Month: April 2019

Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle company Goop has agreed to pay $145,000 in civil fines, and give refunds to some customers, over unproven claims about the power of its vaginal eggs. 

Goop had claimed the Jade Egg, and the Rose Quartz Egg, could "balance hormones, regulate menstrual cycles, prevent uterine prolapse, and increase bladder control," the Orange County District Attorney’s office in California said. 

The company, which is based in Santa Monica, California, was challenged over the claims by the California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force, which comprises lawyers from 10 counties in the state.

It was accused of making claims that were not based on scientific evidence.

The case also involved Goop’s Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend, an oil which sells for $22, and was said to "help prevent ‘shame spirals’ downward toward depressive states".

Goop settled the case four days after it was brought.

In a statement the company said it was not admitting doing anything wrong, and had received no complaints about the products from customers.

It said there was an "honest disagreement" and it wanted to settle the case quickly.

A spokesman said: "This settlement does not indicate any liability on Goop’s part. While the company has not received any complaints regarding these product claims, it is happy to fully refund any Goop customer who has purchased any of the challenged products."

Its website currently claims the eggs, which sell for between $55 and $66, can "cultivate sexual energy, clear chi pathways in the body, and invigorate life force".

Tony Rackauckas, a lawyer for Orange County, California, said: "It’s important to hold companies accountable for unsubstantiated claims, especially when the claims have the potential to affect women’s health."

According to the settlement Goop must not advertise claims about its products which are not backed by scientific evidence.

Goop began as a newsletter produced by Paltrow for her friends, and has grown into a $250 million business.

A description of the Jade Egg on the website reads: "This nephrite jade stone helps connect the second chakra (the heart) and yoni for optimal self-love and well being."

Earlier this year, Paltrow said Goop would be hiring a lawyer to examine all claims on its website, and a full-time fact checker.

Some 400 detainees escaped after a riot on Sunday at a prison in the southern suburbs of the Libyan capital Tripoli, theatre of a week of deadly battles, police said.

"The detainees were able to force open the doors and leave" as fighting between rival militias raged near the prison of Ain Zara, police said in a statement, without specifying what crimes the escapees had committed.

Guards were unable to prevent the prisoners escaping as they feared for their own lives, the statement said.

Most detainees at the prison have been convicted of common crimes or were supporters of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, found guilty of killings during the uprising that toppled his regime in 2011

According to a health ministry toll, at least 39 people have been killed and some 100 injured since clashes, including rocket fire, broke out among rival militias on Monday in suburbs south of Tripoli.

And on Sunday rockets hit a camp for displaced people in Tripoli, leaving at least two dead and five injured from the same family, according to emergency services and witnesses.

The camp is home to hundreds of displaced people from the Libyan city of Taourga who were forced into mass exile due to their support for Kadhafi.

"Most of the families have left the camp fearing more rockets," Khaled Omrane, a camp resident, told AFP.

According to emergency services, at least 23 rockets fell on the capital on Friday and Saturday causing fresh casualties.

The Government of National Unity which is recognised by the international community on Sunday said it was declaring a state of emergency in the Libyan capital and its environs.

The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since Gaddafi’s fall and killing.

Israel has threatened to attack any Iranian military assets in Iraq as it has done in Syria, following reports Tehran has moved ballistic missiles closer to the Jewish state.

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defence minister, signalled on Monday it would “contend” with Iranian provocations wherever they are found.

"We are certainly monitoring everything that is happening in Syria, and regarding Iranian threats we are not limiting ourselves just to Syrian territory. This also needs to be clear," Mr Lieberman told a conference in Jerusalem.

Asked if this included Iraq, he responded: "I am saying that we will contend with any Iranian threat, and it doesn’t matter from where it comes … Israel’s freed.”

Tehran has transferred dozens of short-range ballistic missiles to Shia proxies in Iraq over the last few months, according to a Reuters report published over the weekend.

The Zelzal, Fateh-110 and Zolfaqar missiles in question have ranges of 400 miles, putting Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were deployed in southern or western Iraq.

The Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has bases in both those areas.

“It seems Iran has been turning Iraq into its forward missile base,” one Western source said.

Israel is technically at war with Iraq, but the two countries have not openly traded blows for decades.

Israel has however conducted hundreds of air strikes against arms transfers and deployments by Iran and its Lebanese ally, the Shia Hizbollah militia, fearing the threat across its border.

