The Hangover News

Prolonged Protests
TURKISH PEOPLE ARE STILL PROTESTING IN INSTANBUL AND ANKARA
And it doesn't look like they're going to leave until their prime minister leaves

(Photo by Nazim Serhat Firat)

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Protests in Turkey continued this weekend, with hundreds gathering in Istanbul's Taksim Square and Ankara's Kizilay Square.

Almost 2,000 arrests have been made since Friday as protesters rally against their increasingly authoritarian government, and police haven't exactly gone about dealing with those arrests in the most civil way, firing tears gas and pepper spray and blasting protesters with water cannons.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said that protesters are trying undermine democracy, but the same protesters would argue that his government undermined democracy when they passed legislation curbing the sale and advertising of alcoholic drinks last week.

The protesters are mostly peaceful, however reports have emerged of police continuing to fire tear gas and water cannons in an effort to disperse the crowds.

But it doesn't look like that's going to achieve very much, with one protester saying, "We will stay until the end. We are not leaving. The only answer now is for this government to fall. We are tired of this oppressive government constantly putting pressure on us."

Naughty Lords 
SOME BRITISH PEERS GOT INTO TROUBLE FOR BEING CORRUPT 
Two have been suspended and one resigned for accepting cash to do parliamentary work

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News came through this weekend that may shock a great deal of Britain's electoral register: not everyone in the House of Lords is as trustworthy as you'd think.

It turns out that three peers – Lords Laird, Cunningham and Mackenzie of Framwellgate – appear to have agreed to carry out parliamentary work for money, which is something you're not supposed to do because it's incredibly corrupt and not really fair on everyone who doesn't have the money to tempt lords into doing stuff for them.

Lord Laird is alleged to have been interested in accepting a £2,000 a month retainer and using a trip to Fiji as a "bribe" to help reporters posing as lobbyists for a fake company representing business interests in Fiji.

Lord Cunningham asked for £12,000 a month to writer a letter to David Cameron and ask parliamentary questions for the fake company.

Lord Mackenzie said that he could arrange parties for paying clients – including on the terrace of the House of Lords – but claimed that he didn't break any rules as no fee was agreed on.

Mackenzie and Cunningham have been suspended and Laird has resigned, which is probably for the best.

Far-Right Europe
THE GOLDEN DAWN STAGED A HUGE MARCH IN ATHENS
Imagine loads of angry neo-Nazis shouting about immigrants; that's what it looked like

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In an encouraging show for any fans of racist idiocy, Greek neo-Nazi party the Golden Dawn marched through Athens in their hundreds, waving Greek flags and shouting stuff like, "Greece belongs to the Greeks."

This year's leg of the annual march to commemorate the fall of Constantinople in 1453 passed without incident, unlike last year's, when a Pakistani man was set upon by 15 to 20 members of the extremist right-wing party.

In other Golden Dawn news, Greek Parliament is currently debating legislation that would curb the more outright racist, violence-inciting aspects of the fascist party.

Unsurprisingly, Golden Dawn members want to be able to continue to beat up immigrants and encourage others to do the same, so have proposed their own counter-legislation.

And sadly, being the country's third most powerful and fastest growing party, it looks likely that things might begin to swing more in their favour.

Clappy Cosmetics
A WOMAN IS SUING MAC FOR CATCHING HERPES FROM SOME RIHANNA LIPSTICK
She went to the Rihanna show for a good time, and all she got was a lipstick tester and a cold sore

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A New York woman has filed a lawsuit after contracting herpes at a Rihanna concert.

The woman in question alleges that she walked up to a Mac Cosmetics pop-up stall (which was there to promote Rihanna's signature RiRi Woo lipstick), was given a tester lipstick that had already been used by plenty of other concert-goers and was told by the attendant to "press her lips together and spread the lipstick around".

Two days later, the woman found a bump on her lip that a doctor diagnosed as oral herpes.

It's hard to know who to side with here; yes, the Mac attendant instructed this woman to rub herpes all over face, but it was the woman who actively did so in the knowledge that the lipstick had already been used by a load of other people.

Regardless, it's got a nation gripped, so you probably won't have to look too far to discover the verdict of the trial – it's going to be literally everywhere. Like when Thatcher died but arguably more momentous.

Minor Overreactions
THIS GUY WAS SENTENCED TO 50 YEARS IN JAIL FOR STEALING SOME PORK RIBS
He'd burgled a house before, so half a century inside for some $35 ribs seems about right 

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Willie Smith Ward, a 43-year-old man from Texas, has been sentenced to 50 years in jail for stealing a $35 rack of ribs.

That's justice.

Ward's previous convictions included such reprehensible offences as cocaine possession and attempted robbery, so half a century in prison with a minimum of 12 and a half years before being eligible for parole seems totally, 100 percent justified.