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Public Enemy say they’ve parted ways with their charismatic MC Flavor Flav, after more than 35 years.
The dismissal came two days after the rapper sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bernie Sanders’ campaign after his bandmates said they’d appear at one of his rallies in Los Angeles.
“Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” said the group in a statement.
“We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.”
Frontman Chuck D later suggested the disagreement over Sanders’ rally was financially, not politically, motivated.
“If there was a $bag, Flav would’ve been there front & centre,” he wrote on Twitter. “He will NOT do free benefit shows.”
Their split comes just a month after the band was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys.
Flavor Flav co-founded Public Enemy in the 1980s after meeting Chuck D at Long Island’s Adelphi University.
Their early albums radically changed the sound of hip-hop, with a sound that was politically and musically uncompromising.
But tensions have been rising since 2017, when Flavor Flav – real name William Drayton – sued his bandmates and the group’s managers over unpaid profits.
The case had been dismissed before last week’s stand-off over Sanders’ rally.
Flavor Flav’s cease-and-desist letter accused the campaign of using his “unauthorised likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials” for a Los Angeles rally, even though the rapper “has not endorsed any political candidate”.
“While Chuck is certainly free to express his political view as he sees fit – his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy,” the letter continued.
“The planned performance will only be Chuck D of Public Enemy, it will not be a performance by Public Enemy. Those who truly know what Public Enemy stands for know what time it is. There is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav.”
Chuck D mocked the star’s statement, saying his former bandmate didn’t “know the difference between Barry Sanders or Bernie Sanders”, and was simply unprepared to play for free.
He said Flavor had previously refused to play a fundraiser for Harry Belafonte’s human rights charity Sankofa in 2016, calling the star “ungrateful” – especially as Belafonte had inducted Public Enemy to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013.
“I would not have Public Enemy without Flavor,” he concluded. “However, I will park it in the driveway, take off the plates [and] wait to re-register it when it’s running right.”
A lawyer for Chuck D added in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine: “From a legal standpoint, Chuck could perform as Public Enemy if he ever wanted to; he is the sole owner of the Public Enemy trademark.
“He originally drew the logo himself in the mid-80s, is also the creative visionary and the group’s primary songwriter, having written Flavor’s most memorable lines.”
Shortly after announcing Flavor’s dismissal, Public Enemy Radio – an offshoot of the main group, featuring Chuck D, DJ Lord, Jahi and the S1Ws – went ahead with their performance at senator Sanders’ rally, performing classics like Fight the Power, Bring the Noise and Shut ‘Em Down.
During the set, which was livestreamed online, Chuck D urged people to register to vote in the upcoming US Presidential election.
“Voting is [as] important as washing your ass in the morning,” he declared.
North Korea has launched two unidentified projectiles, South Korea’s military says, in its first apparent weapons test of the year.
The projectiles were launched from the North’s east coast towards the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said they were “believed to be short-range ballistic missiles”.
Last May saw the first missile tests after an 18-month freeze. As the year progressed, many more followed.
North Korea, which has historically stepped up missile testing in the spring, carried out its last test in November.
Monday’s test comes just days after South Korea and the US announced they were postponing the annual joint drills that anger the North, amid concern over the coronavirus.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the tests seemed to be “less provocative than North Korea is capable of”.
But the country is still “making it clear it will continue to improve military capabilities and make outsized demands”.
Prof Easley added: “The US and South Korea postponing their drills and offering humanitarian assistance has earned no goodwill from a Kim regime that sees little benefit in restarting diplomacy.”
At the start of the year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he was ending the suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests, as talks between the US and North Korea ground to a halt.
The North Korean leader threatened that the world would “witness a new strategic weapon… in the near future”.
The last time North Korea conducted a missile test was in November 2019 – when it said it was testing a “super-large multiple-rocket launcher”.
But Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accused the North of launching ballistic missiles, earning him scorn from North Korean state media who called him an “imbecile”.
North Korea is banned from firing ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions. It has in the past fired missiles that it claims are capable of reaching the US mainland.
Talks between the US and North Korea about its nuclear programme remain stalled.
In 2018, US President Donald Trump and Mr Kim held historic talks in Singapore aimed at denuclearisation – though the definition of this is contested.
In February 2019, Mr Kim met Mr Trump again in Vietnam but the talks broke down and ended early without agreement.
They met again in June at the demilitarised zone that separates North and South Korea. But relations quickly deteriorated. in the following months.
The North conducted several smaller weapons tests late in 2019, in what was seen as an attempt to pressure the US into making concessions.
