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The Associated Press reported early Saturday that in the first month of U.S. President Donald Trump’s term in office, he sent “an American scholar” to meet with North Korean officials and to relay a message.

The message was that the new administration was appreciative of a nearly four-month freeze of the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests – and thought it “might just offer a ray of hope,” the news agency said in its account.

However, the AP reported North Korean officials said the lack of testing wasn’t a sign of conciliation and insisted Kim Jong Un would order tests whenever he wanted.  Two days later, the North launched a new medium-range missile, ushering in a year of escalating tensions.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported late Friday that “Russian tankers have supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea.”  Reuters attributed the information to two senior Western European security sources.

Russia is a member of the United Nations Security Council.  The sale of oil and oil products to North Korea would be a breach of U.N. sanctions

One security source told Reuters “Russian vessels have made ship-to-ship transfers of petrochemicals to North Korean vessels on several occasions this year in breach of sanctions.”

Another security source told the news agency, “There is no evidence that this is backed by the Russian state, but these Russian vessels are giving a lifeline to the North Koreans.”

Reuters said both sources “cited naval intelligence and satellite imagery of the vessels operating out of Russian Far Eastern ports on the Pacific.”

Denials from China

The new reports come as China has denied facilitating oil shipments to North Korea in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions, one day after Trump accused Beijing of doing so.

“China has been completely and strictly implementing Security Council resolutions and fulfilling our international obligations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Friday at a media briefing. “We will never allow Chinese citizens and enterprises to engage in activities that violate Security Council resolutions.”

Despite China’s insistence the sanctions are being enforced, doubts persist in the U.S., South Korea and Japan that loopholes continue to exist. And China’s repeated denials did not preclude Trump from tweeting Thursday he was “very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea.”

The U.N. Security Council last week imposed new sanctions designed to limit North Korea access to oil in response to the country’s recent long-range missile test. In November, it test-launched its latest intercontinental ballistic missile, which many U.S. experts have warned would be capable of striking anywhere on U.S. soil. The sanctions seek to bar 90-percent of refined oil exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and limit crude oil exports at 4 million barrels annually.

Ship seized

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said earlier Friday the country had seized a Hong Kong-flagged ship that transferred oil to a North Korean vessel in international waters despite the sanctions.

Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported South Korean officials said the Lighthouse Winmore vessel transferred “600 tons of refined petroleum” to a North Korean ship on October 19 and that the ship was seized on November 24 after it sailed into South Korea’s Yeosu Port.

Yonhap reported the vessel was chartered by the Billions Bunker Group, a Taiwanese company. The ship’s “claimed destination” was reportedly Taiwan, but the ship instead “transferred oil to a North Korean ship, Sam Jong 2, and three other non-North Korean vessels in international waters in the East China Sea.”

Yonhap said South Korea informed the U.S. about its “detection of the illegal transaction” involving the Lighthouse Winmore, which is reportedly on the list of ships the U.S. has proposed blacklisting for prohibited trade with North Korea.

Hua, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said authorities investigated a report that an unnamed Chinese ship transferred oil to a North Korean vessel at sea on October 19 and determined it was erroneous. Hua also said she did not have any information about the Hong Kong-flagged vessel.

Satellite images

In November, the U.S. Treasury Department disclosed satellite images that displayed what it said was a North Korean ship receiving oil from an unidentified vessel on October 19. It was not immediately clear if the Lighthouse Winmore was involved in the transaction.

The photos received broader public scrutiny this week when the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reprinted them along with the report that suspected Chinese ships transferred oil to North Korean vessels about 30 times since October.

In an interview with the New York Times Thursday, Trump linked his trade policy with China to its cooperation in resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.

“If they’re helping North Korea, I can look at trade a little bit differently, at least for a period of time. And that’s what I’ve been doing. But when oil is going in, I’m not happy about that.”

During a briefing Friday with reporters at the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was asked if the U.S. Navy could begin seizing ships suspected of providing oil to North Korea.

Mattis declined to speculate but said, “Obviously if a government finds that there is a ship in their port conducting trade that was forbidden under the U.N. Security Council resolution, then they have an obligation and so far we have seen nations take that obligation seriously.”

Mattis also predicted the global community will increase pressure on Pyongyang and said physical approaches are among the options under consideration.

