Election violence continues in India's Bengal

Violent clashes continued in India on Sunday between supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party and a regional party in the politically volatile eastern state of West Bengal, officials said. Rival supporters regularly engaged in pitched battles across the state during the bitterly fought elections that saw Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinch a massive victory both in the state and nationwide. A BJP supporter was shot dead Friday in the capital Kolkata, where massive clashes broke out and fires were lit on the eve of polling day on May 19.

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  India's battered Congress party closes ranks after election setback

  Reuters
• UPDATE 1-Pakistan PM Khan speaks with India's Modi to congratulate him on election win

  Reuters

Rape survivors in the US already not able to access abortions, campaigners warn

Rape survivors in the US are being denied abortions due to financial barriers, “invasive” police intervention and a dearth of abortion providers, campaigners have warned. Abortion opponents across the US have become increasingly emboldened in their efforts to roll back women's reproductive rights since Donald Trump entered the White House in January 2016. Oriaku Njoku, the executive director of an organisation based in Georgia which helps low-income women access abortion, said the organisation had encountered women who were wanting to get their pregnancy terminated due to it being the product of rape.

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  Women 'have to keep fighting' for their rights in the face of US abortion laws, says Patricia Arquette

  The Independent
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  Mississippi's Restrictive Abortion Ban Blocked By Federal Judge

  Refinery 29 UK

Huawei founder says he would oppose Chinese retaliation against Apple: Bloomberg

Huawei Technologies' founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei told Bloomberg https://bloom.bg/2HT7DUY that retaliation by Beijing against Apple Inc was unlikely and that he would oppose any such move from China against the iPhone maker. When asked about calls from some in China to retaliate against Apple, Ren said that he would "protest" against any such step if it were to be taken by Beijing. quot;That (Chinese retaliation against Apple) will not happen first of all and second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest," Ren said in the interview with Bloomberg.

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  Billionaire Huawei Founder Defiant in Face of Existential Threat

  Bloomberg
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  'Don't be too optimistic': Huawei employees fret at US ban

  AFP

Police hunt suspect after explosion in French city of Lyon

French police on Saturday hunted a suspect believed to have deposited a paper bag containing a device that exploded Friday, wounding 13 people on a busy pedestrian street in the city of Lyon. French President Emmanuel Macron called the explosion an "attack" during a live interview Friday about the European Parliament elections that run through Sunday. The man was seen arriving on foot, pushing his bike along the pedestrian-only Victor Hugo street, then leaving paper bag on a concrete block in the middle of the street near a bakery.

51 attorneys general call on Betsy DeVos to cancel up to 42,000 disabled veterans' student debts

In April last year, DeVos announced a new partnership between the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs that would match borrowers in the Department of Education's records system with disabled veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs records system. People deemed eligible for loan discharges would be mailed a letter including an application for "totally and permanently disabled" (TPD) status. Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, if student borrowers die or become permanently disabled, they are eligible to have their loans forgiven, so a successful granting of TPD status would allow for the complete discharge of student loans.

AD PRO's 20 Favorite Furnishings from ICFF

Miss New York's International Contemporary Furniture Fair? Senior style and market editor Benjamin Reynaert shares his favorite new products that launched at the fair Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Eating Way Too Much Rice Almost Doomed Japan's Imperial Navy

After the war, the Emergency Beriberi Investigative Committee investigated the disease's devastation of Japanese ranks. In August 1882 in Incheon Bay near Seoul, four Japanese warships were locked in a tense stand-off with two Chinese warships that had brought troops to quell a revolt on the Korean peninsula. On paper, the Japanese flotilla outnumbered the Chinese, but the hulls of the Japanese ships hid a deadly secret.

US sanctions on Iran felt in Iraqi Shiite tourist districts

For years, Karar Hussein has sold sweets in his shop near the entrance to one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, accepting whatever currency was offered to him by his clients, many of them religious tourists from neighboring Iran. Hussein and many other shop owners in Baghdad's northern Shiite holy neighborhood of Kadhimiya have seen sales drop sharply over the past year since President Donald Trump began re-imposing sanctions on Iran, home to the largest number of Shiite Muslims around the world. The value of Iran's currency, the rial, has decreased almost fourfold, pushing the price of nearly everything beyond the reach of ordinary Iranian consumers in Iran and abroad.

Emmanuel Macron embarrassed by Marine Le Pen in elections but emerges as EU kingmaker

Emmanuel Macron suffered defeat at home in the European elections but could console himself with securing a kingmaker role that could determine the next five years of EU politics. The ardently Europhile French president was narrowly beaten by Marine Le Pen's virulently anti-EU National Rally in the French vote but stands to benefit from a fragmentation in support for the older centrist parties in the European Parliament. Ever since the first European elections in 1979, the centre-right European People's Party and centre-left Socialists and Democrats have dominated EU politics.

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  Far-right League wins Italy's EU vote

  AFP
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  'Green wave' in EU vote amid climate crisis

  AFP

India's opposition Congress backs Gandhi after poll defeat

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, offered to resign Saturday after his Congress party was trounced in a second straight national election but the gesture was rejected, party officials said. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi triumphantly accepted pledges of allegiance from members of allied parties after his second landslide win, Congress leaders licked their wounds at a special meeting in New Delhi. "Party President Rahul Gandhi offered his resignation but it was unanimously rejected by the members of Congress Working Commission," Randeep Surjewala, a party spokesman, told reporters.

