in third place and is one of only four candidates to reach double figures. Of course, the poll itself seems pretty malleable at this point, considering she fell drastically after a steady rise. But, regardless, it's tough to imagine there's anything confidence-boosting about the numbers.The poll was conducted over the phone by Quinnipiac University which surveyed 1,355 registered U.S. voters between Nov. 21-25. The margin of error was 3.2 percentage points. Read the full results here.More stories from theweek.com Fox News guest: 'Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here' David Axelrod calls Biden's polling resilience 'the strangest thing I've ever seen in politics' Trump wonders why the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage wasn't celebrated 'a long time ago'

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Two rockets fired from Gaza at Israel: army

Militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets at Israel on Tuesday, one of which was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the army said. "Two (rocket) launches were identified from territory in the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory," the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that one of the projectiles was intercepted. It did not say what happened to the second rocket.

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World's best sushi restaurant dropped from Michelin Guide after refusing to serve public

The world's best sushi restaurant seats just ten people and is famously housed in a Tokyo metro station.  But despite its cult following, the famously exclusive restaurant has lost its listing in the Michelin Guide, not because the quality of the food has dropped, but because it is no longer open to the general public.  Sukiyabashi Jiro, run by the renowned nonagenarian Japanese chef Jiro Ono, has been recognised with three Michelin stars each year since the culinary guide launched a Tokyo edition in 2007.  But this year’s Tokyo edition of the Michelin Guide declined to include it within its pages, saying it is “out of their scope” because of its decision to only offer reservations VIPs and return customers.  “We recognise Sukiyabashi Jiro does not accept reservations from the general public, which makes it out of our scope,” said a spokeswoman for the Michelin Guide after the decision was announced on Tuesday.  She added that “it was not true to say the restaurant lost stars but it is not subject to coverage in our guide," rather that the guide's "policy is to introduce restaurants where everybody can go to eat.”  Jiro Ono's restaurant has become a cult classic With former diners including US president Barack Obama, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and a host of Hollywood celebrities, booking a table has never been easy.  But now prospective diners must be regular customers, be part of an elite network or book through the concierge of a luxury hotel - as well as stomach the 40,000 yen (£285) price tag for the chef’s selection menu.  Sukiyabashi Jiro said it was “currently experiencing difficulties in accepting reservations” and apologised for “any inconvenience to our valued customers” in a statement on its website.  It added: “Unfortunately, as our restaurant can only seat up to 10 guests at a time, this situation is likely to continue.”  The restaurant opened in 1965 but has gathered a cult following in recent years, particularly since the release of a 2011 documentary "Jiro Dreams of  Sushi", which follows the life of its star chef and owner.  Barack Obama arrived in a motorcade when he dined at Sukiyabashi Jiro  Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images The documentary followed Ono, who is considered something of a national  treasure in Japan, as he performs his meticulous sushi preparation ritual.  The rice at the restaurant is crafted to fit the diner's mouth, with Ono examining customer's hands and faces to work out what size portion is appropriate for them. Diners are asked not to wear strong perfume or take photographs of the food.  Ono has also faced criticism for his previous comments about women -  particularly his suggestion that women make inferior sushi chefs because their menstrual cycles affect their sense of taste.  Despite being in his 90s, he continues to serve sushi with the help of his eldest son Yoshikazu. A second branch run by Ono's younger son remains open to the public and has retained its two stars.

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More secrets of China's Xinjiang camps leaked to foreign media

Classified Chinese government documents made public by an international group of journalists describe the repressive inner workings of detention camps in Xinjiang, in a second rare leak in days of secret files concerning the troubled western region. The publication on Sunday of the documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) follows a New York Times report on Nov. 16 based on a cache of secret papers revealing details of China's clamp-down on ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in the region. United Nations experts and activists say at least 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in camps in Xinjiang.

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Is Bolivia turning into a rightwing military dictatorship?