“What form that pressure takes in terms of physical operations is something that will be determined by the cognizant governments,” he said.

China is North Korea’s primary trading partner, energy supplier and main diplomatic protector. But Beijing has expressed increasing frustration with North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. And while China supports the latest sanctions against Pyongyang, it has argued against actions that may be harmful to North Korean citizens or destabilize its government.

 
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Every attorney general leaves his imprint on the U.S. Justice Department. Jeff Sessions is no exception.

Since being sworn in as the nation’s 84th attorney general in February, the former Republican senator and federal prosecutor has moved to radically overhaul the Justice Department and its approach to law enforcement.

From scrapping civil rights protections for transgender people to ending leniency in sentencing criminal defendants, Sessions has rolled back a host of policies his two immediate predecessors — Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder, both chosen by former President Barack Obama — enacted to promote civil rights and social justice.

The policy reversals have not been without their critics.

While Sessions and his supporters say the attorney general is restoring the rule of law and ending Obama-era policies that amounted to executive overreach, critics say he’s returning to criminal justice policies that led to mass incarceration and undermined civil rights.

​Blistering criticism

Sessions’ singular success in remolding the Justice Department is widely acknowledged. The irony is that it has come in the face of sometimes blistering personal criticism of the attorney general by his boss, President Donald Trump.

An early and ardent supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, Sessions was rewarded with one of the most coveted positions in the administration.

But his relationship with Trump soured after Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation in March, following revelations that Sessions had not disclosed meetings with Russia’s former ambassador to Washington during the presidential campaign.

Trump is said to have become so frustrated with his attorney general over the summer that he said he would not have picked Sessions for the job, had he known Sessions would have recused himself from the Russia probe.

But the attorney general largely shrugged off the criticism, saying at a news conference in July that he was “confident that we can continue to run this office in an effective way,” and later traveling around the country to sell Trump’s tough on crime and immigration policies.

Here is a look at seven major Obama-era policies Sessions has rolled back, or attempted to, since taking office:

​Keeping private prisons

In his first act as attorney general in February, Sessions scrapped an Obama administration plan to phase out the use of private prisons for federal inmates. The 2016 direction to the Bureau of Prisons was sent after a harshly critical report about private prisons by the Justice Department’s inspector general. But Sessions said the Obama policy “impaired the bureau’s ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system.”

Dropping transgender protections

Also in February, Sessions directed the Justice Department to withdraw a guidance issued in 2016, requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.

In October, Sessions rescinded another policy memo issued by the Obama administration that said the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s employment discrimination prohibitions applied to transgender people. Rights group Human Rights Campaign called the move “discriminatory” against the transgender community and a “dangerous change of course.”

​Targeting sanctuary cities

With the Trump administration vowing to crack down on illegal immigration, it has fallen to Sessions to enforce one of the administration’s most controversial policies: cutting off federal funding to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, cities and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

In April, Sessions sent letters to nine sanctuary jurisdictions requiring proof of compliance. In July, he announced that sanctuary cities would not be eligible for millions of dollars in funds for policing.

Chicago and Philadelphia later sued Sessions and the Justice Department over the sanctuary plan. In November, a federal judge permanently blocked Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities.

Reviewing consent decrees

In April, Sessions ordered a review of Obama-era reform agreements between the Justice Department and police agencies, saying, “It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies.”

Known as “consent decrees,” a dozen such court-enforced agreements were struck between the Obama Justice Department and local police departments. Sessions has said the agreements have demoralized police departments, but civil rights advocates say they have helped produce necessary reforms.

Charging and sentencing policy

In a departure from the Obama administration’s policy of leniency in sentencing low-level, nonviolent offenders, Sessions directed federal prosecutors in May to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” with the lengthiest sentences in all criminal cases.

The guideline rescinded a 2013 memo by then-Attorney General Eric Holder directing prosecutors to avoid triggering mandatory-minimum sentences for certain nonviolent, low-level drug offenders.

Sessions said the new charging policy “affirms our responsibility to enforce the law, is moral and just, and produces consistency.” But critics, such as former Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, have slammed it as a failed “one-size-fits-all” policy that has swelled America’s prison population.

​Affirmative action

In October, the Department of Justice announced it had reopened an investigation into Harvard University’s use of race in its admissions policy, raising fears the administration will target affirmative action policies widely practiced by American universities and colleges.

