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Australian law allows religious schools to reject gay students, PM says

(CNN)Prime Minister Scott Morrison said religious schools in Australia are already legally allowed to deny students a place based on their sexual orientation, following criticism of a leaked report that proposes allowing schools to bar them.

Morrison was commenting on the contents of a leaked report on religious freedoms, reigniting debate about what constitutes unlawful discrimination against gay people just months after Australia's Parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage.

Fairfax Media reported Wednesday it had seen contents of the report, which recommended amendments to a federal law that allows religious schools to discriminate against students "on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or relationship status."

When asked if he thought religious schools should be able to turn away students on the basis of sexual orientation, Morrison demurred twice, saying "that is the existing law."

The Prime Minister's office said he was referring to a section in the federal Sex Discrimination Act that exempts religious educational institutions from some discrimination requirements. However, some states have passed their own discrimination laws and do not allow religious schools to reject students on the basis of sexual orientation.

"We're not proposing to change that law to take away that existing arrangement that exists," Morrison said.Morrison, who opposed the same-sex marriage bill and abstained from the final vote in December 2017, vowed to change the law to protect religious freedom in an interview last month, shortly after the sudden ouster of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. But Morrison said any new laws would take into account the religious freedom review, which Turnbull commissioned in order to assuage the concerns of marriage equality opponents who said the new law infringed on their religious rights.

The report was compiled after a public consultation period that attracted 15,000 submissions and submitted to Turnbull in May, but the government has yet to formally release it, Fairfax reported.

"We have a report that's been provided to the government. It's a report to government, not from government. It's a report that the government will be considering and developing a balanced response to, and we will do that in our orderly process, taking it through Cabinet," Morrison said Wednesday.

Critics, including civil liberty groups, members of the opposition Labor Party and gay rights advocates, said the government should not be proposing avenues for discrimination.

"The fact of the matter is that every child is entitled to human dignity. We shouldn't even be having this debate," opposition leader Bill Shorten said.

Alex Greenwich, an MP from Sydney and a gay rights activist, said he was concerned about the divisiveness of the report.

"One of the tragic things out of this report is it seeks to establish a narrative of gay versus God," he told Sky News Australia. "The faith community is largely supportive of the LGBTQI community and the LGBTQI community is very supportive and respective of the faith community."

According to Fairfax, the panel rejected the idea put forward by Australian conservatives that religious freedom was in "imminent peril."

It also found that businesses should not be allowed to refuse service to customers on religious grounds because it would "unnecessarily encroach on other human rights" and "may cause significant harm to vulnerable groups," Fairfax reported.

Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter said in a statement Wednesday that the report does not propose creating any new exemptions for religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexuality, nor does it make any changes to the regime currently in place. The law was last amended in 2012, when the opposition Labor party was in power.

"The exemption that allows schools to make employment and student admission decisions in a way consistent with the tenets of their religion already exists for religious schools," he said.

Morrison said the report has not been considered by the Cabinet, but would be released "in due course."

"It will be released with a response from the Government, once we're in a position to advise our comprehensive response to that report, and once we've carefully considered and respectfully considered all the measures and recommendations and proposals that have been put forward," he said.

Mohammad Shakeel of Faisalabad annoyed the new way to stop the wife going out

Mexican couple arrested with body parts in stroller may have killed 20

(CNN)A couple arrested in Mexico while pushing a baby stroller filled with human body parts may have killed up to 20 women, according to the chief investigator on the case.

The man and woman were detained Thursday in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec on suspicion of murdering 10 female victims. However, the male suspect has since claimed that they are responsible for twice as many deaths.

Police arrested the pair, identified only as "Juan Carlos N." and his wife "Patricia "N.," during an investigation into the disappearance of three women and a two-month-old baby. The man gave detailed accounts of the original 10 deaths. He also told police that he and his wife had killed a further 10 people, according to State of Mexico Prosecutor Alejandro Gomez and reported by AFP.

Police found eight plastic buckets full of dismembered body parts and cement in the couple's house, Gomez revealed in a Facebook post on Sunday. More remains were found in a refrigerator, wrapped in plastic bags. Tests are now being carried out on the grisly evidence.

