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The Trump administration issued guidance to states early Thursday that will allow them to compel people to work or prepare for jobs in order to receive Medicaid for the first time in the half-century history of this pillar of the nation’s social safety net. The letter to state Medicaid directors opens the door for states to cut off Medicaid benefits to Americans unless they have a job, are in school, are a caregiver or participate in other approved forms of “community engagement” — an idea that some states had broached over the past several years but that the Obama administration had consistently rebuffed. The new policy comes as 10 states are already lined up, waiting for federal permission to impose work requirements on able-bodied adults in the program. Three other states are contemplating them. Health officials could approve the first waiver — probably for Kentucky — as soon as Friday, according to two people with knowledge of the process. The guidance represents a fundamental an..

Hans Gunter-Vis said that motorists can overcome fatigue and a desire to sleep while driving, taking a short nap in the rest areas on the road. He added that physical activity or some sports movements in the rest areas can also be used to maintain alertness and attention while driving. Energy drinks, opening windows or listening to loudspeakers are less effective means of maintaining vigilance while driving. . The German expert said that the brain in the dark produces hormones that call to fatigue and enhance the chances of sleep, and therefore tends to fatigue and fatigue during the winter, which negatively affects the ability to drive the car and may lead to sleep for a few seconds. Indications of tiredness and exhaustion during driving are frequent yawning and mental anguish. The German expert warned that sleep while driving can cause serious accidents. Closing the eye for only 3 seconds at 100 kilometers per hour means 80 meters without seeing anything on the road.

South Korea has offered high-level talks with North Korea next Tuesday to discuss its possible participation in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said earlier he was considering sending a team to Pyeongchang in South Korea for the Games in February. He said the two sides should “urgently meet to discuss the possibility”. South Korea’s president said he saw the offer as a “groundbreaking chance” to improve relations. At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Moon Jae-in also said the North’s nuclear programme would be the backdrop of any sporting discussions.

According to a list released by Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry on Sunday, high profile members and officers of 20 global human rights organisations will be banned from entering Israel or Palestine. The list includes three UK organisations – the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Friends of Al Aqsa and War on Want. In March 2017, Hugh Lanning, Chair of PSC, became the first high profile human rights campaigner to be denied access to Israel under the so called anti-boycott law passed in 2016. Since then Israel has also, under this and other laws, denied entry to representatives of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Jewish Voice for Peace. Israeli civil society organisations and human rights activists have also been subject to restrictions on their rights to campaign, freedom of movement and speech. The release by Israel of a list of banned organisations is not a surprise, given the erosion of democratic norms by the Israeli government in recent years. Alongside this..

It was once the go-to fashion house for every aspiring actress on the red carpet. However the 2018 Golden Globes may have sounded the death knell for Georgina Chapman’s fashion label Marchesa, after not a single actress wore a stitch of the brand founded by Harvey Weinstein’s estranged wife to this year’s ceremony. In the course of several months of damaging revelations it has emerged that not only did Weinstein finance his wife’s brand he also pressured actresses to wear the clothes on the red carpet. And apart from one statement in which she confirmed she was leaving her husband, and expressed sympathy for his victims, Chapman has said nothing publicly about the scandal. This silence may, of course, be based on strict legal advice and a noble desire to protect her two children with Weinstein, but her incredibly low profile has done nothing to put clear blue water between her brand and her husband’s behavior. Indeed, it has increasingly appeared from many accounts that Marchesa w..

Bitcoin is quickly being caught up by rival cryptocurrencies which offer more features but money manager Brian Kelly has revealed why Ripple, the second largest digital currency, is controversial. Speaking to CNBC, he said: “Ripple’s somewhat controversial here in the decentralised world because Ripple is a centralised currency. “It was premined 100 percent by the Ripple company. “Now what they’ve done to alleviate a lot of those fears is they’ve locked up a lot of the Ripple that they own.” XRP is the cryptocurrency that powers Ripple’s blockchain technology to send money across the world in real time settlements. Ripple has attracted tens of millions of dollars worth of investment leading to it being dubbed the bitcoin that banks like. Mr Kelly said that Ripple has calmed some of the concerns by slowly making the cryptocurrency available in the future. He said: “They’re going to slowly mete it out over the next several years, this has alleviated some of the concern. “That bei..

EuroPal Forum would like to cordially invite you to this timely seminar titled: “Trump’s promise: Time for Europe to lead for peace”. The US president’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is an unprecedented step that would lead to alarming repercussions in the region. Arab, Muslim and European leaders called this recognition as “dangerous” and violates both international law and UN resolutions. During the Organisation of Islamic Corporations (OIC) emergency summit in Istanbul, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, formally declared that Palestinians will no longer accept the US as a mediator in the Middle East peace process. On Monday 18th December 2017, U.S. vetoed U.N. resolution condemning move on Jerusalem, despite the fact that 14 council members including France and the UK insisted that the final status of Jerusalem should only be determined in negotiations. This leads us to question if this will be an ..

As the ongoing blockade against Qatar enters its 7 month, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) announced in a press conference this morning that it had received the report detailing the findings of the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Technical Mission to the State of Qatar. The report, title ‘On the impact of the Gulf Crisis on human rights’, is the result of an investigation by the OHCHR team who visited Qatar from November 17-24, 2017 to document and assess the impact of the blockade on human rights infringements and violations among the population. (Copy of the OHCHR report received by NHRC. Photo credit: I Love Qatar) During their mission to Qatar OHCHR representatives met with and interviewed 20 government and non-governmental organizations, and 40 victims during the course of their assessment. The report also stated that the OHCHR team reached out to the member states of the blockade to make them aware of the functions of the Tech..

Israel’s decision to blacklist the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and block the group’s more than 400 members from entering the country has been condemned as “appalling” by its chairwoman Fatin al-Tamimi. The Dublin-based volunteer organisation that campaigns for Palestinian rights is one of 20 activist groups to appear on the blacklist published by Israel’s strategic affairs ministry on Sunday. Individuals who hold senior positions in the blacklisted organisations along with key activists will be denied entry to Israel under a crackdown by the country on groups that call for a boycott of the Jewish state. The blacklist targets a grassroots movement known as Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), which criticises Israel over its policies towards the Palestinians. “For me as a Palestinian, it means a lot that they are going to ban me from going to see my family and people. It is absolutely horrible,” said Ms Tamimi who will be blocked from visiting family in Hebron and Gaza. ..

The fire could still be on fire in an Iranian tanker on the East China Sea for about a month, while the fire still rages for the fourth day after the carrier collided with a Chinese cargo ship, the South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said. Dozens of rescue boats are battling strong winds, high waves and poisonous smoke to locate 31 missing sailors and extinguish the fire amid growing fears of the tanker’s explosion or drowning, a ministry official said. “We believe the fire will continue for two weeks or a month in view of previous oil tanker incidents,” said Park Song-dong, an official with the South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The tanker, which was operated by Iran’s national tanker carrier, collided with SeaFast, which transported a shipment of grains from the United States about 160 nautical miles (300 km) off China’s coast near Shanghai on Saturday night. The carrier was on its way from Iran to South Korea carrying 136,000 tons of flammable condensates, ..