Russian MPs have backed a controversial bill reducing the punishment for some forms of domestic violence in a crucial second reading, despite protests from rights groups. Fury at Russian move to soften domestic violence law Read moreThe bill?s authors say the new measure removes a legal anomaly and will reduce domestic violence by giving first-time abusers a chance to reform. Conservative backers of the bill have nicknamed it the ?law on slaps? and complain that domestic violence is punished harshly. Last week Amnesty International appealed to Russia?s parliament not to pass the bill, condemning it as a ?sickening attempt to trivialise domestic violence?. But lawyer Maxim Krupsky told RBK news site that ?decriminalisation could untie the hands of people who potentially could commit domestic violence?.

?We have never seen anything on this scale, never in the history of Chile. The world?s biggest aerial firefighting aircraft has joined beleaguered firefighters in Chile as they battle the worst wildfires in the country?s recent history, which have devastated swaths of land. The agency noted that forest fires are a regular phenomenon in Chile, but have been more frequent in recent years. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Firefighters working amid the remains of buildings destroyed by a fire in Cauquenes, Chile. Firefighters have taken to the airwaves to appeal for planes to help combat the fire in remote regions.

On December 19, 2016, the Tunisian extremist Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market in the German capital, killing 12. "The United States is still working to confirm whether the external plotters suspected of links to the Berlin attacks were killed in the strikes, a US official told CNN. Soon after, ISIS released a selfie-video he prerecorded from a Berlin bridge claiming he was acting on its behalf. Story highlights ISIS says the Berlin Christmas market attacker was working on its behalfOther ISIS members linked to the attack may have been at Libya camp US bombed last week, officials say(CNN) Intelligence indicating the possible presence of terrorists linked to the Berlin truck attack contributed to the decision to strike Libyan camps 28 miles southwest of Sirte last week, a US official and a source close to Libyan intelligence told CNN. Investigative files obtained by CNN showed he was part of an ISIS recruitment network inside Germany.

Batista checked in on an American Airlines flight scheduled to land at 10:30 a.m. Rio time. RIO DE JANEIRO Former billionaire Eike Batista, once Brazil`s richest man, is scheduled to arrive in Rio de Janeiro early on Monday, where he is wanted by police in connection with charges including an alleged bribe of about $16 million to a former governor. Police said last week that Batista had paid roughly $16 million to former Rio Governor Sergio Cabral in exchange for support of the businessman`s many Rio-based endeavors. "Batista, a brash entrepreneur who became the face of Brazil`s fizzled commodities boom, had been sought since last week by Brazilian police, who raided his Rio mansion and confiscated his luxury cars as part of their bribery investigation. In the Globo interview, Batista said he never intended to flee and had been in New York on business.

In addition to Duca?s gaslight story, Teen Vogue reports that a series on the Standing Rock pipeline protests, ?Ask a Native American Girl,? generated more than 8 million views on Facebook. It received widespread praise, including from veteran broadcaster Dan Rather, who described Teen Vogue as one of journalism?s ?surprising new sources of serious reporting? on his Facebook page after reading Duca?s dispatch. In a forceful commentary, Duca argued that Trump, through dissembling and contradictory claims, was responsible for undermining democracy. So then there?s no accountability.?Duca owes her growing reputation to a piece she wrote in December entitled ?Donald Trump is gaslighting America?. ?Donald Trump proved the old guard in the party or in the media weren?t enough to stop him.

As President Donald Trump looks to create jobs in the U.S., his press office is demonstrating an urgent need to hire a proofreader. The subject line of another missive released Thursday announced a ?Readout of the Vice President?s Call with Australian Foreign Prime Minister Julie Bishop. On Friday, May is scheduled to become the first foreign leader to meet Trump since he became president last week. " Bishop was born in Australia and she isn?t the country?s prime minister, a job held by Malcolm Turnbull. The White House just put out a memo highlighting Trump?s meeting on Friday with ?United Kingdom Prime Minister, Teresa May.? The release sent to media organizations from the Office of the Press Secretary dropped the ?h" in all three mentions of her full name: Theresa May.

Signboards featuring pictures of APA hotel chain`s president Fumiko Motoya is seen at its headquarters building in Tokyo, Japan, January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonTOKYO A Japanese hotel chain at the center of a furor over books its president wrote denying the Nanjing Massacre in wartime China is prepared to consider removing the books from at least some hotels if it receives a formal written request to do so. Tokyo-based hotel and real estate developer APA Group came under fire last week for books by president Toshio Motoya, which contain his revisionist views and are placed in every room of the company`s 400-plus APA Hotels. "China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in Nanjing from December 1937 to January 1938. To the fury of China, some conservative Japanese politicians and academics deny the massacre took place, or they put the death toll much lower.