The French, German and Russian leaders are set to meet in the German capital to discuss the Syrian crisis, as a brief truce has been introduced by Russia and Syria for the embattled city of Aleppo. French and Russian presidents Francois Hollande and Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet in Berlin on Wednesday, according to Hollande’s office.

An aide to Hollande said the meeting is aimed at “giving the message” to the Russian president that “a durable ceasefire” and humanitarian access is needed for Aleppo. Russia, which has been conducting an aerial military campaign against extremist militants in Syria, has repeatedly voiced its readiness for a ceasefire. Russia has been insisting, however, that any such lull in fighting should be accompanied with a meticulous separation of terrorists from other, less extremist militants fighting against the Syrian government.

Western countries, including the US, have been reluctant to do any such separation. Al-Nusra Front, which has recently renamed itself and claimed to have broken up with al-Qaeda, is one of the handful of terrorist groups that have mingled with almost all the other militant outfits fighting in Syria, including inside Aleppo.

The Syrian and Russian militaries have also set up humanitarian corridors around Aleppo to allow the safe exit of civilians trapped in the city ever since a major offensive began to retake it. Damascus and Moscow say, however, that the militants are preventing the civilians from leaving the city.

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A group of 70 Nobel Prize winners have thrown their support behind the US Democratic presidential nominee, endorsing Hillary Clinton for presidency in the run-up to the 2016 elections.

In an open letter on Tuesday, the world’s leading experts in science, medicine and economics “strongly and fully” backed the former secretary of state, arguing that her election is crucial for preserving freedom, safeguarding national security and protecting a constitutional government. “It is imperative that Hillary Clinton be elected as the next president of the United States,” they wrote.

“We need a president who will support and advance policies that will enable science and technology to flourish in our country and to provide the basis of important policy decisions,” the laureates added.

The letter made no mention of Clinton’s Republican rival, Donald Trump, but it suggested that policies that show a lack of appreciation for scientific knowledge could harm America’s national security.

The signatories of the letter, among whom were prominent names such as  chemist Peter Agre,  economist Robert J. Shiller and  physicist Robert Woodrow Wilson, also pointed to global issues, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and climate change as problems that require innovation and investment.

Along with other GOPers, Trump believes that the climate change issue is just a “hoax.” According to The New York Times, “The fact that the Nobel laureates are backing Mrs. Clinton does not come as a big surprise, as academics overwhelmingly tend to lean Democratic.”

The race between Trump and Clinton represents a battle between two of the least liked major party candidates in US history. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released in August found Clinton and Trump were the most unpopular presidential candidates in decades.

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The widow of a Nigerian activist is planning to sue Royal Dutch Shell in the Dutch courts alleging the oil company was complicit in the execution of her husband by the Nigerian military in 1995, court documents filed in the United States last week show. Esther Kiobel has filed an application in New York to secure documents from Shell’s US lawyers, which she could use in the Dutch action.

The filings with the US District Court for the Southern District Court of New York said she planned to begin the action before the end of the year. “Ms. Kiobel will demonstrate that Shell encouraged, facilitated, and conspired with the Nigerian government to commit human rights violations against the Ogoni people,” a memorandum in the application filed last week said.

A Shell spokesman said: “Shell remains firmly committed to supporting fundamental human rights in line with the legitimate role of business. We have always denied, in the strongest possible terms, the allegations made by the plaintiffs in this tragic case.”

Kiobel previously took her lawsuit to the United States but the US Supreme Court ruled in 2013 the case could not be heard because the alleged activities took place outside the country. In 2009 prior to that ruling Shell had agreed in the United States to pay $15.5 million to settle lawsuits related to other activists executed at the same time as Barinem Kiobel, including author and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kiobel’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

John Donovan, who runs the royaldutchshellplc.com protest website, and who has advised Kiobel on the case said: “She’s going after Shell in their home country, the Netherlands”. The Nigerian military cracked down heavily on local opposition to oil production by a Shell joint venture in the Niger Delta in the early 1990s. Kiobel alleges that Shell provided support to the military in its crackdown. A Dutch court ruled in December that Shell may be sued in the Netherlands for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria, although it did not say Shell was responsible.

Culled from Defenseweb

The Austrian government says the house where Adolf Hitler was born is to be torn down to stop it from becoming a shrine for neo-Nazis. The mansion will be replaced with a new building that has no association with the Nazi dictator and used by either a charity or the local authorities, according to Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka.  The property has been empty since 2011 amid a government order for the compulsory purchase of the building in a town on the border with Germany, and a dispute with its owner.

