News Headlines - 21 August 2020

▽House of Lords: Temporary move to York rejected by repairs body - BBC News

Peers will not be packing their bags and moving to York after a proposal to relocate the House of Lords during rebuilding work was effectively axed.
Boris Johnson wants the Parliamentary authorities to look at the idea of moving the Lords out of London while the Palace of Westminster is revamped.
But the body in charge of the project said it would not be considered.

▽IS 'Beatles' will not face death penalty in US - BBC News

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are accused of being the last two members of an IS cell dubbed "The Beatles" because of their UK accents.
The US sought the UK's help in the case but a legal fight over the use of the death penalty has stymied co-operation... In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, US Attorney General William Barr said the US authorities would not seek the death penalty against the two men and "if imposed, it will not be carried out".
In the light of the assurances, he said he hoped the UK would share "important evidence" about the men promptly.

▽Shiori Ito sues LDP lawmaker over her use of ‘likes’ : The Asahi Shimbun

Journalist Shiori Ito is suing a lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for "liking" a number of Twitter posts that she said smeared her reputation after she went public with her rape accusation.
Ito, 31, who has become the face of Japan’s #MeToo movement, filed a libel lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Aug. 20 against Mio Sugita, a Lower House member of the LDP. She is seeking 2.2 million yen ($20,800) in damages.
According to the complaint, Sugita's account liked multiple disparaging messages, such as, “Ito screwed up sleeping her way (into a job),” and “Ito set up a honey trap,” which were tweeted in June and July of 2018.

▽Surge in passport sales delivers Vanuatu a record budget surplus | The Guardian

Surging demand for Vanuatu passports has driven an unexpected record surplus, funding Covid-19 bailout packages and cyclone recovery... Vanuatu citizenship costs US$130,000. About $80,000 goes directly to the government: the remainder stays with the agent, who must be a born or naturalised Vanuatu citizen, and who pays a 15% tax on their revenues.
The figures suggest at least 650 people have received Vanuatu citizenship under the programme since the beginning of the year.
Vanuatu passports are sought-after because they allow visa-free access to the EU, the UK, Russia, Hong Kong, and other states that are otherwise hard to visit for some nationalities.

▽Scientists harvest more eggs from near-extinct northern white rhino - Reuters

Scientists racing to save the northern white rhino from extinction have harvested 10 more eggs from the last two females alive which they hope will help create viable embryos that can be incubated by other rhinos acting as surrogates.
Neither of the remaining northern white rhinos on Earth - a mother and her daughter - can carry a baby to term, so scientists want to implant the embryos into southern white rhinos instead.
The last male northern white rhino, named Sudan, died in Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy in 2018.