David Stout

After three postponements Thursday

A supervisor accused her of “stealing” from the company

A woman in Portland, Ore., claims she was fired from her job in 2013 for taking too many bathroom breaks while pregnant with her second child.

People reports that Dawn Steckmann was told by her supervisor at Maxim Integrated Products that “not clocking out to use the restroom is stealing from the company” and she could have been “watching a movie” during bathroom breaks.

Steckmann, who worked for Maxim for ten years, claims she had been told during her previous pregnancy not to bother with clocking out when using the restroom.

Steckmann is reportedly seeking $400,000 in damages in a gender and discrimination lawsuit.

Read more at People.

He wants Congress to approve the aid package before the holiday recess

U.S. President Barack Obama renewed calls Tuesday for Congress to approve more than $6 billion in emergency funding to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The President issued the fresh plea during a visit to the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Maryland, where he praised researchers and scientists working on an experimental Ebola vaccine that has shown promising results during initial rounds of testing.

“If we want other countries to keep stepping up, we will have to continue to lead the way,” said Obama. “And that’s why I’m calling on Congress to approve our emergency funding request to fight this disease before they leave for the holidays.”

The President’s appeal comes as Doctors Without Borders sharply criticized the international community’s slow, uneven response to the Ebola outbreak.

Globally over 17,000 people have contracted the highly contagious virus, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 6,000.

Francesco Schettino claims he wanted to give passengers a better view of a nearby island when the ship ran aground

The captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia that crashed off the coast of Italy in January 2012 said his disastrous decision to sail into shallow waters was fueled by a desire to impress the ship’s passengers, according to the BBC.

While taking the stand for the first time during his trial for manslaughter in Grosseto, Italy on Tuesday, Francesco Schettino said he was aiming to give passengers a better view of the holiday island of Giglio, while also saluting a former captain who lived there and doing a favor to the vessel’s head waiter, who was from the island.

“I wanted to kill three birds with one stone,” explained Schettino.

He denied the rumor that he made the risky maneuver to impress a female friend.

Thirty-two people died after the ship crashed into rocks near the shore and the boat listed on its side. The resumption of Schettino’s trial comes a month after authorities successfully recovered the last body from the cruise ship’s wreckage.

The captain was vilified in the media and dubbed “Italy’s most hated man” after an audio recording revealed that he defied orders from the Italian Coast Guard and fled the ship after ordering an evacuation, while hundreds of passengers remained on board.

[BBC]

Critics claimed city unfairly targeted the homeless and individuals providing relief

A court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida ordered authorities Tuesday to refrain from enforcing a controversial law that places restrictions on residents who feed the homeless.

Broward County Circuit Judge Thomas Lynch ordered a month-long suspension of the bylaw in order to allow all sides to enter mediation. The decision was a partial win for 90-year-old activist Arnold Abbot, who challenged the ordinance after being arrested twice in November for serving food to the homeless.

“We’re elated the judge has entered the stay,” John David, Abbott’s attorney, told the Sun Sentinel.

Under the regulation, which went into effect late November, outdoor feeding sites must be equipped with portable toilets and servers must have the permission of property owners to distribute food.

However, critics claim the ordinance unfairly targets the homeless and individuals providing relief to them.

[Sun Sentinel]

Case was brought when a Maine school district forced the student to use a staff restroom

A court in Maine awarded the family of a transgender teenager $75,000 in a discrimination lawsuit against a school district that forced the student to use a staff restroom rather than a facility reserved for pupils, reports the Associated Press.

Nicole Maines, 17, had won her lawsuit against the Orono school district earlier this year in front of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled that the school district had violated the state’s Human Rights Act.

The case marked the first time a state’s highest court ruled that a transgender person has the right to use the restroom of the gender with which they identify.

In the wake of the court’s decision, a lower court awarded the financial settlement to the Maines family and the activist organization, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defender, on Nov. 25. In accordance with the order, the Orono school district is prohibited from refusing transgender students access “to school restrooms that are consistent with their gender identity.”

The case stemmed from an incident in 2007 when the grandfather of a fellow fifth grade classmate complained to school administrators that Maines was allowed to use the girls’ restroom. In the wake of the protest, the Orono school district began forcing Maines to use a staff facility — a decision that her parents argued was discriminatory.

[AP]

The war of words between the Western military alliance and Moscow heated up ahead of a NATO gathering in Brussels on Tuesday

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute accused the Russian military on Monday of engaging in irresponsible aerial maneuvers that put civilian aircraft in unnecessary danger.

The envoy’s remarks follow the alliance’s public announcement in late October that accused the Russian military of conducting an unprecedented number of unannounced aerial forays into Europe’s skies. NATO says it has scrambled its own aircraft over 400 times in response to Russian incursions this year — a more than 50% increase than the total number during 2013.

“These Russian actions are irresponsible, pose a threat to civilian aviation and demonstrate that Russia is flagrantly violating international norms,” said Lute during a press conference in Brussels ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

NATO says Russian forces have repeatedly refused to submit flight plans to civilian air traffic control stations when flying exercises and, in multiple instances, have flown with their transponders turned off.