The government this year launched formal legal procedures to dispossess the home’s owner after she had repeatedly refused to sell the building. Now a committee of experts including historians, officials and the head of Austria’s main Jewish organization has recommended that a “thorough architectural rearrangement” be carried out.

The plan still has to be formalized in legislation and voted on in parliament. Austria, which was annexed by Hitler’s Germany in 1938, has confronted its Nazi past far less directly than its larger neighbour. The controversial building draws Nazi sympathizers from around the world, visiting and posing in front of the house with the Hitler salute.

The street where the house is located also witnesses anti-fascist protests annually where demonstrators organize rallies outside the building. The news prompted some residents to call for a refugee centre to be built in place of the building amid an unprecedented influx of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East.

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The United States has been rigging elections for nearly 200 years in order to keep anti-establishment candidates away from the White House, says Stephen Lendman, an American writer, journalist and political commentator. According to a new poll released on Monday, 41 percent of American voters are now saying the 2016 presidential election could be “stolen” from Republican nominee Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud.

And 73 percent of Republican voters think the election could be stolen from the billionaire businessman, while 17 percent of Democrats agree with the prospect of rigging. Over the last week, Trump has intensified his criticism of the American electoral system. He called the election process rigged, and said the media is colluding with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in order to beat him.

Lendman told Press TV on Monday that voter fraud in America is not a new phenomenon. “It’s a phenomenon that goes back to the early days of the Republic, and I have written a number of times in my articles.” “I remember an article where I cited elections going back to around 1820 in America – my God almost 200 years ago! – when an election was rigged to ensure that one candidate got into office as president, and the other candidate was defeated,” he added.

The analyst said elections at all levels are rigged in the United States. “In my own city of Chicago the election was rigged to install the current mayor, and then rigged again to see that he was re-elected. So it goes on all levels of government in America.”

“No other country I am aware of meddles in the internal affairs of America in its elections or anything else, and all the claims that America is making about Russia meddling in America’s elections and wanted to influence Trump win over Clinton, all that is a bunch of rubbish. There’s no evidence proving it,” the commentator said.

“Trump is right saying elections are rigged,” he emphasized. Lendman stated that if Clinton wins and Trump loses in November, elections are absolutely rigged “because he sounds like an anti-establishment candidate.” However, he said, “Nobody becomes a billionaire by being anti-establishment. He’s very much part of the establishment, but he’s a little independent-minded based on the things he talks about.”

The US media has launched an offensive against Trump in recent days, running reports of several women claiming the billionaire businessman has groped and forcibly kissed them. Trump has called the allegations “slander and libel” and part of a “concerted, coordinated and vicious attack” launched by Clinton and the news media to destroy his campaign.

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Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has died at age of 88, casting uncertainty over the Southeast Asian state’s political future. “His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully,” the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement on Thursday, adding that he died at 15:52 local time.

The palace did not reveal the reason for the king’s death, but it had warned days ago that his health was “not stable.” Thailand’s parliament is to hold a special session at 21:00 local time to discuss the new development.

The monarch’s demise has plunged the political future of Thailand in doubt as his presumed successor, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 63, lacks the widespread popularity his father enjoyed during his 77-year reign.

The transition of power following the king’s death could become an important juncture in a country ruled by a military junta and long divided by rival political parties.

The former general, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has been at the helm of the county since the last democratic government of Yingluck Shinawatra was toppled after years of political turmoil in a 2014 coup d’etat.

The king, who essentially had a symbolic role, had been in poor health for some time, and spent most of the past six years in Bangkok’s Siriraj hospital.

The king had been receiving treatment for a respiratory infection, a buildup of fluid surrounding the brain and a swollen lung in the past few months.

King Bhumibol was re-admitted in Siriraj hospital in May 2015 and was last seen in public in January, when he spent several hours visiting his Bangkok palace.

The majority of the country’s 68 million population viewed the monarch as a traditional pillar of Thailand’s unity as well as stability in rapidly-changing times.

King Bhumibol ascended to the throne on June 9, 1946, and his reign witnessed 10 military coups, the most recent in May 2014 led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was quick to offer condolences to Thailand on the king’s passing, expressing hope that the country would honor his legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights.

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US presidential nominee Donald Trump has again come under pressure as more women claim to have been sexually abused by the billionaire businessman from New York. The allegations were reported on Wednesday by The New York Times,The Palm Beach Post and Yahoo News. This comes after the release of a 2005 tape in which Trump is heard making vulgar comments about women and having a conversation about trying to have sex with a married woman.