Israeli officials will also be watching political developments in Baghdad with concern.

After months of wrangling, two blocs on Monday claimed to hold the majority of seats in parliament and therefore the right to name a prime minister.

The bloc of incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has the support of the US, while the bloc of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Badr Organisation militia leader Hadi al-Amiri is backed by Iran.

Badr is part of the state apparatus and answers to Iraq’s prime minister, but Mr Amiri and other members of the group’s leadership frequently meet and consult with Qassem Soleimani, Quds Force commander.

A Maliki-Amiri coalition would likely lead Iraq to greater hostilities with Israel.

The Kurds, a minority in Iraq, have yet to pick a side but could end up kingmakers. Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat Isil, has been trying to convince the various Kurdish parties to fall in line behind Mr Abadi.  

Phillip Smyth, Soref fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Telegraph the Israelis “won’t want to see another Iranian-controlled government spring up.”

“I’d also bet this would worry them more if that also means there’s the possibility of continued and more advanced weapons transfers,” he said.

Richard Baffa, senior defense researcher at the Rand Corporation, warned that escalating tensions between Israeli and Iranian forces have demonstrably increased the risk of a new, large-scale regional conflict.

“Tehran’s continued provocations and violations of Israel’s stated red lines are fueling an escalatory spiral that has the potential to rapidly spin out of control,” he wrote.

Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian prime minister, has survived a leadership challenge that could have led to a sixth  change in less than 11 years.

Mr Turnbull was challenged by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton after he declared the leadership of the government vacant on Tuesday.

In a Liberal Party room meeting, the prime minister succeeded in a leadership ballot, winning 48 votes to Mr Dutton’s 35.

Mr Dutton resigned from cabinet role after the defeat. 

The move came amid a backbench uprising as opinion polls showed the government on course for a heavy defeat by the opposition Labor party in an election due next year.

Mr Turnbull called on his government to unite or risk defeat at the next election.

"United we will maintain the strong momentum and the great achievements our government has made," the prime minister told reporters in Canberra. 

The disunity came to a head on Monday when Mr Turnbull was forced to shelve plans to embed carbon emissions targets in law after a revolt by fellow Liberal politicians.

Despite the victory, Mr Turnbull’s position remained in jeopardy despite surviving Dutton’s leadership challenge.

"We’ve seen it so often in Australian politics – this two-stage act play in removing a prime minister – and, given how close the vote was, there’s definitely more to come," said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia state.

Asked what Mr Turnbull said after winning, Party whip Nola Marino replied: "This was conducted by way of precedent and he thanked his colleagues for their support and will get on with the business now of governing in the interests of all Australians."

On Monday Mr Turnbull had declared he had Mr Dutton’s "full support".

Australia has gone through an extraordinary period of political instability since Prime Minister John Howard lost power in 2007 after more than 11 years in office.

Mr Turnbull will  next month become Australia’s longest serving prime minister since Howard, having held the office for three years and four days.

Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was ousted by his deputy Julia Gillard in 2010. He later returned the favour and stormed back to power in 2013 shortly before losing the election to Tony Abbott’s Liberal/National coalition.

Abbott was then unseated in a party coup by Turnbull in 2015.

Abbott is now a vocal backbencher and is widely seen as a key instigator of the move against the prime minister this week, which has left Turnbull heading a party where 35 people do not want him as leader.

Damian Drum, a lawmaker in The Nationals’ party, a junior coalition partner, called on Mr Abbott to resign from Parliament instead of destabilising the government.

"He vowed that he wouldn’t be a wrecker," Mr Drum said. "That’s exactly what he’s been – a wrecker, and he needs to get out of the joint."

For nearly half a century a film of one of Aretha Franklin’s most iconic performances has been gathering dust unseen by her millions of fans, but it could now finally be released.

The documentary movie – Amazing Grace – features the Queen of Soul singing two gospel concerts at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in 1972.

It was shot by the Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack and is said, by the small number of people who have seen it, to be one of the greatest concert movies of all time, an Oscar contender if it were to be shown publicly. One person who has seen it called it "jaw dropping".

Franklin, who died on Thursday aged 76, had been locked in a long legal battle over the film, several times coming close to allowing its release, only to change her mind.

A person with knowledge of the saga told The Telegraph: "The movie will come out. It seems the family is interested in it coming out."

The story of how the film ended up in legal limbo is one of the most tortuous in entertainment history.

