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Six women filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday, claiming that the movie mogul’s actions to cover up assaults amounted to civil racketeering.

The lawsuit was filed at a federal court in New York seeking to represent a class of “dozens, if not hundreds” of women who say they were assaulted by Weinstein.

The lawsuit claims that a coalition of companies and people became part of the growing “Weinstein Sexual Enterprise” and that they worked with Weinstein to conceal his widespread sexual harassment and assaults.

“The Weinstein Sexual Enterprise had many participants, grew over time as the obfuscation of Weinstein’s conduct became more difficult to conceal,” the suit said.

A lawyer for Weinstein declined comment.

According to the lawsuit, actresses and other women in the film industry were lured to industry events, hotel rooms, Weinstein’s home, office meetings or auditions under the pretense that they were to discuss a project.

Plaintiffs included the scriptwriter and actress Louisette Geiss and the actresses Katherine Kendall, Zoe Brock, Sarah Ann Thomas, Melissa Sagemiller and Nanette Klatt.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual assault without their permission. All of the women have told their stories publicly.

At least 75 women have come forward in the media to detail accounts of assault, harassment and inappropriate conduct by Weinstein. Weinstein’s representatives have denied all accusations of non-consensual sex, but no charges have been filed.

Weinstein, 65, is being investigated by police in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, New York and London

Weinstein was ousted from the movie company he founded following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations that began with a bombshell New York Times article in early October. Since then, numerous prominent men in entertainment, business and politics and the media have been hit with allegations of improper behavior with women.

 
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U.S. worker productivity rose 3 percent in the third quarter, the best showing in three years, while labor costs fell for a second straight quarter.

The increase in productivity in the July-September quarter was double the 1.5 percent gain in the second quarter and both quarters were up significantly from a scant 0.1 percent rise in the first three months of the year. Labor costs fell 0.2 percent after an even bigger 1.2 percent decline in the second quarter.

The third quarter figure for productivity was unchanged from an initial estimate while labor costs were initially estimated to have risen by 0.5 percent.

Economists are hopeful that the upturn in productivity may be a sign that this key measure of living standards is improving after a prolonged period of weakness.

Economists believe finding ways to increase productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, is the biggest challenge facing the economy right now. They say that without an improvement, the Trump administration will have difficulty reaching its goal of doubling economic growth in coming years.

The upturn in the past two quarters reflects the fact that overall output, as measured by the gross domestic product, accelerated sharply following a weak start to the year. GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the third quarter, the government reported last week, and that followed a 3.1 percent rise in the second quarter. It was the first back-to-back GDP gains of 3 percent or better in three years.

Productivity actually declined in 2016, dropping 0.1 percent. It was the first annual decline in 34 years and followed a string of weak annual performances since the economy emerged from recession in mid-2009.

Productivity has averaged annual gains of just 1.2 percent from 2007 through 2016, a sharp slowdown from average annual gains of 2.6 percent from 2000 to 20007. Those increases reflected a boost from the increased use of computers and the internet in the workplace.

Rising productivity allows employers to boost wages without triggering higher inflation.
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A fast-moving wildfire whipped by hot, dry Santa Ana winds destroyed hundreds of homes and other buildings in and around Ventura, California, on Tuesday as thousands of residents were forced to flee ahead of the flames.

The blaze, dubbed the Thomas Fire, broke out Monday evening in the foothills above Ventura. Winds quickly drove it west into the city, which is about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. By Tuesday afternoon, it was zero percent contained, had charred more than 45,000 acres and had forced thousands to flee their homes.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, freeing state funds and resources to assist the more than 1,000 firefighters battling to save homes from the conflagration.

“This fire is very dangerous and spreading rapidly, but we’ll continue to attack it with all we’ve got,” Brown said in a written statement. “It’s critical residents stay ready and evacuate immediately if told to do so.” 

There were no immediate reports of fatalities from the blaze, but local KABC-TV reported that one person had been killed in a car crash while fleeing the area.

The Los Angeles Times reported that a car hit a firefighter who was protecting homes from the flames. It said he was being treated at a local hospital.

“Due to the intensity of the fire, crews are having trouble making access, and there are multiple reports of structures on fire,” officials said on Ventura County’s emergency management website.

More than 250,000 homes were without power, local utilities said. All schools in the Ventura Unified School District were closed.

The Thomas Fire was the largest of several large blazes that broke out across Southern California following the onset of the Santa Ana winds.