The couple, who live with their three children, were arrested while pushing the baby carriage through Ecatepec. The police had expected to find the missing baby inside, but instead found human remains.

It is now down to the prosecution to establish whether these claims are founded or whether they are just boasts by a "psychopath" or "serial killer," according to Gomez.

"He described it in a completely natural way ... I would say he actually seemed happy to have done this," Gomez told Mexican radio network Formula, AFP reported. "He wants people to see his picture, to know his name ... I would obviously classify this person as a murderer, a serial killer."

The suspect also admitted to selling the two-month-old baby of one of their victims, Reuters reported.

The grim case has sent anger and shock through Mexico. Hundreds of people protested in Ecatepec on Sunday, AFP reported. Demonstrators carried candles and white flowers to demand action by authorities on deadly violence against women and girls.

In 2016, seven women and girls were killed in Mexico every day, according to UN Women figures.

A 2017 report from Mexico's Interior Department, the National Women's Institute and UN Women found that 52,210 killings of women were recorded between 1985 and 2017. Nearly a third occurred in the last six years of that 32-year period.

Michael's not done yet -- path of destruction stretches north from Florida

(CNN)Hurricane Michael's deadly trail of devastation now stretches from the Florida Panhandle, where it wiped away a coastal city, to the Carolinas, where it triggered flash floods that turned roads into rivers. And the threat continues overnight.

Now a tropical storm with winds of 50 mph, Michael is expected to gain strength as it passes into Virginia and moves into the western Atlantic Ocean overnight, bringing damaging winds and life-threatening flash flooding over parts of North Carolina and Virginia.

Six people are dead in the storm's path, and authorities fear the toll could climb higher as search-and-rescue efforts continue. So far, Coast Guard crews in Florida have rescued 40 people and assisted 232.

Hurricane Michael carried a home across a road and slammed it against a condo complex in Mexico Beach.

Conditions remain precarious in hard hit areas, especially Mexico Beach, Florida, where Michael reduced buildings to rubble and snapped trees in half. A councilwoman from there issued an urgent plea to anyone thinking of returning.

"Please don't come down," Linda Albrecht said. "The more people that return, it's just going to get in the way."
Key developments
• Where is Michael? As of Thursday evening, the storm was centered about five miles northwest of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
• Power outages are on the rise: 1.3 million customers in six states are without power, including 604,831 in North Carolina.
• Victims identified: The dead include four people in Florida, a child in Georgia and a man in North Carolina.
• Public health emergency declared in Georgia: The declaration will help ensure those who rely on Medicare and Medicaid have access to the care they need, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.

Our lives are gone here'

Catastrophic scenes have emerged across the Florida Panhandle, but none perhaps worse than in Mexico Beach, ground zero of the devastation.

Receding floodwater are just starting to reveal the extent of damage. What used to be a gorgeous beachfront city now looks like an apocalyptic mess.

"First the cars started floating by, and all the debris was in the air," Mexico Beach resident Scott Boutwell said. "When the water came in, houses started floating in front of our home."

A firefighter searches door to door after Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach.

When Boutwell returned to his own house, he discovered furniture in his house that wasn't his. The walls had collapsed and "the only thing I could find of ours was my briefcase," he said.

As he looked around, a new reality set in: "Our lives are gone here. All the stores, all the restaurants, everything. There's nothing left here anymore."

Tracking Michael

Category Projected path Traveled path

Albrecht, the Mexico Beach councilwoman, would like to return home, but she says the roads are impassible. She's desperate for news about the condition of her home, but she can't reach anyone, she says.

She chokes up talking about it. "I just need to know."

School that helped Hurricane Maria victims is now destroyed

The students and staff at Jinks Middle School have dealt with disaster before. Last year, they welcomed children who were displaced by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

This time, the Panama City school was ripped apart by Michael. The debris-covered floor of the school's gymnasium is now fully visible from outside.

Principal Britt Smith choked up as he looked at images of the decimated building.

"You can't make sense of it, but what you do is you take the situation, and what we have to make certain that our kids know is that we must be resilient," Smith said.

"Resiliency is important, and it's an important life message that we all have to learn. ... But at this point, there's really no making sense. It's just how do we get together, how do we recover?