The Justice Department probe was triggered by a 2015 complaint against Harvard filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American groups. The Justice Department said the investigation is limited to the complaint against Harvard, but civil rights activists fear the probe is part of a broader effort to undermine affirmative action policies that date back decades and that supporters say have leveled the playing field for otherwise disadvantaged students.

Return to debtors’ prison?

On Dec. 21, Sessions rescinded a 2016 Justice Department letter advising local courts against hitting indigent defendants with stiff fines and fees.

The 2016 letter said the changes were “needed to guarantee equal justice under law to everyone, regardless of their financial circumstances.”

Sessions said he was rescinding the letter and 25 other so-called “guidance documents” because they were “unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law or otherwise improper.” The move provoked a firestorm, leading critics to decry it as a “criminalization of poverty” and a “return to debtors’ prisons.”
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Readying for his first television interview, Alex Wang gazes at his reflection in the back window of his yellow cab. Wiping his windswept mane behind the ear, he adjusts his red Shanghai Tang jacket and takes a swig of steaming tea.

“Ahh,” he pauses emphatically, “warms your whole body.”

Wang opens the front door and reaches deep inside, revealing a glossy 2018 calendar. On the cover is a shirtless male model, sprawled on his belly atop a yellow taxicab trunk, licking a spiral rainbow-colored lollipop the size of his face.

“It’s me!” he laughs, self-deprecatingly, pointing to his photo. “So ugly, you are!”

The 68-year-old Wang, an 18-year taxicab veteran, self-proclaimed “karaoke king” and “bit of a comedian” from China, flips through the months, each featuring a New York taxi driver. Most are foreign-born, representing seven different countries, and many are middle-aged, reflecting the key demographics of the city’s yellow cab fleet: 96 percent immigrant, median age 46.

WATCH: Is It Hot in Here, or Is It New York’s 2018 Taxicab Models?

The NYC Taxi Drivers Calendar’s co-creators, Philip and Shannon Kirkman, came up with the idea five years ago as a tongue-in-cheek alternative to the famous chisel-chested firefighter pin-up — a steamy parody with the dual-function of celebrating the city’s diversity, while also giving back.

To date, the couple has donated more than $60,000 worth of proceeds to University Settlement, a nonprofit that serves immigrant and low-income families with education, housing, and health services.

​Turning taxi drivers into models

Shannon, the calendar’s photographer, describes the end product’s humor as uniting.

“Particularly when the news is tough, it’s something that you can kind of take a step back, and relax and celebrate with,” Shannon said. “We laugh a lot during the shoots.”

Philip, the calendar’s creative director, explains that the process of turning a taxi driver into a model, during a two-hour shoot, can prove challenging.

“I always think about how courageous it is for these drivers, because it is an open set,” Philip said. “We literally park the cab in front of a fire hydrant in most cases, and there’s people walking by and looking and taking pictures.”

Among the fearless models are pucker-lipped Dan — who sports a bow-tie, cuffs, and not much else before a vintage late 60s-era checker taxicab — and Hassan, who seductively watches you as he eats a messy slice of birthday cake decorated with his own smiling portrait.

Of the year’s 12 participants, only one is a woman, indicative of a male-dominated industry in which 99 percent of New York City yellow cab drivers are men.

Bangladeshi-native Nipa, featured in both the inside cover and October, is the third woman ever to be included in the calendar. Her depiction as a strongwoman was intentional.

“It’s been a tough year for women,” Shannon said. “We felt like we really wanted to put Nipa in a position of power, in a position of strength.”

​‘A little’ fame

Come winter, cover model Wang can be seen enthusiastically squirting a bottle of baby oil across the hood of his vehicle, in his official December photo.

Wang, who started his life in the U.S. as a restaurant deliveryman 37 years ago, says being a taxi driver has been the most rewarding job and career for him.

“Every [time a] passenger comes in … I practice my English,” Wang says. “I see lots of beautiful places, lots of landmarks of New York.”

Everywhere he drives, Wang proudly displays his roots, but there is no place he would rather call home. And now that he has found “a little” fame, he plans to make sure everyone knows about it.

