Hyderabad case: Police shoot dead four suspects in gang-rape and murder - CNN

The men had been arrested in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinarian who was strangled and her body set alight in the southern city of Hyderabad, in Telangana state last week.

The woman's charred remains were found near a highway underpass on November 27, sparking nationwide outrage and protests in several major cities including Bengaluru and India's capital, New Delhi. Many of the demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans demanding the death penalty for the suspects.

The victim has not been publicly identified due to India's laws against naming sexual assault victims.

Prakash Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Shamshabad Police in Hyderabad, told CNN the four men were killed in "cross-fire" when police had taken them to the scene of the crime to reconstruct the attack.

Reddy said that the four suspects were aged between 20 and 26 years old. Two of the men were truck drivers and two were truck cleaners. They had been taken to the spot to reconstruct the crime between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Friday.

"Some of the accused snatched the weapons from the police personnel and fired at them," said Reddy. "In self-defense, the police fired at the accused."

An ambulance was called but the men were pronounced dead at the scene, he added.

No details were made available regarding the number of police at the scene during the incident, or how the four accused had managed to obtain the weapons from the officers.

Hyderabad police said they will hold a press conference later on Friday regarding the incident.

Speaking to local television on Friday, the woman's father, who has also not been named, said that the actions of the police would mean that his "daughter's spirit will finally attain peace."

"I want to congratulate the government of Telangana, the police and the people who have been supporting me," he added.

A sister of the victim said she believed the incident would deter others from raping in future.

"The accused have been encountered. And I feel very happy," she said.

But others say the circumstances of the killings have raised questions over whether the police took the law into their own hands.

"If you kill them beforehand with guns, then what is the point of having courts, having the police, having laws? Then you just pick up a gun and kill whoever you want to. It should have been done through the legal route," said Maneka Gandhi, member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP.)

Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy, who has worked on women's rights and rape cases, said in a tweet that the deaths of the four suspects means it will remain unknown whether they were guilty or innocent.

"Now nobody will ever know if the four men killed by the police were innocent men, arrested fast to show action. And whether four of the most brutal rapists roam free, to rape and kill more women," she said.

Calculated attack

Police allege the 27-year-old was approached by two of the men after noticing a flat tire on her scooter.

According to police, the two men were members of a gang of four who had conspired to sexually assault her. One of the men had let the air out of the tire deliberately, police said.

Three of the gang are alleged to have overpowered the victim and dragged her to an enclosed area a few feet away. They covered her mouth with their hands to silence her.

The four men are then alleged to have taken turns raping the victim, before asphyxiating her and transporting the dead body to the outskirts of Hyderabad. In an effort to conceal their crime, the men are alleged to have poured fuel on her body and set it alight.

Lawmakers in India's Parliament have condemned the Hyderabad incident, demanding stricter legislation and swifter punishment for rapists. Some even called for rapists to be publicly lynched or castrated.

According to India's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), around 100 sexual assaults are reported to police in India every day. In 2017, more than 32,000 rapes were reported across the country -- but experts say that the real number is likely much higher, owing to the shame attached to sexual assault and the social barriers faced by victims.

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2019-12-06 09:04:00Z
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Hyderabad case: Police shoot dead four suspects in gang-rape and murder - CNN

The men had been arrested in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinarian who was strangled and her body set alight in the southern city of Hyderabad, in Telangana state last week.

The woman's charred remains were found near a highway underpass on November 27, sparking nationwide outrage and protests in several major cities including Bengaluru and India's capital, New Delhi. Many of the demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans demanding the death penalty for the suspects.

The victim has not been publicly identified due to India's laws against naming sexual assault victims.

Prakash Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Shamshabad Police in Hyderabad, told CNN the four men were killed in "cross-fire" when police had taken them to the scene of the crime to reconstruct the attack, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time.

"Some of the accused snatched the weapons from the police personnel and fired at them," said Reddy. "In self-defense, the police fired at the accused."

An ambulance was called but the men were pronounced dead at the scene, he added.

No details were made available regarding the number of police at the scene during the incident, or how the four accused had managed to obtain the weapons from the officers.

Hyderabad police said they will hold a press conference later on Friday regarding the incident.

Speaking to local television on Friday, the woman's father, who has also not been named, said that the actions of the police would mean that his "daughter's spirit will finally attain peace."

"I want to congratulate the government of Telangana, the police and the people who have been supporting me," he added.

A sister of the victim said she believed the incident would deter others from raping in future.

"The accused have been encountered. And I feel very happy," she said.

But others say the circumstances of the killings have raised questions over whether the police took the law into their own hands.