In the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, the Creek Fire had blackened more than 4,000 acres and forced the evacuation of 2,500 homes and a convalescent center north of Interstate 210. The highway remained open even as other roads were closed, officials said.

“We’re chasing the fire, trying to get ahead of it, trying to get in front to provide structure defense,” Los Angeles County Chief Deputy David Richardson told reporters at an afternoon briefing as thick black smoke drifted across the city.

The Santa Ana winds, which blow in from the California desert, were forecast to top out at 70 miles per hour (115 kph) and remain strong through the week.
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President Donald Trump is planning to announce Wednesday that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. But analysts and officials say the president is not expected to set a date for moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, a step that would most likely trigger an extreme reaction in the Arab world.

In preparation for the announcement, Trump spoke by phone Tuesday with five Middle East leaders to brief them on his decision.

A White House statement identified the five as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Few details

The statement gave few details of the conversations except to say, “The leaders also discussed potential decisions regarding Jerusalem.” It added that Trump had reaffirmed his commitment to advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Bloomberg News quoted a person familiar with Trump’s decision as saying the president had decided to sign a waiver postponing the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Under a law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1995, the embassy must be relocated to Jerusalem unless the president signs a waiver every six months stating that the matter is to be decided between the Israelis and Palestinians. Every president since Clinton has signed the waiver, including Trump, who did so when it came due in June.

Dennis Ross was U.S. point man on the Middle East peace process under three presidents and worked with Israelis and Palestinians to reach the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1995. He said Tuesday that Trump appeared to be leaving a lot of room for both Israelis and Arabs to maneuver in the new environment.

In a briefing for reporters, Ross said it’s very important for the president to allow opportunities for Palestinians and Arabs in the region to say that their position “still has to be part of the negotiation process. … That seems to me to be the key to this.”

On the eve of Trump’s expected announcement, Reuters quoted unnamed State Department officials as expressing concern about the potential for a violent backlash against Israel and also possibly against American interests in the region.

When asked whether Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was “on board” with a decision that could put U.S. citizens and troops in the Middle East at risk, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, “I think the secretary has communicated clearly, as have all the members of the inner agency who have a role in making this decision. … He has made his positions clear to the White House. I think the Department of Defense has as well. But it is ultimately the president’s decision to make. He is in charge.”

​Preparing for violence

In a security message released Tuesday, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, noting widespread calls for demonstrations this week, barred personal travel by American government workers and their families in Jerusalem’s Old City and West Bank, including Bethlehem and Jericho, until further notice. 

U.S. embassies worldwide also were ordered to increase security in anticipation of protests.

Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the international community maintains its final status must be determined in negotiations.

Nevertheless, Trump has said he is committed to a promise he made last year during the election campaign to move the U.S. Embassy out of Tel Aviv, a step favored by many American Jews and Christian evangelicals.

Jerusalem is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest place in Islam. For Jews, it is the Temple Mount, the holiest site of all.

Arab and Muslim states have warned that any decision to move the U.S. Embassy could inflame tensions in the region and destroy U.S. efforts to reach an Arab-Israeli peace agreement.

No longer a credible mediator

Senior Palestinian leader Nabil Shaath said Trump would no longer be seen as a credible mediator. “The Palestinian Authority does not condone violence, but it may not be able to control the street and prevent a third Palestinian uprising,” he said, speaking in Arabic.

Gerald Feierstein, director for Gulf affairs and government relations at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the level of anger the announcement might provoke would depend greatly on how Trump presented the issue.

“If the president just says, ‘We recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,’ without trying to define it further and without actually beginning the process of moving the embassy, then it’s a big nothingburger,” he told VOA.

Feierstein, who served as U.S. ambassador to Yemen, and later as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under former President Barack Obama, said if Trump went any further, it could trigger a backlash and deal a crushing blow to peace efforts.

“If what he says is perceived as, or is in fact, a recognition of all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and he is no longer maintaining the international position that Jerusalem is to be divided and that East Jerusalem is to become the capital of the Palestinian state once there is an agreement, then that is going to have a very negative effect on the peace process,” Feierstein said.

“So the devil is in the details about how significant this is going to be,” he said.

VOA’s Cindy Saine at the State Department contributed to this report.
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The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Deputy White House chief of staff Kirstjen Nielsen as President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Senators approved Nielsen’s nomination, 62-37, on Tuesday. Nielsen, 45, is a former DHS official who is considered a protege of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a former DHS secretary.

Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Nielsen a qualified candidate with the talent and experience to succeed. As a former DHS chief of staff, Nielsen understands the department’s daily operations and is ready to lead on her first day, McConnell said.

Democrats have concerns

Democrats complained that Nielsen lacks the experience needed to run a major agency with 240,000 employees. They also cited concerns about possible White House interference in a recent DHS decision to send home thousands of Nicaraguans and Haitians long granted U.S. protection.

Homeland Security oversees the nation’s borders, cybersecurity and response to natural disasters, among other areas.

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Nielsen brings valuable, practical experience to DHS. He called her an expert in risk management, with a focus on cybersecurity, emergency management and critical infrastructure.

Nielsen “is ready to answer this call to duty,” Johnson said. “She has been working in and around the Department of Homeland Security since its creation.”

Questionable decisions

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said Nielsen has played a role in several questionable Trump administration decisions, including a travel ban to restrict entry from six mostly Muslim countries, termination of a program for young immigrants and what Harris called a “feeble response to Hurricanes Irma, Maria and Harvey.”

Harris also said she was troubled by Nielsen’s failure to acknowledge at her confirmation hearing how human behavior contributes to climate change.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice Education Fund, which promotes immigrants’ rights, said Trump has worked to punish immigrants and refugees, from his call to build a wall along the Mexican border to the partial travel ban to raids against immigrants.

‘Architect’ in Trump’s policies

As a key Kelly aide, Nielsen is “one of the architects” of Trump’s immigration policies, Sharry said. He called Nielsen “a willing accomplice, helping to shape and implement this profoundly disturbing and un-American vision of our country.”

Nielsen said at her confirmation hearing last month that climate change is a crucial issue and said the Trump administration is revising its climate models to better respond to rising sea levels.

“I can’t unequivocally state it’s caused by humans,” she said. “There are many contributions to it.”

Cybersecurity a top priority

On other topics, Nielsen said she agreed with Kelly that a U.S.-Mexico border wall is unlikely to be a physical barrier from “sea to shining sea.”

She also condemned white nationalism, rejected Islamophobia and promised to make cybersecurity a top priority.

Trump repeatedly promised during the campaign that he would build the wall and that Mexico would pay for it, but the administration is seeking billions in taxpayer dollars to finance the project.

Homeland Security has been leading the charge on implementing Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda, and Nielsen pledged to continue that work.

 
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says he plans to affirm an “ironclad” U.S. commitment to NATO during a visit to Belgium, Austria and France this week.

Dogged by reports by several media outlets that the White House is considering replacing him with CIA Chief Mike Pompeo, Tillerson called those reports “laughable.” President Donald Trump also tweeted that Tillerson is not leaving any time soon.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg dismissed Tillerson’s job insecurity speculation Monday as a distraction, saying the trans-Atlantic alliance “and NATO ministers are able to focus on the core tasks of the job we have to do despite any speculation and rumors.”

Stoltenberg also praised Tillerson’s strong personal commitment to the trans-Atlantic bond and to NATO. Tillerson is set to meet with Stoltenberg to discuss a range of global security issues.

The U.S. envoy to NATO, former Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, said that there has been no change to plans for two days of talks starting Tuesday in Brussels between Tillerson and his NATO foreign minister counterparts.

A senior State Department official briefed reporters ahead of the trip, Tillerson’s seventh visit to Europe since talking the job as chief U.S. diplomat. The official said while in Brussels, Tillerson will also meet with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, have lunch with the 28 EU foreign ministers and meet with Belgian officials to discuss defense cooperation, Afghan strategy and the defeat of the so-called Islamic State.

The senior state department official said Tillerson will reinforce President Trump’s central message of “shared responsibility” in Europe and the global agenda that includes North Korea, Syria and issues related to Russia. The president has repeatedly called on NATO countries to pay more for mutual defense.

From Brussels, Tillerson will travel to Vienna for the annual meeting of the OSCE, with the emphasis on arms control and human rights, and the senior State Department official said, a message of support for Ukrainian sovereignty.

The official said his final stop will be in Paris “where we have a very special and deep cooperation with the French on a global agenda that encompasses issues on Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea and Sahel.”