“I will show all the passengers,” he says. “I was in a taxi calendar, and [I was] the cover man. Alex Wang!”
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Since taking office, President Donald Trump has broken with previous foreign policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, refusing to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal and taking a more aggressive stance toward North Korea. Views about these departures are mixed — with some welcoming the forceful projection of American power on the world stage, while others criticizing what they see as a dangerous course for the United States. More from VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo.
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Puerto Rico authorities said Friday that nearly half of power customers in the U.S. territory still lack electricity more than three months after Hurricane Maria.

Officials said 55 percent of the nearly 1.5 million customers have power, marking the first time the government has provided that statistic since the Category 4 storm hit on Sept. 20 with winds of up to 154 mph. Officials had previously reported power generation, which stands at nearly 70 percent of pre-storm levels.

“The damage was severe,” power company spokesman Geraldo Quinones told The Associated Press. “A lot of work remains.”

One of Puerto Rico 78 municipalities remains entirely without power, and it’s unclear when some electricity will be restored to the central mountain town of Ciales. Crews this week restored power for the first time to parts of the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa, which received the first hit from Maria.

‘This truly consumes you’

Among those still in the dark is Eileen Cheverez, a 48-year-old respiratory therapist who lives in Morovis, which borders Ciales. She said power was restored to homes around her, but that crews still need to set up a key cable so she can have lights.

“This truly consumes you mentally, emotionally,” she said, adding that seeing homes lit up around her gives her some hope amid the frustration. “It’s like a lack of respect. I know the damage was great, especially in the mountains, but I feel they’ve taken too long.”

Quinones said power remains out across the island equally, although he wasn’t able to immediately say what percentage of businesses and homes now have electricity.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello had pledged 95 percent power generation by Dec. 15, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said the entire island will have power by May.

Residential areas have to wait

Fredyson Martinez, vice president of a union that represents workers with Puerto Rico’s power company, told the AP on Friday that a recent study by local engineers found that 90 percent of industries and 75 percent of businesses already have power, meaning residential areas are disproportionately in the dark.

Martinez said the company should have provided the number of customers without power a while ago. The company has said the optical fiber that helps provide that data was destroyed by the hurricane, but Martinez said officials had other ways of obtaining the information.

“That is a very important number for people,” he said. “The people have a total and absolute right to know how many customers are being serviced … That way they have a better idea of how it’s progressing … and how to prepare themselves.”

Martinez also said that a lack of supplies and equipment is slowing power restoration efforts, echoing an early concern by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

More poles on the way

Government officials said nearly 14,000 poles already have been shipped to Puerto Rico, and that another 7,000 will arrive in upcoming days. In addition, some 3,500 workers are trying to restore power across the island.

“We know that the priority of our clients is to know when they will receive the power service again,” said Justo Gonzalez, the power company’s interim director. “Maria severely impacted most of our energy infrastructure.”

Officials said Puerto Rico has 2,400 miles of transmission lines, 30,000 miles of distribution lines and 342 substations that suffered substantial damage during the hurricane. Gonzalez said crews are tackling projects that include installing new poles and building primary transmission towers and connection wiring.

Carlos Torres, who is overseeing power restoration efforts, said that crews are still finding unexpected damage including what he called severely impacted substations.

“We will not stop working until every person and business has their lights back on,” he said.

Help requested

Puerto Rico’s governor on Friday said that he has requested up to 1,500 additional workers from electric companies across the U.S. mainland to help restore power, and said he has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to increase its capacity to provide assistance.

“We understand how difficult it has been for the people of Puerto Rico who have been without power for so long,” he said. “Our administration will continue working to ensure that there are the necessary resources to complete this restoration effort after an unprecedented devastation.”
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For only the second time since 9/11, America’s defense secretary didn’t visit U.S. troops in a war zone during December, breaking a long-standing tradition of personally and publicly thanking service members in combat who are separated from their families during the holiday season.

Pentagon boss Jim Mattis, who spent more than four decades in the Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, made a five-day trip through the Middle East in early December. He stopped in Kuwait and Pakistan — countries adjacent to Iraq and Afghanistan — but didn’t cross the borders to see troops at war in either country. Last week, he visited troops in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at military bases in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, wishing them holiday cheer.

Streak ends at 15 years

It has been 15 years since a U.S. defense chief didn’t travel to a war zone during the festive season. And the only time a holiday visit was skipped since Americans began fighting in Afghanistan was in December 2002. That year, then-Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went to a command post in Qatar that would be used a few months later to coordinate the launch of the Iraq war.

