AP, GLENPOOL, OklahomaAn Oklahoma police chief said that an officer bought Starbucks for emergency services dispatchers working on Thanksgiving only to find that “PIG” was printed on the cups’ labels. The officer notified Kiefer Police Chief Johnny O’Mara, who called the store and spoke to a manager. The officer told KTUL-TV that the employee reached out to him personally and apologized, saying that it was a joke. In a separate joint statement, Starbucks and the Kiefer Police Department said that they are committed to using the incident as an opportunity to promote greater civility. Starbucks officials said that they would be meeting with Kiefer police officials to discussing ways to work together.

Reuters, GUATEMALA CITYGuatemala’s human rights prosecutor on Friday indicted another former top military official for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the bloodiest phase of the Central American country’s 36-year civil war. Judge Jimmy Bremer on Friday formally received the charges the prosecutors presented against the 76-year-old in a court in Guatemala City. Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor said that there were more victims and witnesses who could testify against him than in other processes. Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor accuses him of having planned one of the operations in the Maya Ixil region about 225km northwest of the capital. Giammattei also faced accusations of human rights breaches for the same incident, during which seven prisoners, but no government officials, died; he was later exonerated for lack of evidence.

The coalition deal was struck only last year following inconclusive parliamentary elections in 2017. The challengers are Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, who have been highly critical of the coalition and are part of the left wing of the party. The leadership race was triggered by the departure of the SPD’s previous leader, Andrea Nahles, after the party’s poor showing in European Parliament elections. Cut off from its “social roots,” the party seems “too rarely an alternative” to Merkel’s CDU, he said. “The SPD cannot renew itself unless it is in opposition and has new people,” fellow political expert Klaus Schroeder said.

AFP, LONDONA man suspected of stabbing two people to death in a terror attack on London Bridge was previously convicted of terrorism offenses and released from prison last year, police said yesterday. Police named the suspect as 28-year-old Usman Khan, saying that they were not actively seeking others in relation to the incident. He was released from prison in December 2018 on license,” London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said in a statement. “We believe that the attack began inside before he left the building and proceeded onto London Bridge, where he was detained and subsequently confronted and shot by armed officers,” Basu said. One man, wearing a suit and tie, was seen carrying a large knife away from the group.

By Chen Wei-chi / Staff reporterTaiwan Postal Workers’ Union members are to march in Taipei today over what they say are unequal subsidies between employees hired before Chunghwa Post’s reorganization 16 years ago and those who joined later. Currently, the postal service employees about 11,000 transferred personnel and 14,000 hierarchical personnel, it added. Postal staff have few complaints regarding the difference in salary and the use of different salary systems, given the two kind of personnel are different to begin with, Chen said. However, many find it unacceptable that the work subsidy for the two sets of employees are different, despite doing similar work. This is why some working at Chunghwa Post would rather resign and work for Taipower or CPC when the opportunity arises, he said.

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Taiwan International Worker-Employment Relationship Harmony Development Association yesterday called for a special law on foreign domestic workers to protect their rights and those of their employers. “The work foreign domestic workers perform is different from that of foreign factory workers. “However, a pregnant domestic worker cannot perform at-home caregiving tasks, even if she changes employer,” she added. A specialized law is needed on foreign domestic workers, who should be required to take regular pregnancy tests, to protect the rights of hardworking caregivers and their employers, Chien said. Foreign domestic workers’ labor rights are also protected by the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法), which stipulates than an employer cannot discriminate or fire them due to their pregnancy.

A total of 93.6 percent said that if the protests are not effective, it would mean the “one country, two systems” formula had failed. Chinese University of Hong Kong professor Francis Lee (李立峯) announced in Taipei the results of the survey he and a team of researchers conducted about the “one country, two systems” formula. Lee and other academics at the university’s Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey conducted interviews by telephone and on location during the protests. The results showed that independence is not the unifying force behind the protests, Lee said. Respondents said that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) stepping down would not make a big difference.

It would also work with the government by applying Uber technology in various transportation services, including yellow cabs, rental vehicles and designated driver services, Uber said. Over the past few years, local taxi drivers have protested drivers using the ride-hailing app who are not licensed taxi drivers. As a result, Uber began collaborating with vehicle rental operators, but that failed to solve the issue. Article 103-1 of the Transportation Management Regulations (汽車運輸業管理規則), dubbed the “Uber Clause,” was put into action on June 6, with a grace period for Uber drivers to acquire the required business and professional driving license to continue operating under the government’s multipurpose taxi program. There were about 12,000 Uber drivers in Taiwan before the clause went into effect, according to data from the Uber drivers’ self-help association.