But some analysts say Tillerson’s main obstacle abroad may be his own strained relationship with President Donald Trump, as he seeks to reassure U.S. allies at a time of multiple foreign policy challenges with North Korea and a potentially explosive U.S. decision that might be coming later this week on recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The President of the American Academy of Diplomacy, former Ambassador Ronald Neumann told VOA: “The greatest effect on his ability to do his job is whether people are confident that he speaks for the president and it is the president who makes that uncertain from time to time with tweets and position changes.”

But Neumann added: “I think by and large NATO members are reasonably comfortable with what Tillerson has been doing with diplomacy.”

Aaron David Miller of the Wilson Center served five or six different Republican and Democratic secretaries of state and said the president’s treatment of Tillerson is unprecedented.

“No president ever undercut a working secretary of state while on a mission [to Asia], as he did in North Korea. No president ever adopted positions that were unethical to the ones that the secretary was taking on Qatar.”

But James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation said he finds there an been a healthy and open airing of differences on foreign policy views among Tillerson and other members of Trump’s team, and that this is appreciated abroad.

“By and large I think there is a recognition of a generally clear direction from U.S. foreign policy that a lot of our friends and allies appreciate,” he said. “And Tillerson, has -the leaders that I have talked to – think that he has well represented U.S. views and engagement with him has been helpful and useful.”
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President Donald Trump will not announce a decision on Monday on whether he will again delay moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a White House spokesman said, despite Monday’s deadline for doing so.

An announcement on the decision will be made “in coming days,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters aboard Air Force One as Trump was returning from a trip to Utah.

Temporary order expected

Trump had been due to decide whether to sign a waiver that would hold off relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, as every U.S. president has done since Congress passed a law on the issue in 1995.

Senior U.S. officials have said that Trump is expected to issue a temporary order, the second since he took office, to delay moving the embassy despite his campaign pledge to go ahead with the controversial action.

No final decision yet  

But the officials have said Trump is likely to give a speech on Wednesday unilaterally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a step that would break with decades of U.S. policy and could fuel violence in the Middle East. They have said, however, that no final decisions have been made.

“The president has been clear on this issue from the get-go; that it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when,” Gidley said.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and the international community does not recognize Israel’s claim on all of the city, home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions.

 
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Thousands of people are still waiting on access to safe drinking water in parts of Texas more than three months after Hurricane Harvey.

The storm and the heavy rains that followed overflowed drainage districts, cut off water and prompted hundreds of boil-water notices across the Gulf Coast. More than a dozen boil-water notices remain in effect across affected areas.

The areas included cities, mobile home parks and housing developments in seven counties across southeast Texas, the Beaumont Enterprise reported. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reports more than 3,700 people in those areas haven’t had clean drinking water since late August.

In Rose City, the city’s boil notice hasn’t been lifted because the plan hasn’t met TCEQ standards for pH levels and other chemicals, said Janice Ratcliff, the city’s water operator. Running water returned to the city’s 600 residents in September, but it still requires a two-minute rolling boil before safe consumption.

“It’s been so touch-and-go,” Ratcliff said. “It will run good for two weeks but then something will happen. It just makes no sense to remove the notice just to have to go right back on it.”

Ratcliff said the city’s original goal was to have the notice rescinded for good by Thanksgiving. But issues with insurance have pushed back installing the necessary equipment.

“It’s crazy what they put us through,” Ratcliff said. “It’s just been delay after delay. We understand that insurance companies and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) were so overloaded, but a water facility should come first.”

Mayor Bonnie Stephenson said that faith-based organizations have been working to provide Rose City with enough bottled water.

“We’ve barely had any complaints from residents,” Stephenson said of the rebuilding process. “They know that they’re working as hard as they can to fix it. Nobody has gotten real mad yet.”
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As the United States and South Korean air forces on Monday launched their largest ever joint drills, questions are being raised whether North Korea’s missile test has shown it has already crossed what Seoul deems a “red line” – having a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile –and what can be done about it.

The five-day annual Vigilant ACE military exercises this year involve more than 230 warplanes and 12,000 U.S. military personnel joining with South Korean troops.

While such large-scale joint exercises are routine, and scheduled well in advance, the drills begin less than a week after Pyongyang successfully launched its most advanced ICBM and declared itself a nuclear weapons power, a status the U.S. has called unacceptable.

South Korea’s air force says the drills will include simulated attacks on mock North Korean nuclear and missile targets.

Red line

North Korea’s test of the Hwasong-15 missile last week showed ruler Kim Jong Un’s ICBM program is more advanced than many previously believed and already capable of hitting the continental U.S.