Asked recently why he wasn’t going to Iraq or Afghanistan, Mattis said he didn’t want to discuss his travel. “I carry out my duties to the best of my ability,” said Mattis, who visited Iraq and Afghanistan earlier this year.

Dana White, his chief spokeswoman, said the secretary “wanted the troops to enjoy their holiday uninterrupted. He is keenly aware of the logistical challenges of a senior leader visit, especially in a war zone.”

Boost for morale

Defense secretary trips historically have been aimed at boosting troop morale, letting service members know that senior leaders and the U.S. public recognize their sacrifice. And generals who have chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff have routinely done their own December trips to war zones, taking celebrities on their flights as part of a USO entertainment tour.

It is less of a tradition for U.S. presidents to make December visits to conflict zones. Such trips require much greater logistical and security planning.

President George W. Bush visited Afghanistan twice and Iraq four times, including a secret Thanksgiving voyage to Baghdad in 2003 and a trip to both nations’ capitals in December 2008. President Barack Obama flew to Iraq once as commander in chief and four times to Afghanistan. Only a December 2010 trip came during the holidays.

Pence visits Afghanistan

President Donald Trump hasn’t yet gone to the war front, but Vice President Mike Pence flew to Afghanistan last week.

Less than three months after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan, Rumsfeld flew into Bagram Air Base under extraordinarily high security, telling service members the World Trade Center “is still burning as we sit here, they’re still bringing bodies out.”

He said he made the trip to talk face-to-face with “real people who are doing real things that are part of our plan.”

In two subsequent years, Rumsfeld went to Afghanistan and Iraq on Christmas Eve, mingling with troops and donning an apron to serve them holiday dinner. He fielded questions or complaints, too. In one such December troop talk, when a soldier asked Rumsfeld why troops went into battle in Iraq badly equipped, the secretary gave a now-famous response: “You go to the war with the Army you have … not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”

Gates made 5 holiday trips 

Rumsfeld’s successor, Robert Gates, maintained the tradition, traveling to the war zone around the holidays during each of his five years in office. His first trip was on Dec. 20, 2006, two days after taking the job.

Like his predecessor, Gates ended his troop talks with the traditional lineup for handshakes, photos and the much-desired commemorative coin. The coins — different for each secretary or military commander and emblazoned with their names or unit designs — are ceremonial gifts that young service members embrace. Many collect them or use them to get free drinks in bars. One game stipulates the service member with the highest-ranking coin wins.

Secretaries Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel and Ash Carter followed suit, trailed by a military aide carrying the coins that they often handed out to hundreds after each event.

“Christmastime’s coming up and from our family to your families, thank you,” Carter, Obama’s final Pentagon boss, told troops in Afghanistan during a December 2015 visit. “You’re not with them, you’re here. We don’t take that for granted.”

Mattis rarely gives public troop talks, in any season. Usually he meets privately with small groups of service members. And he has declined to hand out coins.

Thanks for the lift 

While the December visits often have been promoted as a way to thank troops, they have sometimes brought a special Christmas gift. 

In 2010, Gates gave four soldiers a ride home from Afghanistan on his military plane. Beyond the faster, more comfortable flight, they got a one-night layover in the luxurious Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi, where Gates stopped to meet local leaders.

“The next time you’re in touch with your families, I hope you’d let them know, whether it’s email or a phone call or whatever, just pass along to them my personal thanks to them for their support to you and their patience with all of us,” he told troops at Forward Operating Base Howz-e-Madad, Afghanistan, that December.
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Maame Biney, a 17-year-old from Ghana, will be the first African-American woman to represent the U.S. on the speedskating short track team at the 2018 Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February. VOA’s Salem Solomon visited her where she first started skating in a local ice rink in Reston, Virginia, and has this story.
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Minneapolis’ top prosecutor on Thursday said more investigation is needed before he decides whether to charge a police officer in the fatal shooting of an Australian woman in July that led to the police chief’s resignation.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement that he would not decide before the end of 2017 as he had hoped in the death of Sydney native Justine Damond, 40, who was shot once by Somali-born Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor from his patrol car.

“The investigation and review of the case will not be rushed. It is more important to get it right than to get it done quickly,” Freeman said.