"If you kill them beforehand with guns, then what is the point of having courts, having the police, having laws? Then you just pick up a gun and kill whoever you want to. It should have been done through the legal route," said Maneka Gandhi, member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP.)

Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy, who has worked on women's rights and rape cases, said in a tweet that the deaths of the four suspects means it will remain unknown whether they were guilty or innocent.

"Now nobody will ever know if the four men killed by the police were innocent men, arrested fast to show action. And whether four of the most brutal rapists roam free, to rape and kill more women," she said.

Calculated attack

Police allege the 27-year-old was approached by two of the men after noticing a flat tire on her scooter.

According to police, the two men were members of a gang of four who had conspired to sexually assault her. One of the men had let the air out of the tire deliberately, police said.

Three of the gang are alleged to have overpowered the victim and dragged her to an enclosed area a few feet away. They covered her mouth with their hands to silence her.

The four men are then alleged to have taken turns raping the victim, before asphyxiating her and transporting the dead body to the outskirts of Hyderabad. In an effort to conceal their crime, the men are alleged to have poured fuel on her body and set it alight.

Lawmakers in India's Parliament have condemned the Hyderabad incident, demanding stricter legislation and swifter punishment for rapists. Some even called for rapists to be publicly lynched or castrated.

According to India's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), around 100 sexual assaults are reported to police in India every day. In 2017, more than 32,000 rapes were reported across the country -- but experts say that the real number is likely much higher, owing to the shame attached to sexual assault and the social barriers faced by victims.

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2019-12-06 08:51:00Z
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Macron pension reform: France enters second day of strikes - BBC News

A strike over planned pension reforms that paralysed France on Thursday has entered its second day.

Several unions, including rail and metro workers, voted to extend the strike action, meaning another day of major disruptions to key services.

It comes after more than 800,000 people protested on Thursday, with violent clashes reported in a number of cities.

Workers are angry about planned pension reforms that would see them retiring later or facing reduced payouts.

France currently has 42 different pension schemes across its private and public sectors, with variations in retirement age and benefits. President Emmanuel Macron says his plans for a universal points-based system would be fairer, but many disagree.

Rail workers voted to extend their strike through Friday, while unions at the Parisian bus and metro operator said their walkout would continue until at least Monday.

Numerous rush-hour trains into Paris were cancelled on Friday and 10 out of 16 metro lines were closed, while others ran limited services, Reuters news agency reports.

Traffic jams of more than 350km (217 miles) were reported on major roads in and around the capital.

A number of flights have also been disrupted, while many schools are expected to remain shuttered and hospitals understaffed.

Mr Macron's government has reportedly made plans to deal with the strike action at the weekend.

Some trade union leaders have vowed to strike until Mr Macron abandons his campaign promise to overhaul the retirement system.

"We're going to protest for a week at least, and at the end of that week it's the government that's going to back down," 50-year-old Paris transport employee Patrick Dos Santos told Reuters.

What happened on Thursday?

French police gave the figure of 800,000 people taking to the streets across the country, including 65,000 in Paris.

Union leaders put the numbers higher, with the CGT union saying 1.5m people turned out across France.

The disruption meant popular tourist sites in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, were closed for the day and usually busy transport hubs like the Gare du Nord were unusually quiet.

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In the capital there were reports of vandalism in places and police used tear gas to disperse protesters. In total, 71 arrests were made across the city, police said.

Clashes were also reported in a number of other cities including Nantes, Bordeaux and Rennes.

What is the impact on transport?

Rail operator SNCF says 90% of regional trains were cancelled by the disruption on Thursday.

Hundreds of flights were also cancelled, with airlines warning of further disruption to come.

Eurostar has said it will operate a reduced timetable until 10 December, with 29 services planned for Friday already cancelled.

Who is striking and why?

Teachers, transport workers, police, lawyers, hospital and airport staff were among those who took part in Thursday's general walkout.

Many other workers reportedly pre-empted the disruption by taking Thursday and Friday off, but it is unclear how long the "unlimited strike" action could last.

The Macron administration will hope to avoid a repeat of the country's general strike over pension reforms in 1995, which crippled the transport system for three weeks and drew massive popular support, forcing a government climbdown.

Mr Macron's unified system would reward employees for each day worked, awarding points that would later be transferred into future pension benefits.

The official retirement age has been raised in the last decade from 60 to 62, but remains one of the lowest among the OECD group of rich nations - in the UK, for example, the retirement age for state pensions is 66 and is due to rise to at least 67.

The move would remove the most advantageous pensions for a number of jobs and unions fear the new system will mean some will have to work longer for a lower pension.