Dorian Carter searches for his missing cat after several trees fell on his Panama City home Wednesday.

In Seminole County, Georgia, a metal carport crashed through a roof, hitting a girl's head. Several hours passed before emergency officials could reach the unincorporated area where the girl was killed, county emergency management director Travis Brooks said.

The county coroner identified the girl as 11-year-old Sarah Radney. "She loved God, she was Christian. When the doors to the church were open she would want to be there," her father Roy Radney said. When her parents couldn't make it to church, Sarah would get up early and call her aunt for a ride, he said.

One of the four victims from Florida has been identified as Steven Sweet, the Gadsden County sheriff's office said. Sweet died after a tree fell on a home near Greensboro.

Megan McCall says her brother Jeff and his family were riding out the storm in the Panhandle. No one has heard from them since Wednesday afternoon.

Her brother was able to tell a friend that his home was starting to get cracks in the walls and water was rushing in Wednesday. A neighbor told McCall that all the docks in the area were destroyed and many people are stuck in their homes as the roads have been blocked with debris.

"I just need to know he's OK," McCall said. "If the house and the cars are destroyed they can be replaced, but my niece needs her dad -- and as much as I sometimes can't stand him, I would do anything to just know he's OK."

Growing path of pain

After slamming Florida and lashing Georgia, Michael is now barreling through the storm-weary Carolinas.

Tornadoes, dangerous winds and more flooding are possible in many of the same areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence. Michael is expected to dump up to 7 inches of rain in parts of North Carolina and Virginia, the National Hurricane Center said.

A 38-year old man died when a large tree fell on his vehicle on Highway 64, East of Statesville, North Carolina, Iredell County Fire Marshall David Souther said.

In southwestern Virginia, Emily Waddell said the water level in a creek near her property in Simpsons already surpassed what it experienced during Florence. So far, she says she has lost a chicken coop and four of six of gardens due to Michael's fallout.

Man who punched woman in viral video sentenced to 6 months in prison

(CNN)A man has been sentenced to six months in prison for punching a woman in the face in Paris when she told him to "shut up" after she said he sexually harassed her, a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor told CNN on Thursday.

The sentence also included a suspended term of six months. The man was not named by the prosecutor.

Closed-circuit TV footage that showed the moment the man hit Marie Laguerre on July 24 went viral after she shared it on her Facebook page, sparking a national discussion about the harassment women face.

Laguerre said she was walking home when a man on the street started whistling and making "very degrading and humiliating" noises at her.

"It put me in a rage and I told him to shut up," Laguerre told CNN in August. "I didn't think he'd hear me, but he did. He actually got really mad and then he threw an ashtray at me. After that, I insulted him and after that, he rushed back to punch me."

The encounter lasts a few seconds. In the video, the man can be seen walking past a cafe terrace, where he picks up an ashtray from a table and throws it in her direction. He then comes face to face with Laguerre and strikes her before swiftly walking away as witnesses stand up to confront him.

Police arrested him in August.

"I took the punch with the most pride I could, because I didn't want to show him any sign of weakness or any sign that he was actually going to put me down," Laguerre said.

After the video was posted online, Laguerre said she received hundreds of messages from women sharing their experiences with harassment, and from men who told her they hadn't realized things were so bad.

She said it "was powerful to read, because it gave me hope that now, men -- thanks to this video -- they realize it's a really bad situation when we are in the street. We don't feel safe."

Laguerre said she is grateful the attack was caught on video.

"It's helpful for the case, but more importantly, it's really raising awareness of the gravity of the situation that every woman faces.""This video shocked a lot of people, because they could actually see what could actually happen to women when she says no," Laguerre said. "They can also see that it's not about seduction, it's about domination, and it's raising awareness that we need to listen to women, because they've been talking about this issue for years."

A 2015 survey for the French Institute for Demographic Studies found that 20% of the female respondents reported receiving wolf whistles, 8% reported receiving insults and 3% reported being followed in public spaces over a span of a year. Physical violence was reported by 1.3% of women, according to the survey, which had 27,000 respondents.

