X marks the spot ...
Turkey’s state media reported 29th November, 2018 that the City authorities in the capital, Ankara, will rename the street where the new U.S. embassy is being built, ‘Malcolm X Avenue’ after the U.S. civil rights leader.

A new street sign bearing the name “Malcolm X Caddesi” (avenue) was placed along the street (previously 1478 street) near the site of the future embassy in the capital’s Çankaya district.

Malcolm X was born in 1925, and assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965 in New York City, after a relatively short life of immense struggle for the rights of black people and is a hero for many black Americans and Muslims in the US today. His assassins had links to the Nation of Islam, the same radical black pride group that he joined in the 1950s.

A radical U.S. civil rights leader, Malcolm X, remains a divisive figure in U.S. history and Ankara’s move will likely be received negatively by critics who say he stirred racist and anti-U.S. sentiment.

Last month, Erdogan met Malcolm X’s daughters during a visit to New York.

The Embassy is due for completion in June 2020, according to the US State Department.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin shared the story about the name change on his Twitter account Sunday.

Sanctions are Coming ...
The United States will add 700 individuals and entities to its Iran blacklist and pressure the global SWIFT banking network to cut off Tehran when expanded sanctions are put in place next week, US officials said Friday.

But eight countries will be able to continue importing Iranian oil at lower levels in order to avoid upsetting global crude markets when the sanctions take effect on Monday, 5th November, 2018.

Turkey and Iraq will be among the eight countries granted a temporary waiver by the US, allowing them to continue to import Iranian petroleum products for a limited period as long as they end such imports entirely.

The sanctions will cover Iran‘s shipping, financial and energy sectors. It’s the second batch of penalties that the US administration has reimposed since President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May.

Shortly after the announcement, Trump tweeted what looks like a movie poster image of himself that takes creative inspiration from the TV series “Game of Thrones” with the tagline “Sanctions are Coming, November 5.”

In a statement issued Friday night, Trump said, “Our objective is to force the regime into a clear choice: either abandon its destructive behavior or continue down the path toward economic disaster.”

Trump gets dumped ...
Onlookers gathered outside a condominium in Manhattan’s staunchly liberal Upper West Side, cheering as the words “Trump Place” were pried from the side of their high-rise.

Few things were more galling to the residents of the area than the big letters that greeted them at the entrance to their building: T-R-U-M-P P-L-A-C-E.

On Wednesday, residents took their revenge, voted to remove the name, and on Thursday, the letters came down.

Workers removed the letters from the front and back of 200 Riverside Boulevard, a 46-story building between 69th and 70th Streets. The building will now simply be called: 200 Riverside Boulevard.

UPDATE: On 22nd February, 2019, the last two buildings in the Riverside complex that once bore the president’s name have voted to remove it.

No Tears for Wonga ...
Payday lender Wonga has announced its intention to go into administration after losing its battle to stay afloat. The company said in a statement that it had assessed all options and had decided that administration was the appropriate route.

It had already stopped accepting new loan applications as it fought to stave off collapse.

Its demise in the UK follows a surge in compensation claims amid a government clampdown on payday lenders.

No tears should be shed for Wonga. The chairman of its parent company was a major Tory donor, it charged 5830% APR on loans causing misery & hardship for thousands of people, and made things even worse for them by sending demands in the name of fabricated law firms. Good riddance.

Climate change ...
Rock icon Patti Smith will lead a fresh benefit concert to combat climate change on the sideline of talks in San Francisco, organizers said July 11.

The September 14 concert will close a three-day “summit” of local leaders on climate change from around the world, and is called by California’s outgoing Governor Jerry Brown. He has vowed to bring together sub-national players to mobilize action against rising temperatures while US President Donald Trump displays hostility to global efforts.

Smith is the 71-year-old so-called godmother of punk who has frequently played benefits in recent years. She will be joined by Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

Other performers include the French singer Imany and Tenzin Choegyal, the globe-trotting musical activist from Tibet.