Events in Bolivia – including the killing of indigenous protesters – contain echoes from Bolivia’s past dictatorshipsIndian massacres have returned to Bolivia. There is a history — a blood feud, to be precise — behind this tragedy. The self-declared “presidency” of Jeanine Áñez has revived the old oligarchy’s race hatred and the barbaric practice of Indian killing, the collective punishment of the nation’s Indigenous majority for daring to defy a centuries-old racial order of apartheid and oppression. Since the ousting of Bolivia’s first Indigenous president Evo Morales, security forces have carried out at least two massacres of Indigenous people protesting the military coup.Only two weeks since seizing state power, the evidence is clear: this is a rightwing, military dictatorship. The telltale sign for a country like Bolivia is the outright Indian killing.On November 15, the army opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in Cochabamba, killing eight and wounding dozens more. On November 16, a day after the Cochabamba massacre, Áñez issued a decree exempting the police and military from criminal responsibility in operations for “the restoration of order and public stability.” A carte blanche to kill at will, security forces have obliged the directive with increasing cruelty.Last Tuesday, teargas and bullets rained down on a blockade at the Senkata gas plant in El Alto. Eight were killed, and dozens injured. And this was just the first week of Áñez’s presidency.Two days later in La Paz, from behind armored vehicles, security forces showered a funeral procession with teargas and rubber bullets. The coffins of victims from the Senkata massacre fell to the ground as people scattered in panic, adding further humiliation to already grief-stricken families and communities.The official death toll since the protests began is estimated to be more than 30, with dozens missing, more than 700 injured, and nearly a thousand arrests. Bolivia’s Indigenous majority are the primary targets of this racist, state-sanctioned violence.The last time there was Indian killing of this magnitude by the state, Bolivia’s current opposition leader, Carlos Mesa, was vice president. In 2003, more than 60 Indigenous Aymara people were killed during the “Gas War.” President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada’s plan to sell oil and gas exports through a consortium of multinational corporations to the United States — continuing a centuries-long tradition of pillaging the nation’s resources for outside interests — led to a popular uprising demanding the nationalization Bolivia’s hydrocarbons, forcing the president’s resignation.“I can’t accept killing as a response to popular pressure,” Mesa said in 2003 after the massacres. But he appears to have had a change of heart.After losing to Evo Morales during the October 20 presidential elections this year, Mesa was the first to recognize Áñez’s coup presidency, while remaining silent about her authoritarian actions, her alignment with Christian far-right such as the millionaire Luis Fernando Camacho, and the massacres of Indigenous people taking part in popular protesters. Others find lessons in the rightwing-orchestrated chaos and liberal acquiescence.“Behind every moderate liberal, you find a fascist,” Bolivia’s ousted vice president Álvaro Garcia Linera remarked about Mesa and his ilk in a recent interview.There are also echoes from Bolivia’s past dictatorships, showing Áñez derives her authority not from popular power but at the end of a rifle barrel. In contrast to the Indigenous president she deposed, she wasn’t elected, and there was no civilian coronation for her presidency. The Plurinational Legislative Assembly, which normally appoints the president, like they did with Evo Morales thrice before, was nearly absent. Instead, a military general placed the presidential sash on Áñez.The last time a general placed a sash on a president after a military coup was in 1980. That year, General Luis García Meza achieved a military dictatorship by assassinating the socialist leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz and massacring dozens of Indigenous miners.The desire to overthrow Evo Morales and the Indigenous social movements that brought him to power has existed for years. The first coup attempt happened in 2008, when the Media Luna, which is composed of the four opposition-dominated regions in the East where most of the European-descended population is concentrated, tried to secede from the country. The racist separatist movement emerged amidst the drafting of a new constitution, which recognized Bolivia as a Plurinational state with the equal status of Indigenous peoples and control over natural resources. The region erupted into open rebellion, attempting to divide the country into two states: a wealthy one dominated by descendants of Europeans home to a large oil and gas industry and agribusiness and one with a poor Indigenous majority. The rightwing protests against resource nationalism and ending apartheid took 20 Indigenous lives.The United States’ role in fomenting the racial divisions is without question.The most recent wave of anti-Indian violence is made to look like self-defense. The interior minister Arturo Murillo, appointed by Áñez, wants to prosecute and imprison Evo Morales for terrorism and sedition for allegedly ordering the blockading of Bolivian cities. But testimony from survivors of the Senkata massacre tells a different story. During an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing held on Sunday in La Paz, the sister of one of the men killed by security forces said it is Jeanine Añez, Carlos Mesa, Luis Fernando Camacho, and Arturo Murillo who belong in prison. Her brother was gunned down while walking to work, she testified.Justice for the dead and wounded is still an open question.Although the legislative body approved new elections, the decision comes with serious compromises and little promise of diminishing Áñez’s grip on power. In short, the outlook of “free and fair elections” is slim under the current oversight of an authoritarian government that massacres Indigenous people with impunity, imprisons social movement leaders, and charges anyone opposed to it with sedition or terrorism.Indeed, a brutal dictatorship reigns.For 14 years, Bolivian Indigenous movements broke the spell of invulnerability surrounding colonial oligarchy and the European-descended elite — and they still pose a significant challenge. An Indigenous president was proof that humble people of the earth could rule. This is their unforgivable sin. * Nick Estes is a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He is an Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico and is the co-founder of The Red Nation, an Indigenous resistance organization

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Why It's Really Hard to Sink An Aircraft Carrier

They're built to take it.

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'You've jailed kids and celebrated corruption': AOC hits back at Trump with list of accomplishments after 'Do Nothing Democrats' insult

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at Donald Trump, after the president attempted to deflect attention from the ongoing impeachment probe by branding her and others in her party as “Do Nothing Democrats”.The freshman politician listed a litany of issues she's had success on during her short time in Congress — from pushing to make the anti-HIV drug PrEP generic a year early, to taking on general corruption — in spite of Mr Trump's line of attack, which he has deployed with increased frequency as he tries to paint the impeachment probe as a distraction from what he calls “important” issues.

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