News Headlines - 24 June 2019

▽Mark Field suspended as minister after grabbing climate protester by neck | The Guardian

Mark Field has been suspended as a Foreign Office minister after a video showed him pushing a female Greenpeace activist against a pillar and grabbing her neck while she protested at the chancellor’s Mansion House speech.

▽Berlin to freeze rents for five years | DW

The city of Berlin called on Tuesday for a five-year freeze on rents in the German capital beginning in 2020. Housing costs in the city have doubled over the past decade.
The city's proposed freeze would "protect against rent increases for 1.5 million apartments," according to city officials.
The move was announced after a city council meeting held Tuesday. Urban Development and Housing Senator Katrin Lompscher from the Left Party said, "The Senate (Berlin's executive body) has decided that there are legal grounds for capping rents." Lompscher will now have until October 15 to present a bill to be voted upon by the Senate.

▽Abigail Disney and George Soros say: Tax the wealthy more - CNN

More than a dozen of the richest Americans have a message for 2020 presidential candidates: Tax us more.
In a letter sent to candidates Monday, 18 members of some of the nation's wealthiest families advocated for a wealth tax on people who amassed great personal fortunes, including themselves... The letter points out that Democratic candidates Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg have proposed a wealth tax. But the letter's writers said, "Some ideas are too important for America to be part of only a few candidates' platforms."

▽What universities can learn from one of science’s biggest frauds

From 1996 to 2013, Yoshihiro Sato, a Japanese bone-health researcher plagiarized work, fabricated data and forged authorships - prompting retractions of more than 60 studies in the scholarly literature so far. Grey and colleagues at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the University of Aberdeen, UK, are among the researchers who have raised concerns about Sato’s work over the past decade or so, and they have studied the case in detail - in particular, how universities involved in the research investigated concerns about his work and allegations of misconduct.
At the World Conference on Research Integrity in Hong Kong from 2 to 5 June, Grey’s team described its years-long efforts to clean up Sato’s literature, and presented its analysis of the inquiries conducted by four universities in Japan and the United States ensnared in the scandal (the team published its analysis of three investigations in a paper in February1).

▽Searing heat across Europe sparks scramble for shade | AFP.com

Meteorologists blamed a blast of torrid air from the Sahara for the unusually early summer heatwave, which could send thermometers up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across large swathes of the continent with France experiencing particularly hot temperatures.
Authorities have issued warnings against dehydration and heatstroke, in particular for children and the elderly, and hospitals have been placed on high alert.