Noor has been on paid leave and has declined to be interviewed by Minnesota state investigators.

Damond, who was living in Minneapolis and engaged to be married, had called police about a possible sexual assault near her house and approached the police after their arrival, authorities previously said.

The shooting drew condemnation in Minnesota and Australia, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called it “shocking” and “inexplicable.” Then-Minneapolis police chief Jamee Harteau resigned after city officials said procedures had been violated and that Damond “didn’t have to die.”

Noor’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, said in a statement Thursday that Noor extended his “thoughts and wishes” to Damond’s family and raised concerns about the objectivity of Freeman.

Neither Noor, who came to the United States from Somalia as a child, nor Matthew Harrity, another officer in the patrol car, had their body cameras activated, police have said.

Harrity told investigators he was startled by a loud sound near the patrol car shortly before Noor fired through the open driver’s-side window, striking Damond. Court documents said a woman slapped the back of the car before the shooting.

Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, last week in Sydney said he was concerned the investigation into her death may have been mishandled after prosecutor Freeman criticized investigators.

Freeman has said Harrity did not provide insightful information. Freeman also said he did not yet have enough evidence to charge Noor.

“I have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, the moment he shot the gun he feared for his life,” Freeman said in video comments posted by the Star-Tribune newspaper. “But he won’t answer my questions.”

The attorney for Damond’s family, Bob Bennett, on Thursday said that Damond’s family supported the delay.

“We support Mr. Freeman’s decision to take additional time to ensure the investigation is rigorous and complete,” Bennett said in a statement. “We want justice and appreciate the support from all those who want the same.”
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An Oregon state appeals court Thursday let stand $135,000 in damages levied against the owners of a Portland-area bakery for discrimination after they refused on religious grounds to prepare a wedding cake for a local lesbian couple.

A three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals rejected a petition by Melissa and Aaron Klein, former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, to overturn the ruling by the state’s labor commissioner as a violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution to freedom of religion and expression.

An attorney for the Kleins, who closed their bakery not long after being ordered to pay the heavy fine, could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

“Today’s ruling sends a strong signal that Oregon remains open to all,” Brad Avakian, the state’s labor commissioner, said in a written statement.

“Within Oregon’s public accommodations law is the basic principle of human decency that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, has the freedom to fully participate in society,” Avakian said.

The case stems from Aaron Klein’s refusal to bake a wedding cake for Rachel Bowman-Cryer in January 2013 because she was planning a same-sex wedding with her partner Laurel, which he said violated his religious convictions.

Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer filed a formal complaint with the state labor bureau, which found the bakery had violated anti-discrimination laws and awarded the damages.

The Bowman-Cryers were married in 2014 after a federal judge struck down Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban.

The bakery case is one of many disputes nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June 2015 to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
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Despite initial concerns about an untested new leader, the world’s largest economy will end the year on a high note. The US economy is expanding at the fastest pace in more than two years, buoyed in part by low unemployment, soaring stock prices and a broad economic recovery around the globe. The momentum is expected to carry into 2018, but, as Mil Arcega reports, economists say the new year is likely to bring new challenges.
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More than two weeks after losing a special election to the U.S. Senate, Alabama Republican Roy Moore has filed a last-minute court challenge to prevent state election officials from certifying his Democratic opponent’s victory.

Moore filed a complaint in a state courthouse late Wednesday afternoon, just hours before Doug Jones is set to be officially declared the winner of the December 12 election, which Jones won by just over 20,000 votes.

The complaint alleges Moore lost due to “systematic voter fraud,” citing higher than expected turnout in Jefferson County, the state’s most populous area, along with irregularities in 20 voting precincts in the county.

Moore’s lawyers are demanding an investigation into their claims, and for the state to hold a new election. Moore has rejected calls to concede the race to Jones.

John Merrill, Alabama’s secretary of state, says he has not uncovered any evidence of voter fraud. If Jones’s victory is certified Thursday, he will be sworn in sometime next week to succeed Jeff Sessions, who became attorney general in President Donald Trump’s cabinet earlier this year.

Jones is the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from the heavily Republican state in 25 years.

Moore is a former Alabama state supreme court judge known for his staunch religious views. His campaign was derailed when The Washington Post published allegations made by several women of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, and Jones was a grown man in his 30s.

 
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