The concert will raise money for climate advocacy groups and the United Nations Development Program.

The benefit is the fourth in the so-called “Pathway to Paris” initiative launched by artists ahead of the landmark 2015 Paris summit on climate change, which aimed to cap global warming.

Trump after his election pulled the United States out of the Paris accord, saying it was unfair to industry.

Daddy's little ...... shoe in ...
President Donald Trump enacted tariffs Friday morning on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, affecting hundreds of products from boats to medical devices and auto parts. But the clothing industry was mostly spared from the tariffs, meaning Ivanka Trump’s foreign-made products for her fashion line will be unaffected.

According to the HuffPost’s Mary Papenfuss, “The first daughter and senior White House adviser has never manufactured a single product for her Ivanka Trump brand on American soil ...

That means Chengdu Kameido Shoes in Sichuan province can continue to supply shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand as it has in the past. It is currently bidding for a new contract to manufacture 140,000 pairs of shoes for Trump’s company ...

Until January 2017, all of Ivanka Trump’s products were made in factories in China and Hong Kong ... however, since then, some manufacturing has apparently been moved to other overseas factories in Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.”

Trump pulls out of Iran nuclear deal ...
The EU has put itself on a collision course with the US over Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, as major European firms started to pull out of the country to avoid being hit by sanctions.

In an attempt to shield EU companies doing business with Iran, the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he would turn to a plan last used to protect businesses working in Cuba before a US trade embargo was lifted on the Latin American country.

The ’blocking statute‘ is a 1996 regulation that prohibits EU companies and courts from complying with foreign sanctions laws and stipulates that no foreign court judgments based on these laws have any effect in the EU.

Inventor dies in poverty after patents didn't protect ...
Trevor Baylis, one of Britain's most well-loved inventors and the creator of the clockwork radio that was designed to save lives in the developing world, has died at the age of 80.

Baylis led an interesting life but became famous after inventing an ingenious wind-up radio that he was inspired to create after watching a documentary about the African AIDS crisis in 1991. By employing a strong spring, he invented a radio that could be powered for 15 minutes with a couple of turns of a crank, which he foresaw being used in the developing world for public health information broadcasts.

After being featured on the BBC show Tomorrow's World, the idea gained ground and a factory was set up in South Africa to produce the radios. However, Baylis saw little in profit from the device after other manufacturers took the idea and got around his patent by adding a rechargeable battery that was powered by the hand crank.

Baylis received an Order of the British Empire award in 1997 for his services to intellectual property and was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2015. However, plagued by financial troubles and laid low by illness, he died of natural causes on Monday at his home.

Strip Club Protest ...
Strippers shouting “my body is not illegal” marched on Feb 1 to protest the closure of clubs in and around Bourbon Street, the main artery of New Orleans’ raucous nightlife district.

Eight strip clubs in the French Quarter have been shuttered for prostitution or drug violations, officials said this week as the famed Mardi Gras destination readies for its annual celebrations. Some of those clubs have since been allowed to reopen.

The hundreds-strong crowd of strippers, other club workers and backers shouted slogans like ”Strippers’ rights are human rights.“

The demonstrators complain that the closures will cost people jobs and that the city is trying to make the French Quarter too family-friendly.

“We are protesting because they are trying to shut down most of the clubs on Bourbon Street to make it some kind of Disneyland-cruise ship port,” said one exotic dancer, Emily Hernandez.

Another marcher held aloft a sign that read, “Bourbon Street not Sesame Street.”

Yet another sign, hoisted right behind two police officers, read, “Boobs R Awesome.”

High Times ...
There was a party atmosphere across California as legal sales of marijuana began Monday. Californians voted to legalize recreational pot in 2016, and the measure, Proposition 64, took effect New Year's Day 2018 - creating the largest legal pot market in the country.

Hundreds of businesses have applied for temporary licences in recent weeks, but industry officials expect a slow rollout as many cities have not yet given their approval. But there were plenty of places to get pot Monday. And there were long lines.