David Davis scrambles to salvage EU relations after ‘damaging trust’

Doah!

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Brexit secretary moves to persuade Guy Verhofstadt that UK can be trusted after claiming deal was just ‘statement of intent’

David Davis has scrambled to salvage relations with Brussels after he was accused of damaging trust in the Brexit talks by making inflammatory comments over the status of Britain’s promises.

Related: MEPs will toughen their Brexit demands after David Davis’s ‘unhelpful’ interview, says Verhofstadt – Politics live

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Can a GM banana solve Uganda’s hunger crisis? | Alon Mwesigwa

GM Banana opens the door to massive crop failure when “nature” responds with its attempt to restore the imbalance caused by the mono-crop!

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A law paving the way for GM crops is aimed at tackling the acute food shortages faced by almost 11 million Ugandans, despite experts’ fears over the technology

After an afternoon drizzle, Ephraim Muhereza carefully scouts his three-acre banana plantation in Gayaza, Wakiso district, plucking male buds from trees. This will stop his plants from catching the notorious banana bacterial wilt, which has destroyed many farms in Uganda.

“We have been told that to reduce the spread of the wilt. We have to cut them so that bees that visit them don’t spread the disease,” he says.

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Trump attacks senator and dismisses sexual harassment claims as Democratic conspiracy

Trump sends ‘ugly and suggestive’ tweet about senator Kirsten Gillibrand after she called on him to resign over sexual misconduct allegations

Source: Trump attacks senator and dismisses sexual harassment claims as Democratic conspiracy

““Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” the president tweeted.

Gillibrand – who along with three male Democratic senators has called on Trump to resign over the numerous sexual misconduct accusations against him – responded on Twitter minutes later. “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office,” the New York senator wrote.

Hours later, Gillibrand told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump’s post was “a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice. It’s part of the president’s effort at name-calling.”

She added: “I will not be silenced on this issue. Neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday, and neither will the millions of women who have been marching since the women’s march [in January] to stand up against policies they do not agree with.”

Trump singled out Gillibrand while ignoring the male senators who have also called on him to step down: the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, the New Jersey senator Cory Booker and the Oregon senator Jeff Merkley.”

Egyptian pop singer sent to prison for video that ‘incited debauchery’

When stupid men are in charge – public prudes and in private – creepy rogue sexists.

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Shyma, 21, sentenced to two years over video in which she appeared in her underwear and suggestively ate a banana

An Egyptian pop singer has been sentenced to two years in prison for “inciting debauchery” in a racy music video clip.

Shyma, a little-known 21-year-old singer, was also fined 10,000 pounds (£420) by a Cairo court.

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World Bank to end financial support for oil and gas exploration

good idea

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Bank announces in Paris it ‘will no longer finance upstream oil and gas’ after 2019 in response to threat posed by climate change

The World Bank will end its financial support for oil and gas exploration within the next two years in response to the growing threat posed by climate change.

In a statement that delighted campaigners opposed to fossil fuels, the Bank used a conference in Paris to announce that it “will no longer finance upstream oil and gas” after 2019.

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“In 2012, Louis C.K. appeared on “The Daily Show” and said that “comedians and feminists are natural…”

“In 2012, Louis C.K. appeared on “The Daily Show” and said that “comedians and feminists are natural enemies” because “feminists can’t take a joke.” Jon Stewart nodded vigorously and agreed. Today, Stewart is being fawned over for acknowledging, in response to Louis C.K.’s fall, that “comedy on its best day is not a great environment for women.” A friend, the comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh, texted me: Ten years from now a man will win awards for his documentary about all this.

If you believe us now only because your peers are facing professional ruin, that deserves its own reckoning. I’ll wait.”

Why Men Aren’t Funny – The New York Times (via brutereason)