In July, France's National Assembly passed a law banning sexual or sexist comments that are "degrading, humiliating, intimidating, hostile or offensive." Harassment in public could warrant hefty, on-the-spot fines from 90 euros to 750 euros ($104 to $863).

The first man to be prosecuted under the "anti-catcalling" law was given a fine of 300 euros ($345) in September for sexually assaulting a woman on a bus near Paris.

Vladimir Putin plays hockey and cuddles a puppy in new 2019 calendars

Moscow (CNN)In their book "Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin," Russia analysts Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy note Russian President Vladimir Putin's "endless number of guises," all meant to telegraph his status as Russia's First Person.

"As president and prime minister, Mr. Putin has turned himself into the ultimate political performance artist," they wrote. "Over the last several years, his public relations team has pushed his image in multiple directions, pitching him as everything from big game hunter and conservationist to scuba diver to biker -- even nightclub crooner."

One thing, however, unites the different guises of Putin. They all project an image of manliness, strength and robust health. In nearly all of his photo opportunities, Putin plays the role of Man of Action, and the Putin photo calendars that hit the market each year in Russia all showcase his macho athleticism.

Next year's calendar selection is no exception.

One 2019 calendar newly on sale -- called Putin VVP (the initials of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, universally known in Russia) -- show him engaging in some of his robust and athletic hobbies. There's Putin playing ice hockey, Putin fishing in a river, Putin in snorkeling gear.

And there's the obligatory bare-chested Putin: The 2019 Putin VVP calendar also features the shirtless President taking the plunge in icy waters to mark Russian Orthodox Epiphany.

Putin calendars also showcase the leader's gentler side, as benevolent father of his nation. The Putin VVP calendar also has an image of Putin holding a puppy, and standing contemplatively in a field of wheat.

Putin is famously known as a lover of the outdoors and is frequently portrayed as a defender of wildlife. The 2019 Medny Vsadnik (Bronze Horseman) calendar shows Putin with a leopard cub, and wearing a traditional costume of furs in a horse's saddle.

So who is the real Putin? Whatever the guise, the Kremlin leader is always the man in charge.

Blasphemy ruling could signal strength of hardliners in Pakistan

(CNN)On Monday, Pakistan's Supreme Court heard the final appeal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in November 2010.

The verdict, not yet issued, could well signal if the hardline Islamists, who seek to create a full-blown theocracy, are gaining influence throughout the country and helping to shape its future.

Bibi's case began on June 14, 2009, when an ordinary altercation between women working in a field in an area north of Lahore turned into a feud over their faiths. Three women did not want to share a cup of water with Bibi because she was Christian and they were Muslim. After a heated argument, the three women trooped off to complain to the village cleric, claiming she had sullied the name of the Prophet Mohammed.

Rafia Zakaria

As Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Malook, argued on Monday, the legal case against her is weak at best, featuring blatant contradictions between witness statements. The cleric, who actually registered the case and made the allegations against Bibi, was not even present when the altercation between the women took place, and he did not have permission from the appropriate officials to register the case. These legal and evidentiary issues would likely be determinative in any other case, but in this one they may have little impact on the outcome.

The murky facts of Bibi's case may make it hard to discern whether the case, filed at a time when the region was seeing an increase in recruitment by hardline Islamists, was filed at the behest of a particular group. It is known that in the decade since then, hardline groups -- the Tehreek-e-Labbaik in particular -- have gunned down politicians and lawyers who have dared question the validity of the blasphemy law or championed the cause of blasphemy defendants.

In January 2011, a little over a month after the trial court sentenced Asia Bibi to death, Salman Taseer, a Punjab governor, was gunned down by his bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, because he had visited Bibi in prison and questioned her conviction. Qadri, a member of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, said he had been protecting the honor of the prophet and that he had killed Taseer because of his support for Bibi. Qadri himself was executed in 2016, an event which brought out thousands of mourners affiliated with various hardline groups to the street.

Pakistan's blasphemy laws persecute the weakest of the weak

These are not the only deaths. In March 2011, Pakistan's Federal Minister of Minority Affairs, a Christian man named Shahbaz Bhatti, was gunned down after calling for reform of Pakistan's blasphemy law. In 2014, gunmen barged into the office of Rashid Rehman, a human rights lawyer who had been representing another blasphemy suspect, and killed him.