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2019-12-06 08:15:00Z
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Trump on impeachment: It's a big fat hoax - Fox News

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2019-12-05 18:47:10Z
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Trudeau's hot mic comments cause consternation in Canada - CNN

Trudeau was caught on camera at a Buckingham Palace reception for NATO seemingly trash talking President Donald Trump. On the video, where audio is heard intermittently, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asks French President Emmanuel Macron, "Is that why you were late?"

But it is Trudeau who interrupts to say, "He was late because he takes a ... 40-minute press conference at the top."

And Trudeau goes on from there, hands gesturing, mouth grinning. You get the picture, and so did news streams and social media feeds around the world.

The slight did not go unnoticed by Trump, who called Trudeau "two-faced."

But it was his son, Donald Trump Jr., who picked up on his father's turn of phrase on Twitter, tweeting a picture of Trudeau dressed in blackface, referring to a scandal earlier this year when it was revealed that the Prime Minister had worn racist makeup several times.

Trump Jr. writes, "As usual @realDonaldTrump is 100% right!!! Trump calls Trudeau 'two-faced' see evidence below," referring to a photo of Trudeau wearing blackface when he was teacher nearly two decades ago.

For his part Trudeau did not apologize to Trump but said, "Last night, I made a reference to the fact that there was an unscheduled press conference before my meeting with President Trump and I was happy to take part of it, but it was certainly notable."

Canadian officials traveling with the Prime Minister tell CNN the cocktail conversation was taken out of context and Trudeau was merely telling fellow colleagues about his day.

But Canada's Conservative opposition leader, Andrew Scheer, said there was no excuse for such a mistake in front of a global audience.

"Justin Trudeau's poor judgment, lack of professionalism and love of drama continues to weaken Canada's position on the world stage," Scheer said during a speech to Conservative members of parliament.

New Democratic Party opposition leader Jagmeet Singh repeated a criticism of Trudeau first heard during the blackface scandal and seemed to subtly agree with Trump on the Prime Minister's character.

"What I've said often about Mr. Trudeau is that he certainly says some things in public and then says things very differently in private," said Singh, speaking to reporters outside the room where his caucus met on Wednesday.

Reaction among Canadians was mixed both online and in interviews, while opinion columnists debated whether it would have any effect on US-Canada relations going forward.

Referring to Trump's "two-faced" jibe, Globe & Mail newspaper opinion writer Lawrence Martin writes, "Insults between great friends and allies don't get much nastier than this. In fact, it is arguably the worst insult a President has ever issued to a PM, a broadside more penetrating than Donald Trump's calling Justin Trudeau 'very dishonest and weak' after the June, 2018, G7 summit in Quebec."

But he also notes that former President Richard Nixon was apparently caught on tape in the 1970s referring to Trudeau's father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre, as "that a**hole Trudeau."

US-Canada relations spectacularly survived that fractious relationship. But with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal yet to be ratified and a continuing dispute with China over the arrest of a Huawei executive and the detention of two Canadians in retaliation, Trudeau needs to be able to depend on the President more than ever.

Toronto Star national columnist Susan Delacourt tweeted, "OK. I'll say it: What's so wrong about laughing at @realDonaldTrump?" and wrote in her column, "Did you hear the one about the world leader behaving badly at a NATO summit? In what truly is a sign of just how much Donald Trump has disrupted the rules of political diplomacy in three tumultuous years in office, the punchline to that joke is not Donald Trump."

Canadian officials speaking to CNN stressed that despite the viral moment, the meeting was "good and substantive" with discussions about the USMCA and -- of particular importance -- they say Trump agreed to help Trudeau secure the release of the two Canadians held in China.

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2019-12-05 13:30:00Z
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‘The world is laughing at President Trump’: Joe Biden highlights viral NATO video in campaign ad - The Washington Post

Former vice president Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate, released a new campaign ad late Wednesday highlighting the NATO video in a blistering critique of Trump’s ability to lead on the global stage. Biden’s campaign also mocked Trump’s repeated insistence that the United States requires a president who isn’t a “laughing stock,” ending the ad with a graphic that read, “We need a leader the world respects.” By early Thursday, the roughly minute-long video had been watched more than 5 million times.

“The world is laughing at President Trump,” Biden tweeted. “They see him for what he really is: dangerously incompetent and incapable of world leadership.”

The world is laughing at President Trump. They see him for what he really is: dangerously incompetent and incapable of world leadership.

We cannot give him four more years as commander in chief. pic.twitter.com/IR8K2k54YQ

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 5, 2019

The pointed ad marks the continued fallout after Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other dignitaries were caught on camera Tuesday engaging in a brief exchange apparently about Trump that quickly spiraled into an international incident. On Wednesday, Trudeau, Macron and Johnson were forced to field questions about the candid conversation and Trump was described as “the scorned child on the global playground” and “a sulking, brooding president,” The Washington Post reported.