Pyongyang has claimed the missile is nuclear ready – a subject of debate among experts, most of whom argue it is months or even years from perfecting. But South Korea does not believe the assertion. 

“The government does not accept the North’s ‘unilateral’ claim to completing its nuclear program,” said South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun at a Monday briefing. “We are making efforts to resolve the North’s nuclear issue peacefully with the international community.”

Seoul says it has not verified that North Korea’s missile has capabilities such as re-entry, precise guidance to terminal phase, and warhead operation.

If Pyongyang demonstrates those advances, it would cross what President Moon Jae-in in July called a “red line” for possible U.S. military action – having a functional, nuclear-tipped ICBM. 

Pyongyang might soon cross that line, if it hasn’t already. 

“It now appears that the Hwasong-15 can deliver a 1,000-kg payload to any point on the U.S. mainland. North Korea has almost certainly developed a nuclear warhead that weighs less than 700 kg, if not one considerably lighter,” wrote ballistic missile analyst for the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS’s 38 North program, Michael Elleman, shortly after the test.

Potential for war

U.S. officials have warned they will not allow Pyongyang to threaten the U.S. with a nuclear missile, raising the possibility that Washington could launch a preemptive attack on North Korea. 

Pyongyang denounced this week’s drills as preparation for such an attack, as it always does, and warned the U.S. is driving the peninsula to the “brink of nuclear war,” according to North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

But North Korea is not alone this time in warning that the two sides are getting closer to war. 

White House national security adviser HR McMaster on Saturday said the chance of war with North Korea was “increasing every day.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday called for the Pentagon to move U.S. military dependents out of South Korea because conflict with Pyongyang was getting closer to reality.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy North Korea if it attacks the U.S. or its allies. But it is not clear if Washington is ready for the heavy death-toll and destruction in South Korea – with half its population within Pyongyang’s artillery range – that would likely result from a preemptive attack to destroy North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities. 

“Red line responses don’t have to be military but they should be significant and painful politically and economically, if not militarily,” said Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu President Ralph Cossa. “They are also most effective if spelled out in advance and then acted upon.” 

Hawaii on Friday tested nuclear alarm sirens not used since the end of the Cold War in the 1980s.

U.S. missile defense

Despite the warnings of war, and the Hwasong-15’s demonstrated reach, the Pentagon has said North Korea is not yet a threat to the continental U.S. 

U.S. missile defense includes the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), also used in South Korea and Guam, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) in Alaska and California, Patriot missiles in Japan, and the U.S. navy’s ship-based Aegis system. 

U.S. missile defense has a checkered test record, successfully intercepting a mock warhead about half the time, noted 38 North’s Elleman.

“If five missiles are fired, and the US responds with four interceptors per NK (North Korean) warhead, all five warheads would be destroyed about 80% of the time. In other words, the expectation would be that at least one warhead will evade the defenses 20% of the time.”

Peace in our time?

With North Korea’s nuclear missile program advancing much faster than expected, time is running out to avert war, said HR McMaster on Sunday.

Multilateral diplomatic options haven’t gained any traction with Pyongyang since it refused nuclear inspectors in 2008 and withdrew from a deal on ending its nuclear programs made with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

“I think diplomatic policy or six-party talks are over and North Korea is focusing on whether it can have negotiations with the U.S. or not, and it does not consider six-party talks at all,” said head of the World Institute of North Korean Studies Ahn Chan-il. “It’s because the (purpose) of the six-party talks is to stop the operation of North Korea’s nuclear program. So, even if the six countries gather and talk, they cannot reach anything as North Korea has almost become a nuclear power state.”

“I suspect we will just see more and more sanctions,” said Pacific Forum president Cossa. “The U.S. seems to be warning that it will seek ship inspections and more intrusive maritime measures, but it’s unclear Beijing and Moscow will go along.”

More optimistic analysis has suggested North Korea’s declaration of having “completed” its nuclear ambition may signal Pyongyang will turn towards its decrepit economy and away from further nuclear provocation.

“In order to reach both nuclear and economic development, it requires a huge budget, technology, labor, and resources,” said Ahn. “But the pressure and sanctions of the United Nations are reaching their highest and it is remote to prepare such conditions to realize Kim Jong Un’s hope.”

North Korea experts will be watching Kim’s annual New Year’s Day speech closely for any clues on how much closer Pyongyang intends to push the red line between peace and war. 
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