STATUS UPDATES
A week in which a U.S. figure skater rips his Pence and an airline passenger has a surprise layer-over
LASHING OUT
U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon, about the man chosen to lead his country’s Olympic delegation at Pyeongchang. Rippon, who is gay, blasted Vice-President Mike Pence, alleging he backed gay conversion therapy. Pence calls the allegation “totally false.” Rippon also told USA Today he wasn’t impressed with Pence’s support for “some of the things that Donald Trump has said.”
HONOURED A
U.S. army dog that attacked a machine-gun nest during the Second World War. Chips, a German Shepherd-Husky cross, was posthumously awarded Britain’s highest honour for animal bravery, the Dickin Medal, The Associated Press reported. Chips’ heroics occurred during a 1943 beach landing in Sicily. He suffered scalp wounds and powder burns in the battle.
MOCKED A
1976 massacre of Protestant workers, by a Sinn Fein legislator in Britain’s parliament. Barry McElduff was filmed with Kingsmill bread on his head on the anniversary of the murder of 10 Protestant workers by IRA militants in Kingsmill, Northern Ireland. McElduff denied the reference, resigned and apologized, reported The Associated Press.
SCREENED
A man travelling to England from Iceland. He was not allowed to board a British Airways flight after he wore eight pairs of pants and 10 shirts. Ryan Carney Williams wanted to avoid paying for excess luggage, the Daily Telegraph reported. He was denied a boarding pass. Williams, who is Black, tweeted, alleging racial profiling, which the companies denied.
SPEAKING OUT
British tennis player Laura Robson. She became the first player at this year’s Australian Open to say she favours renaming Margaret Court Arena, the Guardian reports. Court, a tennis legend now 75 years old, has caused an uproar with her views against LGBTQ issues and same-sex marriage. She blamed the devil for young people questioning their sexuality.
DISHONOURED
“Alternative facts.” German linguists have named the term the non-word of 2017. The phrase, uttered by White House aide Kellyanne Conway, was chosen by a team of six experts at Darmstadt University, the Associated Press reports. Each year, the panel selects a phrase that runs counter to the principles of democracy or dignity.
PROVOKED Americans
who want to travel to North Korea. The State Department has warned that anyone heading to the country should prepare for the possibility of not returning. Those who wish to travel to North Korea must be approved for a special validation, and then prepare for the worst, Fox News reported — including drafting a will and making funeral and property arrangements. UNSCREENED
The film The Post, in Lebanon, according to authorities’ plans. The movie, whose plot promotes press freedom, has fallen afoul of authorities because of director Steven Spielberg’s associations with Israel, the Washington Post reports. But the decision was later reversed. Many Spielberg movies have been shown before in the country, typically one of the freest in the Arab world.