The Kremlin’s alleged indifference toward civilian aviation procedures is seen as particularly concerning to NATO members following Washington’s insistence that a Russian-supplied weapons system was responsible for downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in southeastern Ukraine this summer. Russia vehemently denies responsibility.

As relations between Moscow and the alliance continue to sour, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg boasted on Monday of the organization’s increased presence in Eastern Europe.

This year has been one of “aggression, crisis and conflict. But NATO stands strong,” said Stoltenberg during a press conference. “Russia’s aggressive actions have undermined Euro-Atlantic security.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin unleashed its own criticisms of NATO and panned the alliance for destabilizing northern Europe and the Baltics.

“They are trying to shake up the most stable region in the world, which is Europe’s north,” Alexei Meshkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, told his nation’s Interfax news agency. “Those endless military exercises, rebasing of aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons to the Baltic nations. This is the reality, a very negative one.”

NATO has been steadily increasing its defensive capabilities in Eastern Europe following Russia’s forceful annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in March. In September, the alliance unveiled plans to build a new expeditionary outfit that would be able to “travel light but strike hard if needed.” On Monday, NATO’s secretary general said he expected the “spearhead force” to be ready by 2016.

The refugees say they are being treated like animals at an Australian-run detention center in Papua New Guinea

Pakistani asylum seekers currently detained by Australian authorities on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea are calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to broker their release from captivity.

In a letter signed by ten Pakistani nationals, which was obtained by the Guardian Australia, the men say they’re being held against their will by Australian authorities in substandard conditions and argue that the U.S. president is the only person capable of securing their freedom.

“We beg for your help to take us out of this miserable situation,” read the letter.

In the message, the detainees claim officials played a role in instigating violent riots at the internment camps and say fellow refugees have died due to insufficient health care facilities.

The group claims to have fled from their homeland due to the Taliban’s increasingly ferocious terror campaign.

Since taking office, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s Administration has ramped up a controversial immigration policy designed to discourage boatloads of asylum seekers from arriving on the country’s shores.

Australian authorities currently transfer immigrants arriving by sea to squalid detention centers in Papua New Guinea and the nearby island nation of Nauru, where they await Canberra’s decision on their status. But whatever officials determine, no boat people are currently being resettled in the Lucky Country.

Staff Sgt. James L. Van Bendegom had been missing since his patrol was overrun in 1967

The remains of a fallen Vietnam War veteran who disappeared near the Cambodian border 47 years ago have finally been returned to his family, according to the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia.

In mid-July 1967, James L. Van Bendegom was captured after his patrol was ambushed and overrun by enemy forces while deep in hostile terrain. The 19-year-old staff sergeant reportedly died of his wounds in captivity.

Almost two decades later, a Vietnamese national in a refugee camp in Thailand provided U.S. authorities with the remains of an American service member; however, officials were unable to establish the identity of the soldier based on the evidence provided.

“Thanks to advances in technology, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) re-examined the remains and determined that there was a possibility for identification,” read a statement released by the U.S. mission in Phnom Penh on Friday. “The remains were then identified as belonging to Staff Sgt. Van Bendegom.”

Bendegom’s remains were returned to his family earlier this month and the solider was finally laid to rest with full military honors on Nov. 11, 2014 in Kenosha, Wis.

To date, there are still 1,639 American service members from the Vietnam War who remain unaccounted for.

The militant group appears to be stepping up its campaign of violence in the Afghan capital as foreign forces prepare to withdrawal

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has condemned the Taliban’s “appalling” suicide attack on a vehicle belonging to the country’s embassy on Thursday that killed six people, including two individuals working for the U.K. mission.

“I am deeply saddened to confirm that a British national civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy were killed in the incident,” said Hammond in a statement. “We will not allow such inhumanity to deter us from continuing our partnership with the Government of Afghanistan.”

The assault on the British convoy was followed by another attack by two Taliban suicide bombers at a foreign guesthouse in a high-end neighborhood in central Kabul, where myriad embassies and international organizations reside. One foreign national was reportedly injured in the blast and an ensuing gun battle.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both bombings and described the ambush of the British embassy vehicle as a strike against “foreign invading forces,” reports Reuters.

Thursday’s blasts come as the Taliban appears to be orchestrating an increasing number of acts of sabotage and violence against foreign installations across the Afghan capital, just as a lion’s share of the international troops stationed in the country prepare to pullout after 13 years of war. In the last 10 days alone, Kabul has been rocked by at least eight separate blasts, according to Agence France-Presse.

Earlier in the week, NATO confirmed that two foreign soldiers fighting with the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force were killed on Monday after a roadside bomb detonated near a military convoy traveling in Kabul.

Amid the uptick in violence are signs U.S. President Barack Obama is reevaluating his earlier promise to end combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of the year. The New York Times reported late last week that the White House’s calculus in the country appears to have shifted, after a new plan was authorized that will allow American troops to continue fighting Taliban insurgents there well into 2015.