But Washington refused to lift sanctions, insisting that North Korea must first fully abandon its nuclear programme.
The head of the religious sect that has been at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea has apologised to the nation for the disease’s spread.
Lee Man-hee, the leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, got on his knees and bowed at a news conference.
About 60% of the country’s more than 4,000 confirmed cases are sect members.
On Monday, South Korea – the biggest hotspot outside China – reported 476 new cases, bringing the total number to 4,212. It has recorded 26 deaths.
Prosecutors have been asked to investigate Mr Lee on possible charges of gross negligence.
“Although it was not intentional, many people have been infected,” said the 88-year-old leader. “We put our utmost efforts, but were unable to prevent it all.”
Of the confirmed cases, 3,081 are from the southern city of Daegu and 73% of these cases have been linked to the Shincheonji Church near there.
In the capital, Seoul, the mayor urged the city’s 10 million residents to work from home and to avoid crowded places.
In other developments:
Members of the fringe Christian group are believed to have infected one another and then travelled around the country, apparently undetected. The group has been accused of keeping its members’ names secret, making it harder to track the outbreak.
But church spokesman Kim Shin-chang told the BBC they had provided a list of members, students, and buildings to authorities.
“We were worried about releasing this information because of the safety of our members,
Mr Lee claims he is the second coming of Jesus Christ and identifies as “the promised pastor” mentioned in the Bible who will take 144,000 people to heaven with him.
The Shincheonji Church is labelled as a cult within South Korea and also in the Christian community, which results in the group often being discriminated against, persecuted or criticised, Mr Kim told the BBC.
The number of people killed worldwide by the coronavirus has exceeded 3,000, as China reported 42 more deaths. More than 90% of the total deaths are in Hubei, the Chinese province where the virus emerged late last year.
Iran reported another 12 deaths on Monday, taking the total there to 66. They include Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a high-ranking adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iranian media reported on Monday.
Worldwide, there have been almost 90,000 confirmed cases, with the numbers outside China now growing faster than inside China.
Qatar, Ecuador, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Ireland were among countries that confirmed their first cases over the weekend, as did Jordan on Monday.
Ecuador on Monday reported five new cases of the disease, bringing the total number of infected patients in the country to six.
The US state of New York also confirmed its first case. The patient is a woman in her 30s who contracted the virus during a recent trip to Iran. Two people have died in the US, both in the state of Washington.
China on Monday reported 42 more deaths, all in Hubei. There were also 202 confirmed new cases – only six of which were outside Hubei. A total of 2,912 people have died inside China, with more than 80,000 confirmed cases of the virus.
A spokesman from China’s National Health Commission said the next stop would be to “focus on the risks brought by the resumption of work”.
China’s economy has taken a hit – with factory activity falling at a record rate.
On Monday, a man was sentenced to death by a Chinese court for fatally stabbing two officials at a virus checkpoint, news agency AFP reported.
Ma Jianguo, 23, refused to co-operate with officials – though it is not clear what he was told to do – and stabbed two checkpoint officials.
Britain is significantly stepping up its military support in West Africa to help combat the world’s fastest growing Islamist-led insurgency.
Over the past month, British troops have been helping train local forces to fight extremism in the Sahel.
The region, a semi-arid stretch of land just south of the Sahara Desert, has been a frontline in the war against Islamist militancy for almost a decade.
Later this year, 250 British soldiers will join a UN mission in Mali.
It has been described as the most dangerous peacekeeping operation in the world.
In Senegal, a team of around 30 UK soldiers and Royal Marines have been training special forces from a number of West African nations in a US-led counter-terrorism exercise involving more than 1,600 troops.
Maj John House has been leading the British element of the training in Senegal with the focus on infantry skills and counter-terrorism operations.
He said it was in Britain’s interests to get more involved in the region.
“If we don’t act we may find the problems getting closer to our door,” he said. “The more they have a presence in the region, the more we can feel the effect back in the UK.”
Officers from US Special Operations Command Africa, which has been responsible for overseeing the exercise, are just as blunt.
US Maj Chris Giaquinto said the extremists “want to create a safe haven in Africa in order to grow and facilitate attacks, possibly in Europe or the United States”.
There are now multiple extremist groups operating across the sub-Saharan region known as the Sahel. They include ones linked to the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
Commander Djibril Diawara, of the Senegalese Armed Forces, described the situation as “alarming”.
Over the past year the extremists have spread south from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
The exercise culminated with special forces troops from Cameroon, Morocco and Nigeria conducting a raid on a village to take out an unspecified group of extremists.