Pakistan has never executed anyone convicted of blasphemy. Until very recently, Pakistan was not executing many people at all. But a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in 2015, reflecting Pakistan's rightward political swing.

According to Amnesty International, though there was a 31% decrease in executions from the previous year, Pakistan still executed 60 people in 2017, while nearly 7,000 people languished on death row. When this inclination to execute is combined with the pressures of groups like Tehreek-e-Labbaik, and the fact that Bibi is a Christian woman in an increasingly misogynistic and xenophobic atmosphere, there seems almost no cause for hope.

But it doesn't have to be this way. The three justices who heard Bibi's final appeal could do the right thing, take note of the many holes in the case, the baselessness of the allegations themselves, the contradictions between witness accounts and exonerate a poor woman who has been wrongfully accused and imprisoned.

Under Imran Khan's leadership, what does the future of Pakistan look like?

The military, which has worked so diligently to eradicate terrorism in Pakistan, could crack down on groups like Tehreek-e-Labbaik that make ordinary Pakistanis pawns in their game of blood and terror. They could promise added protection to all involved in the case and deploy forces in sensitive areas of the country, such that Tehreek-e-Labbaik and their threats of violence cannot materialize.

Pakistan's new administration, led by the swashbuckling former cricketer Prime Minister Imran Khan, could also take a stance against the intimidation of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, whose leaders have demanded that Khan fulfill his promises to make Pakistan an "Islamic state" and that "Asia Bibi should be hanged keeping international pressure aside." Khan could respond to this by noting that Pakistan is already an Islamic Republic and that, according to the Quran, Pakistan cannot execute an innocent woman for any crime.

Instead of snubbing the international community, one that Islamists see as impinging on Pakistan's move toward a full theocracy, Khan could emphasize the need to embrace it and to work with it. In other words, Khan could choose to stand with the innocent woman instead of the rabid and bloodthirsty extremists.

Saving Bibi need not only be a Pakistani campaign. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, likely fearing violence by hardliners, has instructed Pakistani media to refrain from discussions of Bibi's case until the verdict is issued. This places responsibility on international media and human rights groups to step up their efforts and fill the vacuum.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan would never admit to being permeable to international campaigns for a particular accused, but judges exist in the same larger political context as all the rest of us. A groundswell of international protest and attention, via media and social media, could drown out the venal voices of hardliners demanding death and replace them with activists insisting on life.

The verdict is not in yet on Bibi's case; there is time still to write and tweet and petition. Global attention may well add up to the difference between life and death for a woman sitting alone in a cell in a Pakistani prison.

Senators pressure Trump to investigate disappearance of Saudi journalist

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump is facing new pressure to investigate the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and determine whether to impose sanctions on those responsible after receiving a letter from a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday.

The letter, which triggers an "investigation and Global Magnitsky sanctions determination" was penned by the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chairman Sen. Bob Corker and ranking member Sen. Bob Menendez, along with the leaders of the appropriations subcommittee for the State Department, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Under the terms of the Magnitsky legislation, the President can impose sanctions on individuals or countries that are deemed to have committed a human rights violation.

Trump said Wednesday night in an interview on Fox News that "so far it's looking a little bit like" the Saudis are behind the disappearance of Khashoggi, but said "I do hate to commit to what recourse we would take. It's too early."

The President said blocking further arms sales to Saudi Arabia "would be hurting us."

Trump said the US is doing well economically in part due to "what we are doing with our defense systems," and said, "frankly I think that would be a very, very tough pill to swallow for our country."

15-man team

Khashoggi, a former Saudi royal insider who became a critic of the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been seen since Tuesday last week, when walked into the consulate general in Istanbul, intending to get paperwork that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Turkish authorities have privately said they believe Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed inside the consulate. The Saudis deny the allegation but have not been able to provide proof that he left the consulate alive.

In the latest developments on Wednesday, Turkish security officials concluded that the "highest levels of the royal court" in Saudi Arabia ordered the assassination of Khashoggi, according to a senior official cited by The New York Times.