Set to dramatic instrumental music, Biden’s ad opens with Trump grinning and flashing a thumbs up as he stands flanked by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

But the video quickly cuts to the Tuesday footage of the leaders at Buckingham Palace and their animated conversation.

“World leaders caught on camera laughing about President Trump,” a narrator says.

“Several world leaders mocking President Trump,” another speaker says. The video zooms in on Macron talking before jumping to a close-up of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte mid-laugh. Other clips show Johnson and Trudeau smiling.

The ad then calls attention to other occasions where Trump has been met with derision from foreign leaders, including video of the president addressing the U.N. General Assembly last year, where his remarks were met with “audible guffaws” from audience members, The Post’s David Nakamura reported.

“A president the world is laughing at,” reads all-caps text superimposed on footage from Trump’s address.

As videos of Trump play, Biden slams the president, calling him “insincere, ill-informed, corrupt, dangerously incompetent and incapable, in my view, of world leadership.”

“And if we give Donald Trump four more years, we’ll have a great deal of difficulty of ever being able to recover America’s standing in the world, and our capacity to bring nations together,” Biden says over images of himself with foreign leaders such as Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In a Wednesday tweet, Trump defended his behavior at the summit, writing, “I got along great with the NATO leaders.”

“The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to belittle my VERY successful trip to London for NATO,” Trump tweeted, adding that there was “only deep respect” for the United States.

The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to belittle my VERY successful trip to London for NATO. I got along great with the NATO leaders, even getting them to pay $130 Billion a year more, & $400 Billion a year more in 3 years. No increase for U.S., only deep respect!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2019

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, hit back at Biden over his own foreign policy credentials.

“As the President has said, Joe Biden claims that foreign leaders have told him they want him to win the election. Of course they do,” Murtaugh wrote in an email to The Post. “They want to keep ripping off the United States like they did before Trump became President.”

The viral video from Buckingham Palace offered Biden a chance to highlight a regular theme from his campaign: emphasizing his foreign policy experience, while slamming Trump’s handling of global relations. In November, Biden’s campaign touted endorsements from 133 foreign policy experts and former officials who supported the former vice president as the “best antidote” to Trump, The Post’s Josh Rogin wrote. Days later, Biden accused Trump of “shredding our alliances” during an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.

At an event in Ames, Iowa, earlier on Wednesday, Biden had declined to directly attack Trump’s NATO performance, citing his stance that presidents shouldn’t be criticized while they are on foreign soil, WHO-DT reported. “What happened in the recent NATO conference has disturbed me. Really, really disturbed me,” he said.

But less than an hour after Air Force One delivered Trump back to the U.S. on Wednesday night, Biden dropped his ad.

On social media, the video was met with mixed reactions. Some praised Biden’s team for creating what one person called “the best anti-Trump ad I’ve seen yet.” Others warned that the ad would only inspire a similar video from the Trump campaign centered on Biden’s numerous gaffes.

Viewers, however, did appear to largely agree on one thing: Trump would not be pleased.

“@realDonaldTrump is going to explode,” one person tweeted.

Jesus, this is savage. Trump is going to be apoplectic when he sees this. Expect a lot of angry Biden tweets in the morning, and maybe even a renewed push to find someone - literally anyone - willing to "investigate" his family. https://t.co/zbkIDnpYSE

— Christopher Clark (@chrisclarkwords) December 5, 2019

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2019-12-05 13:18:00Z
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Strikes set to paralyze France as protesters take to streets - CNN International

The last time France reached for a universal pension system, Jacques Chirac was President, Alain Juppe was his prime minister and, like today, a wave of freezing cold weather had descended on the country.

After 2 million people took to the streets and nearly three weeks of near total paralysis, the pension reform was dropped. It hadn't been attempted since. Until now.

President Emmanuel Macron has announced reforms that would put an end to the 42 retirement schemes currently in place in France.

His proposal: Schemes, which include special provisions for certain professions, like rail workers and train drivers who benefit from early retirement, would be unified into a single points-based system that would give all workers the same rights.

What's driving concern? Many fear that under Macron's new universal retirement system, they will have to work longer for less, even though the official retirement age in France is 62 -- one of the lowest among the 36 countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

What to expect Thursday: Ambulance drivers, teachers, police unions, postal workers, hospital workers are expected to join the strike. And for the first time, yellow vests will be joining the unions in their protests.

In Paris alone, 300 of the capital's 652 primary schools will be closed because of the strike action. And 6,000 police officers will be deployed in Paris for rallies across the city, with protests on the Champs Elysees, Matignon and police stations forbidden.

Read the full story here:

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2019-12-05 12:34:00Z
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