Some of those involved have already been doing this for real. Lt Unyine Collins, of the Nigerian Special Boat Service, has spent seven months on the frontline fighting Boko Haram.
He described a ruthless enemy using brutal tactics. “They use suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices, mines, basically they use the same tactics as ISIS,” he said.
It’s an indication of the potential threats that 250 British troops will be facing when they enter Mali later this year.
They may be part of a peacekeeping mission, but the British will be conducting long-range reconnaissance patrols into hostile territory.
Nearly 200 UN peacekeepers have already lost their lives in Mali. France, which has more than 5,000 troops in the country, has also suffered casualties there.
So is Britain about to become mired in another long-drawn conflict?
Brig Gus Fair, commander of the Specialised Infantry Group, insisted it would not become another Afghanistan or Iraq for the British Army.
He said that “we are up front in seeing this as a regional problem for a regional solution”, adding that it involved partnering nations rather than taking direct sovereign intervention.
Nevertheless, the British Army’s peacekeeping mission in Mali will probably be the most dangerous task it has faced since the end of combat operations in Helmand.
The harsh reality is that, so far, Western support – along with international troops and peacekeepers – has been unable to turn the rising tide of extremism in the region.
The army in the Democratic Republic of Congo is investigating the death of its head of intelligence.
Delphin Kahimbi was found dead at his home in the capital, Kinshasa, on Friday, the day he was meant to appear before the country’s security council.
He was to answer charges that he was involved in a plot to destabilise President Félix Tshisekedi.
Gen Kahimbi was on an EU sanctions list for alleged human rights violations and hindering the democratic process.
Mr Tshisekedi took over from Joseph Kabila in January last year, the first peaceful transfer of power in the country in nearly 60 years – though many disputed the election result.
Mr Kabila remains politically powerful and his party is in a coalition government with Mr Tshisekedi’s party.
Gen Kahimbi was undoubtedly one of the most powerful figures during Mr Kabila’s time in power, reports the BBC’s Gaius Kowene from Kinshasa.
To some the military intelligence chief was an impressive strategist, who helped defeat rebels in the east of DR Congo, our reporter says.
But to others he was a symbol of the torture and oppression of opponents of the former president, he says.
It is not clear yet what exactly killed him. Some sources say he took his own life; his wife has been quoted as saying he had a heart attack. The army released a statement saying his death was a great loss.
Earlier in the week, several sources said the general had been suspended because of the allegations he was facing.
The US ambassador to DR Congo tweeted on Thursday: “As we have consistently said, those who are corrupt, commit violations of human rights, or disrupt the democratic process should be held accountable.”
A senior army commander has said the allegations were baseless and intended to tarnish Gen Kahimbi’s image.
Guinea’s president has delayed Sunday’s controversial referendum on changing the constitution that if passed could allow him to seek a third term.
Alpha Condé, 81, said the “slight postponement” was because the opposition say officials have tampered with the electoral register.
The announcement comes amid mounting international concern about the fairness of the poll.
There have been months of often violent demonstrations against the vote.
At least 30 people have been killed in the protests since October.
The African Union and the regional bloc, Ecowas, said they were not sending election observers to the mineral-rich West African nation.
An estimated 7.7 million registered votes were also due to elect members of parliament on Sunday.
Earlier this week, the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), a grouping of French-speaking nations, said there were problems identifying around 2.5 million names listed on the electoral roll.
According to the president, yes. And a letter sent by Mr Condé to Ecowas about the postponement, seen by the AFP news agency, says it should take place within two weeks.
“This is not a capitulation or a step backwards. The people of Guinea will express their choice freely at the referendum,” President Condé told state TV on Friday evening.
An opposition alliance opposed to the new constitution, the FNDC, has called for a boycott, which would make it likely that a “yes” vote would win.
No – a president would still only be able to serve two terms, though the length of a term would be extended from five to six years.
However, the adoption of the new constitution would mean that the time Mr Condé has already served would not count – and his second term comes to an end in December.
No, but his party has not denied that the new constitution would allow him to do so. But it says the constitution is about revamping a document written during a time of military rule between 2008 and 2010.
“His willingness to change the constitution has nothing to do with his plan to look for a third term,” Amadou Damaro Camara, parliamentary leader of the governing Rally of the Guinean People, told the BBC.
“The plan is to provide a better constitution for the Republic of Guinea because the one we have is not good enough.”
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has said he will send a bill to legalise abortion to Congress within the next 10 days.
Mr Fernández, who was sworn in as president in December, has previously described abortion as “a matter of public health”.