One woman told the Times she was seated next to the Republican nominee during a flight to New York some three decades ago, and Trump started groping her suddenly.    “He was like an octopus,” Jessica Leeds, now 74, told the paper. “His hands were everywhere. It was an assault.” Another woman, Rachel Crooks, also told the Times that he kissed her without her permission. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that,” she said.

The Trump campaign has denied many of the allegations made against him, and called the Times article “a completely false, coordinated character assassination.” “It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement.

“To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election,” the statement added. “None of this ever took place,” Trump told the Times on Tuesday night, and threatened to sue the publication if the paper went ahead to run the story. “You are a disgusting human being,” he told the reporter, who contacted him before publishing the story. “I don’t do it. I don’t do it,” he said.

And in a letter to New York Times editor Dean Baquet on Wednesday night, Trump’s lawyer said the article is an attempt to damage Trump’s presidential campaign. “Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se. It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump’s candidacy,” Marc E. Kasowitz wrote.

After The Washington Post released a recording last week that shows Trump making vulgar remarks about women, Republican officials, including governors, senators and congressmen across the US have disavowed the billionaire. Trump’s apology for the remarks also failed to quell the unprecedented controversy over his comments, prompting growing demands by Republicans for him to quit the race.

Even Trump’s vice presidential candidate Mike Pence refused to defend the billionaire politician on Saturday, saying that he was “offended” by the obscene comments. On Monday, however, Pence reiterated his support for Trump, saying he expressed remorse for his controversial comments.

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Two police officers have been killed and another one injured in an exchange of gunfire in Palm Springs, California, authorities say.

Officers Jose Gilbert Vega, 63, and Lesley Zerebny, 27, were fatally shot on Saturday while responding to a call about a domestic disturbance.

Vega, a 35-year veteran and father of eight, was due to retire in December, and Zerebny was the mother of a 4-month-old.

Another officer, whose identity was not known, was injured and hospitalized in stabilized condition. The incident began after the officers arrived at the scene upon a call by a woman who complained about her adult son, the suspected gunman.

The father of the suspect had told a neighbor that his son had mental issues and wanted to shoot the officers. “He said, ‘Help. I need help. My son is in the house, and he’s crazy. He has a gun. He’s ready to shoot all the police,’” said Frances Serrano, who lives directly across from the place where the shooting happened.

The father “was very nervous,” Serrano said. “He was afraid of his son.” Chief Bryan Reyes said at a press conference that the officers tried to talk to the suspect first before the shooting took place. “The male refused to open the door and threatened to shoot the officers through the closed doors,” Reyes said.

Almost 10 minutes after they first responded, the two officers called for emergency reinforcement, saying that shots had been fired.

“It was a simple family disturbance and (the gunman) elected to open fire,” Reyes said.

Lee Weigel, the city’s former police chief and a onetime city councilman, said, “This is the worst incident in the history of Palm Springs in terms of officer shootings.”

It was not clear whether the gunman was still inside the house or had escaped, police said, noting that the area was still an active scene and under investigation.

The incident was the latest in a string of fatal shootings of law enforcement officers across the country amid an outcry about the deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police.

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Media reports say three Turkish diplomats have applied for asylum in Germany in the wake of Ankara’s crackdown on individuals suspected of involvement in the failed coup of July 15. Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper and public broadcasters NDR and WDR quoted government sources as saying that a military attaché was among the diplomats.

Following the coup attempt, Ankara recalled an unspecified number of diplomatic passports. Representatives of the German Interior Ministry told lawmakers at the lower house of parliament that three Turkish diplomats in Germany had submitted asylum applications, the media outlets said.

However, the daily quoted government sources as saying that the number of Turkish diplomats seeking asylum may have increased, adding that the asylum applications were still undecided.

The diplomats are suspected of having links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the abortive coup. Gulen has condemned the coup attempt and denied any involvement.

Since the coup was declared over on July 16, Turkey began its harsh crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the failed coup. Reports say about 100,000 people have been discharged or suspended from their jobs. Nearly 32,000 people were also jailed pending trial during the crackdown.

Relations between Ankara and Berlin have strained since the German parliament passed a resolution in June, recognizing the Armenian “genocide” at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.

The bilateral relations between the two countries further strained after the post-coup crackdown as Berlin expressed its concern over the measures taken by Ankara in response to the situation. Germany, however, is dependent on Ankara in curbing the influx of refugees into Europe.

The European Union and Turkey signed a deal in March, under which Turkey committed to taking back all the asylum seekers and refugees that used the Aegean Sea to illegally reach Greece.

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