Turkish officials have said that a 15-person team flew from Saudi Arabia into Istanbul on the day Khashoggi entered the consulate, and they have provided information about two private planes that, they say, were involved in the transit of these Saudis. Aviation data analyzed by CNN backs up evidence of the planes' arrival in Istanbul.

Trump said Wednesday that he's been in touch with the "highest levels" of the Saudi government about Khashoggi's case and expressed concerns about his possible murder. He said his administration was pressing the Saudi government to reveal more about the incident.

"We're demanding everything. We want to see what's going on here. It's a bad situation," Trump said in the Oval Office.

But he stopped short of saying whether he believed the Saudis have knowledge about his whereabouts, or may have played a role in his disappearance, stating that not enough was known to make a determination.

Senators' letter

The letter sent to Trump by the bipartisan group of senators increases the pressure on the administration to act. It gives the White House 120 days to "determine whether a foreign person is responsible for an extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violation of internationally recognized human rights against an individual exercising freedom of expression" and to report back to the Foreign Relations Committee with a decision on how it plans to act.

It specifically asks the President to make a determination in relation to Khashoggi.

Prior to the letter's release, senators were given access to a two-page classified report on Khashoggi, according to a Senate aide. "The intelligence reports are very direct, very short and give further credence to the fact that the focus needs to be on Saudi Arabia right now," Corker said.

Members of the Gang of Eight are being briefed in more detail: House Intelligence ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff said he had been briefed on the matter, and Senate Intelligence ranking Democrat Mark Warner said he expected a briefing later.

One-fifth of the Senate — all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee besides Sen. Rand Paul — signed the letter.

"The entire Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sans Rand Paul, and the relevant appropriators all agreed to sign this request. The administration would be foolish not to follow the law here by rejecting their request," one Senate aide told CNN.

Asked if the letter puts pressure on the Trump administration, Corker responded, "Oh it does, of course."

"It's not intended though as a shot at them, it's intended to put in place ... it's the forcing mechanism to ensure that we use all the resources available to get the bottom of this and if in fact at the very highest levels of Saudi Arabia they have been involved in doing this, that appropriate steps will be taken to sanction them," Corker added.

Following the letter's release, Corker specifically noted that the sanctions could affect the highest levels of the Saudi regime.

"It's a very strong signal I think from the foreign relations committee. Again it's an act that we can take without passing legislation. It is a forcing mechanism. I don't look at this in any way to try to cross the bows of the administration. I don't. I do look at it certainly has a shot across the bow at Saudi Arabia and these are very serious steps," he said.

Corker also said that the administration was not given a heads up about the letter prior to its release to reporters, adding that he was unsure about how Trump might respond given his close relationship with the Saudi crown prince.

"This is a step that we are taking that we can take unilaterally that is a forcing mechanism and it does mean that in a serious way an investigation has to take place. And if in fact at the highest levels they have been involved in the murder of a journalist who just happened to write against some of the things they are doing in their country, they will be under tremendous pressure to follow this wherever it goes," he said.

The letter was also signed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Tom Udall (D-N.M).

World's longest flight live updates: Preparing for take off

Singapore (CNN) — Spending nearly 19 hours cooped up in an airplane may sound nightmarish to some, but when Singapore Airlines flight SQ22 takes off from its home airport bound for New York, it's going to be a dream for others.

The record-breaking flight, involving a brand-new Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range), will usher in a new era for air passengers and make the world just that bit smaller as it becomes the world's longest scheduled nonstop service.

For aviation fanatics like myself, it rarely gets more exciting.

I'm lucky enough to have a ticket for this inaugural flight and I'll be live-reporting my experiences as we depart from Singapore's Changi Airport, then fly northeast towards Alaska before landing in Newark Liberty International Airport, just outside of New York.

Take off is scheduled for 11:35 p.m. Singapore time (11:35 a.m. in New York, 4:35 p.m. in London) on Thursday October 11 and, all being well, we'll be wheels-down on the other side of the planet the following day, Friday at 6 a.m. in New York (11:00 a.m. in London, 6 p.m. Singapore).

But what will it be like to spend more than 18 hours in the air? How does the human body cope? How do the cabin crew cope? How do the airplane's bathrooms cope?

I'll be charting my observations -- good and bad -- and those of my 160 fellow passengers as we make aviation history.