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  India's president appoints Modi as premier for 2nd term

  Associated Press
• 
  Pakistan PM Khan speaks with India's Modi to congratulate him on election win

  Reuters

Violence and disruption against abortion clinics at highest rates since 1999

Violence and disruption against abortion clinics in the US increased to its highest levels since the 1990s last year, a report by the National Abortion Federation has found. The increase in violence was attributed, at least in part, to president Donald Trump and his administration's rhetoric. “Anti-choice individuals and groups have been emboldened by the rhetoric of president Trump, vice president Pence, and other elected officials and we are seeing this play out in more instances of activities meant to intimidate abortion providers and disrupt patient services,” said Dr Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, who serves as interim president and CEO of NAF.

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  Rape survivors in the US already not able to access abortions, campaigners warn

  The Independent
• 
  Abortion Clinics Reported A Surge In Trespassing, Vandalism & A Historic High Of Picketing

  Refinery29

Rescuers search for survivors after Oklahoma tornado kills at least two

The tornado that hit El Reno on Saturday night was the latest in a barrage of violent weather that is expected to continue after pounding the Central Plains states last week with deadly tornadoes, high winds, drenching thunderstorms and widespread flooding. In addition to the two fatalities, 29 people suffered minor to critical injuries in the El Reno twister and hundreds more were displaced, the city's mayor said. People have absolutely lost everything." Rescue workers searched the debris field that had been a mobile home park and an Americas Best Value Inn motor lodge where the tornado did its worst damage in the community about 25 miles (40 km) west of Oklahoma City.

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  Pennsylvania has already seen yearly average of tornadoes

  WPVI – Philadelphia
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  Likely Tornado Kills At Least 2, Demolishes Motel In Oklahoma City Area

  HuffPost

Dating scam artist from California had 20 alleged victims in 8 states

Alleged victims of a social media "Don Juan" are emerging from across the nation as LAPD widens its fraud investigation of Wilson Edward Jackson.

Judge: Anheuser-Busch must pull some ads about MillerCoors

A Wisconsin judge has ordered Anheuser-Busch to stop suggesting in advertising that MillerCoors' light beers contain corn syrup, wading into a fight between two beer giants that are losing market share to small independent brewers. U.S. District Judge William Conley for the Western District of Wisconsin on Friday granted a preliminary injunction sought by MillerCoors that temporarily stops Anheuser-Busch from using the words "corn syrup" in ads without giving more context. MillerCoors sued its rival in March, saying St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch has spent as much as $30 million on a "false and misleading" campaign, including $13 million in its first commercials during this year's Super Bowl.

Here's What's Open and Closed on Memorial Day 2019

When is Memorial Day 2019? This year, Memorial Day is on Monday, May 27, though many people like to celebrate all weekend with parades, sales and parties. This holiday falls on the last Monday in May each year to honor those who have died while serving in the American armed forces.

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  'Wild Water' postpones Memorial Day weekend opening due to weather

  KFSN – Fresno
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  Multiple child near-drownings reported over Memorial Day weekend

  KTRK – Houston

European elections 2019 results: Brexit Party expected to win most UK seats

Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is tipped to win the most UK seats in the European Parliament elections, with establishment parties forecast to lose their majority across the European Union. Official exit polls are revealing a tough night for establishment parties across the continent, while voter turnout is at 51 per cent according to the EU Parliament - its highest since 1994. In France, Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party will take top spot, with 23.2 per cent of the vote against Macron's centrist grouping on 21.9 per cent according to polls.

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  Pro-Europe vote fragments but limits nationalist gains in EU election

  Reuters
• 
  European election results: Green parties surge as 'Green Wave' hits EU

  The Independent

Iran state TV fires managers over 'insult' to Sunnis

Iranian state TV has fired two channel managers over a live programme deemed insulting to Sunni Muslims, it said in a statement Sunday. The sackings at Channel 5 came after a broadcast on May 20 celebrating the birthday of the second imam in Shiite Islam, Hassan ibn Ali. During the programme, religious chanter and story-teller Ahmad Qadami recited a eulogy that "insulted the sanctities of Sunni Muslims", according to official news agency IRNA.

Get the Charming Look of the Kentucky Getaway

A former Kentucky tobacco farm morphs into a high-voltage weekend wonderland of pattern, color, and open-armed hospitality Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Germany in push to resurrect Afghan talks with Taliban

Germany, a leading donor and member of the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, has been talking with the Taliban and the Afghan government in an effort to restart peace talks to end 18 years of conflict, officials said. While the Taliban have been talking with U.S. officials since October about a withdrawal of international troops, they have so far refused formal talks with the Western-backed government, which they dismiss as a "puppet" regime. Berlin's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Markus Potzel, has visited Kabul for talks with the Afghan government and met Taliban officials in Doha at least twice this month.

Violent Memorial Day weekend leaves 27 shot, 5 killed

At least 27 people have been shot, five fatally, in Chicago so far over Memorial Day weekend, including five people shot in a single incident Sunday on the Near West Side.

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  Here's Where's You Can Get Free Or Discounted Food ALL Memorial Day Weekend

  Delish
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  Law enforcement sees spike in DUI arrests, collisions for Memorial Day weekend

  KFSN – Fresno

Best Exterior Paints From Consumer Reports' Tests

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Exterior paints have improved significantly in recent years.

Immaculate 1992 Land Rover Discovery 200tdi Will Cost You $17k

Buying a first-generation Land Rover Discovery used to be cheap. The Land Rover Discovery has endured hard times in the used car marketplace. As the Range Rover Classic has quickly become one of the most desirable, sought after and expensive collector cars on the planet, those of more rational or 'peasant status' have turned to the humbled Discovery in search of everyday practicality with up-coming collector car status.