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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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? 

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.

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