Six months after the church concerts Atlantic Records put out audio as the double live album Amazing Grace, featuring a soaring 11-minute version of the hymn, and other songs including Mary, Don’t You Weep and You’ll Never Walk Alone.

It remains the biggest-selling album of Franklin’s entire career, selling over two-million copies, the top selling live gospel album ever, and triumphed at the Grammy Awards.

Pollack’s film was supposed to be released alongside the album but was shelved due to technical problems matching the audio to the moving images. He died in 2008.

The rights were taken over by Alan Elliott, a UCLA music lecturer, and the advent of digital technology helped fix the problems.

In 2010 an eight-year legal battle began, involving a myriad of lawyers, talent agents and other representatives, as the singer sued for unlicensed use of her image.

Franklin twice came close to agreeing to the release for $1 million but talks broke down.

The film was due to be shown at the Telluride Film Festival in 2015 but she got a last minute injunction, also blocking it at the Toronto Film Festival the same year.

Franklin’s objections to the release of a film documenting her finest hour were never clear, but appeared to be at least partly to do with money.

She was known to be wary of legal contracts, and being "ripped off," and preferred to be paid in cash.

It is unclear whether she left any instructions about the film in her will.

In a statement Mr Elliott said he was hopeful fans would be able to see it "soon," and that the singer herself really liked the movie.

He said: "Ms Franklin said ‘I love the film’. Unfortunately for all of us, she passed before we could share that love.

"Amazing Grace is a testament to the timelessness of Ms Franklin’s devotion to music and God. Her artistry, her genius and her spirit are present in every note and every frame of the film. We look forward to sharing the film with the world soon.”

Franklin’s funeral is due to be held on August 31 in her home city Detroit.

A day after her death sales of her music were up 1,568 per cent.

Among the many musicians who have previously expressed eagerness to see the Amazing Grace footage are Sir Mick Jagger, who was in the audience when it was recorded.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Franklin was discussing a proposed Hollywood biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as her younger self in the days before she died, although there is still no script.

Harvey Mason Jr, the producer of that project, told Variety: "In the last conversation I had with her last week, she was really optimistic and talking a lot about the movie."

On September 9, Sweden’s 7.3m voters head to the polls after an extraordinary election campaign that has seen yet another radical right wing party dominate the headlines.

The Sweden Democrats have been projected to win up to 25 per cent of the vote, which makes them a potential kingmaker in the ensuing coalition talks.

But there’s a catch. Sweden’s mainstream parties have refused to work with the Sweden Democrats, which has roots in neo-Nazi movements.

This means election day could be just the beginning of a period of major political turmoil in Sweden.

Who are the Sweden Democrats?

The group was founded in 1988 and at that time had links to Swedish fascist and white nationalist organisations….

China, the world’s most populous nation, appears to be setting the stage to end its decades-long policy of determining the number of children that couples can have, a social media post by a state-run newspaper suggested.

All content on family planning has been dropped in a draft civil code being deliberated by top lawmakers on Monday, the Procuratorate Daily wrote in a post on its Weibo account.

China has loosened its family planning policy as its population greys, birth rates slow and its workforce declines. In 2016, the government allowed couples in urban areas to have two children, replacing a one-child policy enforced since 1979.

The draft civil code also includes a one-month "cooling off" period in which couples filing for divorce can withdraw their case.

Revisions to the draft civil code will be submitted to China’s annual parliamentary meeting in March 2020.

Speculation that China may further ease its two-child policy was sparked early this month when China Post unveiled the design of a stamp for release next year that features a family of two pigs and three cheerful piglets.

Debate on the policy was further stoked after two Chinese researchers proposed forcing couples with fewer than two children to pay into a "procreation fund", an idea that was widely criticised. 

Separately, the code also apparently contains moves to tackle workplace sexual harassment, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

In recent weeks, the #MeToo movement has escalated in China with accusations of sexual assault spreading across social media in a country where such problems regularly have been brushed under the carpet.

The draft code put forward "clear rules" focused on the "intense problem of sexual harassment" reflected throughout society, Xinhua said on Tuesday.

Victims can demand perpetrators "assume civil liability" according to law for committing sexual harassment through words or actions, or by exploiting someone’s subordinate relationship, Xinhua said, citing the draft rules.

The measures would also require employers to take reasonable measures to prevent, stop, and deal with complaints about sexual harassment, the report added.