While the S&P closed above its session low, selling intensified in the last hour of trading after the report on Huawei. All three of Wall Street’s major indices had registered record highs earlier in the week when hopes were higher for an imminent “phase one” trade deal. The US-China news gave “a little bit of a weaker tone” to Friday’s market, Jack Janasiewicz, a portfolio manager and strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston. For the week, the Dow rose 0.6 percent, the S&P gained 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ added 1.7 percent. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by a 1.86-to-1 ratio; on NASDAQ, a 1.35-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

Gou, Ko and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday shared the stage at a campaign event in New Taipei City to show their support for Gou’s aide and TPP legislative candidate Lee Chin-ying (李縉穎). As Ko arrived at the event later than Gou and Soong, he was the last to speak. He called on voters to support Lee Chin-ying, saying: “Giving Lee Chin-ying a chance means giving Taiwan and everyone a chance.”As everyone on stage began chanting slogans in support of Lee Chin-ying, Gou suddenly said he wanted to say something. Chairman Ko has never said ‘those pursuing Taiwanese independence are all trash.’”Ko only criticized a specific pro-independence advocate because his family has all immigrated to New Zealand, yet he still holds fundraising banquets in Taiwan every year, the statement said. Separately yesterday, Ko said he had never said that “those pursuing Taiwanese independence are all trash.”“Some of those people pursuing Taiwanese independence are liars, but not all of them are liars,” he said, adding that he still admires people who hold on to their beliefs, like Taiwanese independence advocate Su Beng (史明) did.

Staff writer, with CNAThe Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is hoping for help from Australia as it investigates the allegations of self-confessed Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強), a Ministry of Justice official said yesterday. Prosecutors are also hoping that Australia would allow Taiwanese investigators to question Wang through online video conferencing, the official added. Both were released after questioning, but prosecutors on Tuesday barred them from leaving the nation pending further investigation. The Chinese couple have visited Taiwan several times in the past, and own two properties in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), which they have since leased, Taipei prosecutors said. Before Wang appeared in public, they were in Taipei looking at a potential investment opportunity related to property in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), prosecutors said.

Reuters, SEOULNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed “great satisfaction” over the latest test of a large multiple-rocket launcher, state media said yesterday, a launch that experts said showcased improving performance by the system and its crews. The latest test of the so-called KN-25 missile came as a Thanksgiving Day reminder to the US of a year-end deadline that Kim has set for Washington to show flexibility in their stalled denuclearization talks. That capability makes it more likely that in case of a war, North Korean rocket crews could speedily deploy, fire and move before being targeted by South Korean or US forces, experts said. “The latest test indicated that the system was ready for mass production and deployment,” said Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean Navy officer who teaches at Kyungnam University in Seoul. The year-end deadline was an artificial one, but could mean a return to “provocative” steps that preceded the past two years of diplomacy, US Special Representative to North Korea Stephen Biegun said last week.

AFP, BAGRAM, AfghanistanUS President Donald Trump on Thursday said that the US had resumed talks with Taliban insurgents as he made a surprise trip to Afghanistan to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with US troops. “The Taliban wants to make a deal and we’re meeting with them and we’re saying it has to be a ceasefire,” he told reporters. About 13,000 US troops remain in Afghanistan, 18 years after the US invaded following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Trump said that he planned to reduce the number to 8,600, and later added: “We can go much further than that,” without giving details. Trump joked that he had not even tasted his turkey when he was called away.

Monique is Panama’s representative in the Karaoke World Championships, one of 40 amateur warblers selected from 30,000 entrants for the competition, which is being held this year for the first time in its spiritual home: Japan. The annual Karaoke World Championships were first held in Finland in 2003, the brainchild of a Finnish company. The final contestants were selected from about 30,000 applicants across the globe, said Daiichikosho, a Japanese karaoke company backing the event. “This time the championships are taking place in Japan, which is exciting as a Japanese person. I myself thought the world championships was a far-fetched dream, but here it is happening in Tokyo, Japan,” Ogata said.

BloombergThe suicide of popular K-pop singer Koo Hara has prompted calls in South Korea to overhaul laws on sexual assault, while K-pop singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young was convicted on Friday of gang rape and jailed for six years. Many in South Korea were already aware of her past that included assault by a former boyfriend who she alleged was threatening to release a sex video of her. The two most popular hashtags on social media in South Korea this week called for punishment of the ex-boyfriend and for the definition of sexual assault to be revamped. Separately, 30-year-old Jung was also convicted of filming himself having sex with other women without their knowledge and sharing the footage 11 times without their consent. Known as molka, spy cam videos are largely made by men secretly filming women in schools, toilets and elsewhere.