While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 15, 2024
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A House ethics committee examined allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use against Mr Matt Gaetz, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney-general.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Pressure mounts for release of Matt Gaetz ethics report
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney-general, Mr Matt Gaetz, came under increasing scrutiny on Nov 14, as a top Republican lawmaker said he “absolutely” wants to review an unreleased report examining allegations of sexual misconduct.
A lawyer representing an alleged victim also called for the report to be made public.
Senator John Cornyn, who holds a top spot on the committee that will consider Mr Gaetz’s nomination in 2025, said he and other lawmakers should get access to the report by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, which examined allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Mr Gaetz resigned his House seat on Nov 13, which would end the Ethics Committee probe.
British government discloses alleged diplomat crimes
PHOTO: AFP
People with diplomatic immunity in the UK allegedly committed offences including sexual assault, indecent exposure and child cruelty in 2023, a British government minister said on Nov 14.
A total of nine “serious and significant offences” by suspects with diplomatic protection were recorded with the foreign ministry in 2023, junior foreign minister Catherine West told Parliament in a written statement.
They included a Libyan accused of sexual assault, an Iraqi accused of possession or distribution of indecent images of children, a Portuguese person accused of indecent exposure and someone from Singapore facing an accusation of child cruelty or neglect.
Measles cases surge 20%, global study shows
EPA-EFE
Measles infections soared by a fifth in 2023 to over 10 million cases globally, revealing alarming gaps in vaccine coverage, a study showed on Nov 14.
Worldwide, there were an estimated 10.3 million measles cases in 2023, according to a joint publication by the World Health Organisation and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
That marked a 20 per cent increase from 2022, the study showed, saying that “inadequate immunisation coverage globally is driving the surge in cases”.
Satirical outlet The Onion buys conspiracy site Infowars
AFP
Satirical news outlet The Onion said on Nov 14 it had acquired Infowars, a conspiracy-laden website whose owner made money by running stories that called one of America’s most notorious school shootings a hoax.
The Onion said it prevailed in a bankruptcy auction to buy Alex Jones’ Infowars site with the support of families of victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
The new Infowars, starting in January, will operate as a parody of its former self, The Onion said, with a anti-gun violence nonprofit founded after the 2012 shooting advertising on the site that once claimed the bloody attack was staged.
JPMorgan’s Dimon won’t be invited to join team Trump
REUTERS
JPMorgan Chase chief executive officer Jamie Dimon will not be invited to be a part of Donald Trump’s administration, the US president-elect said on social media on Nov 14.
“I respect Jamie Dimon, of JPMorgan Chase, greatly, but he will not be invited to be a part of the Trump Administration,” Trump said in his post.
A source told Reuters last week that Mr Dimon will remain at the bank and had no plans to join Trump’s administration after earlier having been the subject of speculation as a Treasury secretary candidate in the run-up to the Nov 5 election.