Keep checking this story for live updates as we travel the 16,700 kilometers (10,376 miles) to our destination.

In the meantime, you can read more about the super-efficient aircraft we'll be flying, and the journey we'll be taking, here.

But first, a few words on what exactly is meant by the world's longest flight.

It seems so easy, but it isn't.

There are various ways to define it, with pedants arguing for hours over what it means.

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17 hours in the air? World's longest airline routes

Of course there is the distance flown. Then there's the duration of the flight. Sometimes strong head winds can mean a shorter distance takes longer and vice versa.

However, we're usually safe saying the longest flights are measured when the plane is flying the Great Circle Route: the shortest distance between two points on the globe.

For instance: flying from New York to London, the plane doesn't go straight out over the ocean because that would mean flying at the wider part of the Earth's circumference.

Rather, the plane heads north, making an arc past Canada, Greenland and Iceland, and down across Ireland into London.

With that in mind, these are the commonly accepted world's longest flights:

Singapore to New York

Singapore Airlines to reclaim world's longest airline route: On October 11, 2018, Singapore Airlines new Airbus A350-900ULR will go into service between Singapore and New York. The 19-hour trip will become the world's longest non-stop flight route.

Airbus

Previously operated by Singapore Airlines using an Airbus A340-500, this flight took 18 hours to get to Newark.

It ended up being an all-business class flight. The A340-500 is a four-engine, heavy and thirsty aircraft. When fuel prices rose to more than $100 per barrel, this flight stopped being profitable. (Remember: the longer the flight, the more fuel becomes a proportion of the cost!)

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The making of the airplane seats for the world's longest flight

By 2013 Singapore Airlines took advantage of an agreement to hand back the planes to Airbus, thereby ending the route.

Now, five years later, equipped with the more fuel-efficient A350-900 Ultra Long Haul, the airline can once again fly direct from Singapore to New York and make money.

From October 11, hands-down this will be, without controversy, the longest regularly scheduled nonstop commercial flight in the world.

Perth to London

Since 1947, the journey from Australia to London has been known as The Kangaroo Route. Back then, several hops were involved -- Sydney, Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo, Castel Benito, Rome, London -- and took some four days to complete.

And that was considered speedy.

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From 10 days to nonstop: How London to Australia flights have changed

This year Qantas did the run all in one long hop, when a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner made the journey in just over 17 hours.

There have been other aircraft capable of this distance, like the Boeing 777-200LR, Airbus A380 and A340-500, but they are heavier planes with more seats than required. It would have been difficult to make money on this "long thin route."

Other flights in the top 10

Qantas' Sydney-Dallas using the A380, Qatar's Doha-Auckland, Emirates' Dubai-Auckland, United Airlines running San Francisco-Singapore with a 787-9.

The return of Singapore-New York will put an end to all the rivalry, at least for the moment.

By connecting these two commercial centers on opposite sides of the world, the flight is probably the final long-distance route an airline can conceive to run and remain commercially viable.

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Until Qantas' Project Sunrise comes to fruition.

The Aussie carrier has tasked both Airbus and Boeing to develop long-range aircraft capable of flying 17,000 kilometers nonstop from Sydney to London. Qantas hopes to order the revamped planes by 2019 with flights beginning in 2022.

That journey, if it happens, will clock in at around 20 hours, earning world's longest honors.

The REAL longest flight

Oh, did I say that these were the longest flights?

Because the actual longest flight, according to Guinness World Records, was a 22-hour and 42-minute flight in 2005, from Hong Kong to London.

Boeing was demonstrating the capabilities of its 777-200LR -- nicknamed the Worldliner -- so the flight went the long way round.

I was one of only 30 passengers on board -- Boeing was required to have some paying passengers to meet the criteria for beating the record.

During the nearly day-long trip, we played games, exercised, chatted with the eight pilots on board and slept on mattresses laid out at the back where the seats had been removed.

The flight took off from Hong Kong, crossed the Pacific, making landfall around Los Angeles.

From there, we flew across the United States, crossing over New York's JFK Airport before heading out over the Atlantic and landing in London to a water-cannon salute.

Now THAT was a long flight.