In Argentina, abortion is allowed only in cases of rape, or if the mother’s health is in danger.
It is largely prohibited across Latin America, except in restricted cases.
If the bill is passed, Argentina will become the largest country in the region to legalise abortion
“Abortion happens, it’s a fact,” the president said in his first annual address to Congress.
“A state should protect citizens in general and women in particular. And in the 21st Century, every society needs to respect the individual choice of its members to decide freely about their bodies.”
Mr Fernández also promised to introduce a programme to improve sex education.
A previous attempt to change the law in Argentina, where the population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, failed.
In 2018, a bill to legalise abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy was narrowly approved by Congress, but was later rejected by the country’s Senate.
Unlike last time, however, the country’s president is behind the bill.
The debate surrounding abortion in Argentina was reignited in February last year, when an 11-year-old rape victim gave birth by C-section.
The girl, who had been raped by her grandmother’s 65-year-old partner, had requested an abortion but the procedure was repeatedly delayed over questions about the identity of her guardian.
Cuba, Uruguay and Guyana are currently the only Latin American countries to permit abortion in the first weeks of pregnancy.
While some other countries allow abortion in the case of rape or risk to the mother’s life, it is completely banned in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti.
In El Salvador, dozens of women have been imprisoned for the deaths of their foetuses in cases where they say they suffered miscarriages or stillbirths.
They met Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to talk about how to deal with the militant Islamist group al-Shabab, according to Kenyan TV station NTV.
But the trip was not officially approved, security secretary Muriithi Kangi is quoted as saying by the privately-owned Daily Nation newspaper
Kenya’s television station NTV posted on YouTube a video of the lawmakers’ arrival at the airport:
The lawmakers argued that they had travelled in their personal capacities.
They were briefly held “for discussions with police” on their return to the capital’s main airport, but were released and will not face any charges.
Most of them represent north eastern constituencies that border Somalia where al-Shabab often attack civilians.
Schools in the region have been closed and non-native civil servants have fled following recent attacks.
A woman is taking the NHS to court after claiming gender reassignment treatment she received as a teenager was ‘unlawful’ and left her feeling suicidal.
Keira Bell, 23, who has since transitioned back to a female, accused Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust of rushing her treatment when she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
This condition made her identify as a male despite being born a biological female
.As a result, the Tavistock Centre prescribed testosterone and hormone blocker drugs that delayed her puberty.
She later regretted this decision despite admitting she had ‘no doubt’ at the time she wanted to change her gender.
Ms Bell told Sky News: ‘The whole process is really traumatic looking back on it, there’s no going back from it really because you are changed forever visibly.’
She said she had used transitioning as ‘coping mechanism’ and accused her doctors of not carrying out a ‘real investigation’ into her mental health.
She added: ‘I just realized that it (gender reassignment) hadn’t worked after a few years… I just went into like a menopause like state and everything just kind of shut down.
‘I felt drained and tired and had nothing but negative effects from it really, I didn’t have a good experience with it at all.’
In the landmark case, Ms Bell’s lawyers will argue she could not give informed consent because she was a child and the risks of the treatment had not been adequately explained to her. The case will be argued in the High Court later in 2020
The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement: ‘A judge has this week decided that the proposed judicial review of the Gender Identity Development Service approach may proceed to a hearing.
‘We welcome the opportunity this provides to talk about the service and to stand up for our dedicated staff who put the best interests of the young people and families at the heart of their practice.
‘GIDS provides a thoughtful and measured service for children, young people and their families who come to us in considerable distress.
‘Our clinicians have no preconceptions about outcomes for the young people who are referred to our service, all of whom are provided with psycho-social support throughout their time with us.
‘While physical intervention is only accessed by a minority of our patients, it is important that this option remains available and is informed by the latest evidence.’
SOURCE METRO NEWS
Egypt’s health ministry on Sunday announced that one foreigner, whose nationality was not announced, had tested positive for coronavirus.
The ministry said that the patient was being treated in an isolation facility.
This is the second confirmed case in the country. The first coronavirus patient, who was announced last month, has reportedly recovered.
Egyptian health authorities are quoted by Reuters news agency as saying they were enforcing strict preventive measures for people who came into contact with this new patient.
Reports indicate that recently confirmed cases in France, the US and Canada involve people who travelled to Egypt.
French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced that two elderly people, who returned from a group trip in Egypt, tested positive for the virus.
Egypt said it had requested further information about those two patients and sent a medical team to look into the places they had visited.
Two people in Canada who tested positive for coronavirus had recently returned from Egypt.
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